In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding the message of the cross in our lives. He shares a conversation with a pastor who dismisses the need for personal transformation and sanctification, claiming that Jesus' suffering and death on the cross is enough. However, the speaker argues that we must crucify our flesh and take up our cross to experience victory over our sinful nature. He references Galatians 5:19, which describes the works of the flesh, and encourages listeners to identify areas where they struggle and find victory through the cross. The speaker also highlights the transformation that occurs when we are born again and emphasizes the need to recognize our previous state of disobedience and sin before experiencing God's mercy and grace.

So I would like to speak to you today on the same topic that we started last month, what the church needs to know. There are a few things that the church needs to know. The last time we talked about divorce and for these few weeks I would like to talk to you about Christian deliverance. Is Christian deliverance from demons scriptural? I say that again, is Christian deliverance from demons scriptural? Have we got to go through deliverance sessions as Christians who know Jesus Christ and who want to serve him? Firstly, I would like to share with you something that you know, demonic activity is real. Demons are real. Evil spirits are real. There's nothing more real than the spiritual world. It's more real and more powerful than what you and I may think. The spiritual world is powerful. That's why you and I can be transformed in one second. What we can try to become in our lives in many years can happen in even one second when God touches your life. In the same way, there are people that are demon possessed and all their lives may be influenced by these demon and evil spirits that make their their living in people. It's real. Sometimes you talk about demons and evil spirits and deliverance to people and they don't believe you. They don't believe that demons and evil spirits can take hold of people's lives. But the first thing that we need to agree is that the demonic activity is real, powerful, even if it's divine, godly, or demonic. But it's two opposite worlds. That's why we see that demon spirits live in people. We can read that in all the gospels when Jesus was on earth. The four gospels talks about people that are being set free and delivered from evil spirits and demons. They can bind people's lives. People become sick by the presence of demons and evil spirits in their lives. They become infirm. All sorts of sickness and disease. We can read that in the bible. We can read that in in the gospels when Jesus himself casted out demons out of people's lives. People who were sick and those who were demon possessed. He casted them out. It's real. We don't deny that. We christians, we know about it because we have the bible and we know and we read about it. And even many of us maybe, when we became christians, we were set free of demons that used to take hold of our lives. Christians that have gone to witchcraft, open their lives to demon activities. And many christians today, they live in total freedom after having been delivered from demons and evil spirits. This is real. We can't deny that. It's a spiritual activity. And the apostle Paul in his epistle talks about that. So that's something that is clear and we can't just deny it. But what I want to talk with you is, are we christians demon possessed? Or can we christians be demon possessed? That's my question which I want to share with you because I believe we need some truth about it. We need some truth. Jesus ministry was to unbelievers. Jesus ministry was to unbelievers, people that were not christians. Jesus had not died yet. He had not gone to the cross yet. And he came to bless people. And he came to give life. And he came to heal the sick. He came to show man that we were sinners. He came to show the consequences of sin and at the same time to make people understand and know that he can deliver them and set them free and bring them to know him and to walk in freedom. But what does the church do today? When I look at the new testament church in the book of acts, when I read the epistles, I don't see one single case of deliverance in the lives of christians. Not one single case of deliverance in the church of the book of acts in the lives of christians. Born again christians. Men and women that became born again. That were truly converted. That truly surrendered their lives to christ. Either you are born again or you are not born again. You cannot be half born again. Either you are coming closer to become born again but yet you are not born again. Now let's open our bibles in the book of Ephesians chapter 2. And the apostle Paul shares with the christians their state before they became born again. In Ephesians chapter 2. Verse 1 to verse 5. And you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins. Now he wants to show the christians where they came from and who they are now. In which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air. The spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience. Among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature children of wrath just as the others. But God who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in trespasses he made us alive together with christ by grace you have been saved. Okay so that's that is our state before we became born again. We were dead in trespasses. We were under the control of the power of satan. We were children of wrath of disobedience. We did not know god and many of us we were possessed by evil spirits and by demons. That was our condition before we become born again. Now open your bibles with me in acts chapter 2 verse 38. I just want to show you the sequence of someone who doesn't know christ where he is living and when he knows christ what happens to him. So in acts chapter 2 verse 38 we read then peter said to them let's read verse 36. Therefore let all the house of israel know assuredly that god had made this jesus whom you crucified both lord and christ now when they heard this they were cut to the heart in other words they were touched by the holy spirit who showed them their condition and gave them a desire to give their lives to christ and peter said now when they heard this they were cut to the heart and said to peter and the rest of the apostles men and brethren what shall we do now peter replied repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of jesus christ for the remission of the sins and you shall receive the gift of the holy spirit repent and be baptized repent and be baptized and your sins will be forgiven that's conversion that's being born again through repentance of your sins you understand where you were and now you want to repent of your sins and you receive the forgiveness of your sins and the washing of your sins by the blood of jesus christ so now you are born again okay you are born again you have been regenerated by the holy spirit god almighty comes and lives in your heart we become we are we are now the temple of the holy spirit he lives in us that's what the bible says we become the temple of god we have been forgiven that nature of sin that took hold of your life has now been replaced by the nature of god because god himself come and lives and abides in us we become children of god correct all right now open your bibles in colossians chapter one what happens now when we become born again colossians chapter 1 verse 13 he has delivered us from the power of darkness delivered us from the powers of darkness and he has translated us into the kingdom of the son of his love now in other words he delivered us from the kingdom of satan and he translated us into the kingdom of his dear son he delivers us what happens when someone gets born again if someone truly repents and is truly converted and he wants to give his life to christ and surrender his life to christ two things can happen as far as him being demon possessed firstly you don't have even sometimes to pray for these demons to flee sometimes you don't even have to pray about it and the person is so much under conviction of his sins he truly repents and gives and surrenders his life to the lord fully that god himself by the power of the spirit sets him free and delivers him from all the powers and the demons and the evil spirits that came to abide in him before he knew jesus christ it can happen in even one second you don't have even to pray for that person there can be some manifestation of demon spirits of evil spirits without even praying the lord sets that person free but there are also cases where we pray for the people we pray for these newborn christians these new converts and as we pray for them the bible says you shall lay and on the sick they will recover and also you will cast out demons so as we pray for them and we rebuke these evil spirits and these demons then they flee then they these people get delivered they are christians born again now totally converted to christ amen that's what we've just read we've been translated from the powers of darkness under the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of his dear son delivered from demons delivered from evil spirits you see there's one problem in the church today not in the church but there are many people who come just to be blessed you know they've heard that in this place when you pray for the sick they are healed when people pray for deliverance demons flee so they come and they don't really want to give their lives to christ they don't want to surrender their lives to christ they don't come with their heart that first needs god but they want only to be blessed and to be healed and to be delivered so you can pray for these people and you see the manifestation of demons you see the manifestation of demons and sometimes these same people then they come back to church sunday after sunday but their lives are not surrendered to christ and these demons still oppress them and many many many times they are not born again many times they are not born again and they are not ready to surrender their lives and give their life to christ but they only want to be set free to go and live their own lives and no wonder no wonder that they keep the activity of demons alive in them and sunday after sunday you see these same persons coming and having manifestation of demons and they go home and nothing changes because their hearts don't want jesus they want the blessings they want the blessings but we as christians who want to serve the lord we cannot be under the power of demons anymore we cannot be demon possessed in any way can you understand what i'm saying it's it's need to be clear you know in my country here in mauritius i know about pastors who get together and are delivering session between themselves that's weird to me that's weird to understand that not only they have deliverance session for christians but they are delivering session for themselves it's amazing you can have weaknesses in your life but that doesn't mean to say that you are demon possessed that you've got a demon hiding somewhere and that you've got you i've got the pastor to come and pray for you to cast that demon out i don't know about in in all the other countries but in my country you know demon spirits are everywhere in bicycles in in fridge in in everywhere under the bed they hide in mattresses they hide in your cupboard they hide everywhere sometimes you know they they tell people that they've got to change mattresses so that they can have nice sleeps i mean you hear stories about so many things that that are so weird so weird you know i know a couple in this church a few years back about eight ten years ago the husband came to me and said you know we've got problems in our couple and you know my wife had decided to go in another church but because there they cast out demons they have deliverance with us i said to him but brother you know it's not a question of being demon possessed but i believe that if you surrender your life to christ and you allow god to do what he wants to do in your life you'll find out that it's more of your flesh than being demon possessed and and he said to me yes but my wife you know she she's made the decision she wants to go in that church and apparently there's a power of god there and people are thrown everywhere and you know demons are being cast out and you come out you're free i said my brother you are free you are free bring your wife there and effectively they went or she went i don't know exactly the the full story she went she went and i'm sure that she's been she's gone through deliverance and all that sort of thing and and a few years back she came back and she was the same person i'm sure that she's gone through deliverance session many times many many times but you see you cannot substitute a work of sanctification by deliverance you cannot do that you can't substitute the work of god in your life by pressing a button or by prayer you cannot do that that's why when you take the message of the cross and you put it aside you try to find out other solutions for your problems yeah you find other solutions you try to find other solutions or the principles and techniques to replace the work of the spirit in our lives so i'm sure that sister is sitting here today but praise god that deliverance cannot solve the problems of your couple as a christian you know in the old days the start of the ministry you know we were also involved in all sorts of things when people used to come to church late it must have been a spirit of laziness you know you invent all sorts of things someone comes late to church you know you want to cast out a demon of laziness i don't know where they get that from but it's the truth everything is a demon it's like you are obsessed and possessed by demons yourself you ride your bicycle and and you get a puncture you start to cast out the demon in your tire i mean you you get to the extremes and i'm telling you that's the truth i'm talking about the truth all sorts of things that's why we need to understand you want you leave the message of the cross aside you'll find yourself in all sorts of false teachings and doctrines you'll find yourself getting involved in all sorts of things for some churches deliverance is the backbone of their ministry deliverance from demons it's as if the church is a gathering of demon possessed christians it's a shame it's a shame you know if pastors start to cast out demons among themselves they must agree that their congregation is a gathering of demon possessed christians that's very sad that's very very sad where is the power of the cross where is the power of god are we walking around with demons all the way we go in all our christian life are we walking around with demons everywhere right you shout with your wife it's a demon everything that you do wrong it's a demon it's an evil spirit where are we going that's why when when non-christians come to true repentance true repentance and surrender their lives to christ demons cannot come and abide in you it's impossible and let me give you some good news or bad news it's just your flesh it's just the desires of your flesh that's all it is i have found that for myself i'm not talking about for you i'm talking even for myself i have discovered that many things that happened to my life where i i i it was a defeat it was my flesh and i have learned i have learned and i'm still learning to take up my cross i'm still learning to deny my flesh the rights of taking my life or in other words i'm denying myself of my rights and i have decided to lose my life to take up my cross and i can tell you it works it doesn't work in an instant but it works it takes some time but it works i don't need anyone to cast out any demon out of my life i'm demon free are you demon free i'm demon free and i found out that each time i my my flesh wants to take over i'm in trouble and i've got only one aim one thing to do is to die to swallow to lose to deny myself of my rights you see there's one verse of scripture that is so clear it's in romans chapter 8 verse 12 read that with me romans 8 verse 12 reads like this therefore brethren we are debtors not to the flesh can you see that in other words you don't owe anything to your flesh in other words you don't have to abide to its desire you don't have to we are not supposed to and every time you find yourself in problems and if you understand the gospel you will agree that it was the desires of your flesh that took over your life we are not debtors to the flesh in any way no way is that clear that's a scripture therefore brethren we are debtors not to the to live according to the flesh we don't want to owe anything to that flesh so that we live according to his desire that's that's that's what paul is saying here i don't want to i don't want to bow myself before my flesh i don't want to have to surrender to his desire god has opened the way which is a cross so that i am ready to die to myself and not surrender to the desires of my flesh god found a way for me that's why my life has got nothing common with demons your life has got nothing in common with demons nothing nothing can you say that nothing in common with demons i'm demon free hallelujah the spirit of the lord lives in us the spirit of god lives big in us and he's the one who helps us he intercedes for us he helps us by god's grace to crucify that flesh that's where that's the key that's the solution you can't substitute the cross you cannot substitute the work of sanctification you can't substitute what god wants to do in your life by going to someone and say cast the demon of laziness cast the demon of anger cast the demon of jealousy cast the demon of hypocrisy it's your flesh sir and if you want to look at it you can find it in the book of galatians chapter 5 verse 19 it gives you a description of your flesh and i'm sure each one of us here can identify with at least two three or four of the list open your bibles with me galatians chapter 5 verse 19 we're going to read it slowly so that each one of us we can identify somewhere there and let me tell you you don't need any deliverance of any demon to give you the victory over one of these things here the victory is in the cross that's where the victory is okay have you got all ears open the ears of your heart open okay we're going to read that together it's going to be exciting don't feel discouraged it's part of life don't get under condemnation it's okay it's part of life okay now the works of the flesh are adultery the works of the flesh fornication uncleanness lewdness idolatry sorcery hatred contentions jealousies outbursts of wrath selfish ambitions dissensions he has heresies envy murders drunkenness riddleries and the like how many you've got how many you've got guys hey how many of you maybe there's someone still bound by alcohol there it's okay it's the work of your flesh brother you don't need to to go through deliverance of demon it's not a demon of alcoholism can you understand it's your flesh that wants it you've been used to it in the past and you still like it your flesh like it your tongue like it there's something in your mouth likes it that's all it is sir you've got to crucify that flesh you've got to take up that cross you've got to deny yourself you've got to be ready to lose your life and things are going to be clear we are demon free yeah we are demon free born again full of the life of christ but weak weak in many areas so what we're coming there we're reaching the goal we're reaching the goal we are winning we are winning we're walking on that road we are winning that's why the testimonies are there two months ago that's how i was now that's who i am it's not the demon was gone no the demon is not there anyway no no no no no no can you see that's why we are full of testimonies full of testimonies six months ago not one day passed by that i had a problem with my wife now it's once a month glory to god yeah i'm telling you there's not one place in this new testament where i've read that the christians had to go through a deliverance session not one place i've always come across non-christians that were demon possessed that were then set free when the apostles and the disciples prayed for them and they came and they came there and their hearts were open and they and they gave their life to the lord they were converted i tell you there are many things that can happen god is good the lord is good i tell you the lord is so wonderful okay we need to understand where the message of the cross fits in our lives we need to understand where that message fits in i spoke to a brother who is serving the lord four days ago three days ago and he was telling me how he met a certain pastor somewhere and the pastor was talking to him about his problems about his discouragement about all the things that he was going through and he was sharing with the pastor about how himself his life that he's now prepared to identify his life with christ's sufferings and christ's death he talked to him about the cross and the first statement that comes out of this pastor is this that brother jesus christ suffered for us jesus christ died for us he said it is finished we don't have to go through all this stuff of giving your life of losing your life and everything you don't have to go through that stuff can you see so in other words the church believes the whole church believes what jesus christ did on the cross the whole church believes that his work was complete the whole church acknowledges that he destroyed principalities and powers that he conquered sin the whole church believes but there's one thing that many churches don't agree is the fact that we as christians we need to identify our lives with him we need to be ready and accept to surrender our lives and put it on the altar as a sacrifice we've got to accept the sufferings we've got to accept the identification to his death in other words to allow him to change us and mold us to his image so the message of the cross is put aside and we want to substitute it with deliverance you can't do that it's a shame to the work that jesus christ did on that cross it's a shame we can't do that that's why i believe it's time for the church it's time for the church to know and not just swallow everything a work of sanctification is absolutely necessary deliverance becomes a shortcut we just want a prayer even to accept that we are demon possessed even to accept that demons are living in us just because either we don't know or we don't want to take up that cross and follow jesus christ and deliverance from demons for christians has become a shortcut a shortcut but praise god that we don't want a shortcut we don't want to go through a shortcut we don't want a press button christianity we want to take part fully and identify ourselves with the sufferings of christ n is dead james chapter one we're going to read through a couple of verses here verse 13 it says let no one say when he is tempted i am tempted by god for god cannot be tempted by evil nor does he himself tempt anyone but each one is tempted when he's drawn away by his own desires and enticed each one is tempted how when he's drawn away how by his own desires and entice then when desire has conceived which desire the desire of your flesh when it has conceived what happens it gives birth to sin it gives birth to sin and sin when it is full grown brings forth death correct very clear it's very clear now in galatians chapter 2 verse 20 the apostle paul gives a clear statement we all know that scripture chapter 2 verse 20 it says i have been crucified with christ now listen here he's not talking about the day that jesus christ was crucified he's talking about his life and the result of that is it is no longer i who lives it's no longer the desires of my flesh it's no longer the lust of the flesh it's no longer i who lives but it is christ who lives in me as the apostle paul gone through deliverance to state that to bring that statement as he gone through deliverance demon deliverance no paul learned how to deny himself paul learned how to crucify the flesh paul learned how to deny himself paul learned how to identify himself with christ he received that revelation he received it he walked in it he lived it he preached it and his life was completely transformed his life was completely transformed and that statement speaks loud loud it's no more me it's not more me who lives it's christ who lives in me it's amazing oh i'm glad that we are demon free we are demon free where is the cross today where is that cross where is that message where is that message to bring us to our knees where is that message to bring that conviction in our hearts where is that message so that the holy spirit can convict us so much to stop our fleshly walk to stop and to take up that cross again to stop and be ready to offer our lives at the sacrifice again the message of the cross is a constant warning constant warning constant reminder of the weakness of our flesh the message of the cross i say it again is a constant reminder and warning of our weakness in the flesh this is what brings us to see ourselves to repent to come back to the cross and to deny ourselves i believe that the only place where christians can be demon possessed again is when they start to deny the work of the spirit when they backslide to the point where sin takes hold of their lives again where they no more consider the fellowship with christ and they give themselves to the world they open the door to demon activity again it's as if they've come to the place where they've never known christ in their lives never known christ in their lives their lives could have been worse than before they known christ open their hearts and lives completely to demon activity that's the only place it's as if these people have never known christ i believe we need to make the difference between people that attend churches and christians that want to serve the lord people that come to church they like the church they like the atmosphere they feel the love of god but they want to hold on to their lives they come for prayer every sunday they come for prayer they come for prayer they come for prayer yeah church goers i call them church goers but when you look deeply in their lives there's one question are they born again are they truly born again have they decided really to give their lives to christ and surrender to him we must make the difference between weak christians and those who are church goers you can be weak but in your heart you know where you're going you can be weak you can be a young christian but you know that deep down in your heart that you have surrendered your life and i even believe deep down in my heart i'm convicted you can be a weak christians but demon free you are a weak christian but demon free yeah but you can be a church goer liking the church never being born again and come to church and every sunday or every every day come to church i mean prayed for and have all sorts of manifestation in your life but you are not born again and you become a church goer but a truly born again christian truly born again christian who listens to the word of god who is weak strong whatever you are demon free you are demon free it's only your flesh it's your flesh sir that's all it is that's why the apostle paul talks a lot about the flesh in the book of romans he talks a lot about it he talks even about his own life so many times he want to do things but he can't and so many times he doesn't want to do it but he does it no the apostle paul was what was he knows he knew that he knew he was aware of the desires of his flesh he was aware of his weaknesses but he never went to timothy or barnabas or silas or someone for a deliverance session no it's amazing how we can have that mentality that each time we fall it's a demon each time we fall it's a demon oh i bless god i bless the lord that we can live with all our weaknesses and demon free you know there's something else that i would like to share with you it's about christian counseling things that we call inner healing christian counseling it's like special psychologists in church you know that go deep in your past life deep i mean very very deep up to your third and fourth generation where your forefather your forefather was what was his life what was he doing was involved in witchcraft was involved in i don't know what was involved in in the hitler army was he in luck i don't know what it was involved you know it just dig dig dig deep deep why why are you in that state it must be linked to someone very far away lord help us i tell you lord help us that thing is not to be found in the new testament church nowhere in the new testament church in the epistles of paul in the book of act you will find one place where a christian had to go through intense counseling intense inner healing two three four five hours digging digging in the bin of your past life there's nothing worse than that for your life nothing worse than that in your life that's why again i say when you remove the message of the cross you try to replace it by something else you know you remove the power paul said the message of the cross is the power of god now you remove the message of the cross and you find yourself trying to invent things and you now dig in old testament pattern yeah it's very sad very sad and there are thousands of christians who are still bound oh lord help us you know when you go through these things you are more concerned about your failures about your state that never before it's as if your old past failure life comes back to life again again if you are in christ all things have passed away and all things have become new all things have become you you know i like to read you a scripture in one peter one peter chapter one you know the bible says in the book of exodus that god punishes god punishes the iniquity of fathers upon children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate him that's in the book of exodus chapter 20 when god said that you've got to worship him and believe in him and him alone that was part of the 10 commandments and now we try to bring that scripture in the old covenant lifestyle you know it's as if the blood of jesus christ is not enough to cleanse you and purify your life from all your past and all your sins and all your past life you need to go back to it and make a special prayer a special confession when these 5 000 people stood before peter and as they said to him peter what must we do peter said repent repent and receive the forgiveness of your sins now watch verse 18 knowing that you were not redeemed redeemed can you understand that the word redeemed bought back okay with corruptible things you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold you were not redeemed listen from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers in other words we have been redeemed but not from silver and gold but verse 19 says with the precious blood of christ out of a lamb without blemish and without spot can you see that here the apostle peter says we have been redeemed from what listen from what from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers first second third fourth fifth generation you've been redeemed not by silver and gold but by the precious blood of jesus christ we've been redeemed washed cleansed cleansed completely purified whiter than snow what else do you want redeemed purified let's go one verse further down since you have purified your souls oh when that blood washed me clean it washed my soul it washed everything is me it washed my conscience it washed everything in me since you are purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit in sincere love of the brethren love one another fervently with a pure heart having been born again not of corruptible seed but incorruptible through the word of god which lives and abides forever that's how we became born again when we heard the gospel when we heard the word of god which has the power which is incorruptible seed which has the power to make us become born again oh i tell you we were washed purified cleansed from our past life like never before hallelujah where's your past life sir where's your past life my sister no it's gone it's finished you don't need this special deep counseling five hours i tell you you need more counseling when you come back from this deep counseling you need rest you need deep rest i've been redeemed by the blood hallelujah have you been redeemed through the blood hallelujah no you leave that cross behind we get involved in many things that will complicate our christian life let the word of god the power of god bring life restoration healing everything in your life let the preaching of the cross bring everything you need in your life and you don't have demons and you don't need inner healing or deep counseling am i saying that we don't need to be counseled by anyone i'm not saying that i'm talking about the principle of inner healing being practiced in churches where you've got to sit down with someone who is a graduate in christian counseling who is graduated in inner healing and he makes you go deep it's like you are sitting in front of a psychologist in the world that's why the church has opened its door to the worldly system we don't want to that we don't want the cross in our lives we don't want to give up our lives and deny ourselves and we prefer to submit to worldly system oh god bless our hearts we are set free hallelujah we are set free are you set free my brother we are set free i'm glad i'm glad the word of god comes and put light oh may god bless you all may god bless you all as we finish our session today may the lord bless you and may the word of god enrich your hearts hallelujah i love you all guys