In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of guarding oneself against the deception and destruction of Satan. He highlights the significance of the family unit and how it is being destroyed by government programs and philosophies. The preacher warns against being consumed by various activities that lead families in different directions, causing a lack of commonality. He urges listeners to wait upon the Lord and seek His guidance. The sermon also addresses the bondage of thoughts and the need to reject any traditions or philosophies that are not aligned with God's will. Partial obedience is deemed dangerous, as it gives ground to Satan. The preacher encourages studying the book of Ephesians for spiritual warfare guidance and emphasizes the importance of memorizing and using verses from the Bible. The sermon concludes with a call to get right with God and find freedom in Jesus, as the preacher believes that Satan's kingdom is being established and Jesus' return is imminent.

Well, it's good to be back with you again today on Eagle's Wings. My, we've had some exciting things happening. Things that you just wouldn't believe, unless you've been in Revival and experienced it. To be in a church where people are getting saved all the time by the families. Families getting saved, being baptized, joining the church, excited about growing, getting into Bible studies, new people coming, seeking Jesus. It's just really exciting. As I've shared with you, our ministry is to encourage churches, encourage pastors, encourage ministries that are working for the Lord. And my family and I have purposed before the Lord to be available, to be mobile, to help out where needed. And we have been given some direction by the Lord to back up a pastor. He's invited us to come in and work with him and to do whatever we can. Just the other day, he said, I want you to go over to this certain part of town and cover this trailer court area and take, take another preacher that's also moving in and helping out and just cover this area for Christ. And so as soon as we get moved over there and begin to work for the winter, we're going to back him up. He's got more contacts, he said, than that he could reach for a whole six months. Just, and the list is growing. We want you to experience revival in your church and in your own personal life. We want you to see the freshness of the Holy Spirit as he moves in and as he is allowed to be the Lord of your life or a church. So much of tradition. By the way, many things that we do in our lives and even in our churches are just traditions. Things that we've adopted, that we have done for years and years and years, and we think that because we've done it that way, excuse me, that that's the only way to do it. And we get ourselves into ruts. We get ourselves into binds and actually stifle and grieve the Holy Spirit. We want to encourage you. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. You might need a time, pastor, to back off and wait upon the Lord. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. We want to encourage you to learn to live by the grace of God, to be free. The Lord Jesus said he came to set the captives free, to open the doors of the prisons, to break the bands of those that are in bondage. You know, one of the biggest bondages that we receive into our lives is the bondage of thoughts. Many times we accept thoughts and we give ground to Satan, and these thoughts become the things that bind us. For instance, if someone was to come along to you as a little child in school and say, well, you're dumb. You're not too smart. After a little bit, you'll begin to accept that and receive that into your spirit. And you'll begin to believe it. And, of course, what you believe and what you receive, you become. And in actuality, it's a lie because God didn't make you that way. God made you with a mind that's intelligent, that can think. You can ration things out. You can logically figure things out and think things through. But if you receive a lie that you're not smart, you begin to believe it. And you actually, by receiving that lie, will bring yourself into bondage. We need to understand spiritual warfare. We need to understand that the battleground between God and Satan is the human mind. I was going through a few verses just last week on our thoughts. And I just got started on it. I haven't had enough time to study on it. But this is an amazing area, our thoughts in the mind. And we know that though we walk in the flesh, Paul said, though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. But the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Have you received some thoughts? I believe that we, as the servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, are bombarded continuously with thoughts that are not right. Thoughts that are designed to destroy you, discourage you, defeat you. Every thought that comes into your mind, you should realize that that thought may not be from God. This is why we compare the thought with Scripture. Well, is this what God has said? A thought may come into your mind, pastor, that you need to quit, give up, throw in the towel. What's the use of pastoring this church? Well, you need to bring that thought into captivity. Pulling down imaginations. Lord, is this from you? And then you'll begin to remember God put you there. You'll remember how God led you there, and God put you into that church to minister there, to be the pastor of those people. And it doesn't matter if you've got 25 people or 2,500 people. If God has put you there, then you be faithful. Satan is going to want to destroy and defeat you. So you bring that thought under the, unto the obedience of the Holy Spirit. Lord, is this what you're saying to me? Be careful about circumstances. Everything should be directed in your life through the Word of God. Pray, let God lead you through His Word. Just circumstances alone are dangerous. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. This is 2nd Corinthians 10, 3 through 5. The warfare. Struggles come into your life, or into your church, into your family. Spiritual things are happening. You're not in just a battle with flesh. It's not just that uncle that's giving you a hard time, or that wife, or that husband, or that daughter. No, there are demonic beings Satan wants to destroy, defeat you. For the weapons of our warfare, then, are not carnal, but mighty, through God, to the pulling down of strongholds. We can have victory in our lives, and in our churches. We cast down imaginations, every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. You take that area of conflict, and you begin to pray. Lay it before the Lord, and say, Lord, what about this? And God will give you direction from your word. As you're daily going through the word, He will minister to you, and give you direction. And, of course, you should know the many verses that you can pray for victory. For we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. You can take those verses, and claim victory in situations where you know God wants you to have victory there. And you realize that this battleground going into your life, going on in your life, is between God and Satan, and it's in the human mind. He, as a deceiver, is trying to deceive you. That's his tactic. And someone has shared in a booklet that there's basically three ways that Satan's tactics of deception are used. One, he will try to get you to deceive yourself. And it's real easy to blame others, or say, the devil made me do it. Or whatever. Yet, self-deception is based upon secret lusts and desires, which are allowed to continue in our lives. Sharing a little insight into, from a pamphlet that I'm reading, a booklet that I'm reading, and there's some verses that you need to understand. Galatians 6 3 says, if a man thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. One of the things that Satan might want to do, if you're prone to be proud, is to get you think, to think that you're something, when really you're nothing. Jesus said that we can't do anything without him. Paul said, though, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1 8. Search your heart for sin. The deception of believing that you're without sin is a dangerous thing. Paul said, I know that there dwells no good thing in me. Our very nature is sin. This is why we need to be careful about our words and our thoughts. This is why we need to let the Word of Christ dwell richly in us. If any man among you seem to be religious, embraidleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart. This man's religion is vain. James said, chapter 1, verse 26. We have many religious people around, many that are pious in their words, and pious in their presentation of themselves, but their tongue is deadly. They will slice you, and dice you, and leave you for the birds to eat. And you know that you have to be careful around them. You say something to them, and they'll take it, and they'll spread gossip. You need to watch out for these type of people. They're dangerous people in churches. Dangerous people that are not in the Word and praying. Dangerous situation to have a church where leaders, the spiritual leaders, are in that church and running that church, but yet they're not praying. Prayer meaning they're not to be seen, but yet they may be a deacon, they may be an elder. Dangerous situation. You can be deceived also by others. The Berean believers were praised as being more noble than other Christians, not because of themselves, but because they were searching things in the Scripture. They were looking to see if these things were so. Paul came along and preached to them the gospel, and was telling them things that was new. But yet they looked in the Scriptures, and they found out that it wasn't new. It was something that they had just never seen before. They hadn't believed it. And so the searching out for which the Bereans were commended is the very purpose for God giving you this Word that you will search it out. He wants to encourage you. And Ephesians 5, 6 says, let no man deceive you with vain words. 2nd John 7, for many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ is coming to the flesh. You may have somebody trying to deceive you right now, maybe trying to sell you something, and they're trying to deceive you, or trying to get you into a cult, or to get you to leave your church and go to another church, and if your church isn't preaching the Word of God, then you need to do that. You need to find a good church. So many are bound by tradition. Oh, we've been going here a hundred years, but God's already left there fifty years ago. It's deceptive. Evil men and seducers will wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived, and this deception is going on in the area of thoughts. And these thoughts are entered into churches, entered into minds, entered into families, and they destroy, and you can be deceived by Satan. I can be deceived by Satan. I need to guard myself. Many of the things that are required for us to be successful in the Christian life will have no meaning unless you and I, and you take your family, and we understand that Satan is trying to destroy us. He's going about as a roaring lion looking for whom he can deceive and destroy, and so it's important that we guard ourselves. Fathers, guard your family. I can't emphasize enough the importance of the family. The strength of our land is the family, and the family is being destroyed more and more. There are more and more government programs, government philosophies that are put out and coming to destroy the family, and we are receiving these things that destroy the family. Watch out for activities, so many activities that will, one family's going this direction, another that direction, and you find you're all going different directions. Pretty soon you find you don't have anything in common. Have family times together at meals. Father, guard your family. Even church activities can can get to such an extent that we are divided up between school and church. We are just totally divided up. Remember that Satan wants to destroy, deceive, divide. So we need to be careful about this area. The woman being deceived was in the transgression, 1st Timothy 2 14. Husbands, guard your wives. Be careful about things that they are studying, things that they're going to. Remember that in 2nd Corinthians 11, 13 through 14, for such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ, and no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. He's not this little pointy-tailed redfella running around with horns on his head. He is a beautiful fallen being, and he is a bright light, and he will try to destroy and put himself as truth and light, compared with Scripture. Remember that in Revelation 12, 9, the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceived the whole world. As we move into the last days, those of you that understand prophecy know that we're going to go into a great day of deception, where the whole world will be deceived. And if you're following things that are going on now in the world, you recognize that this may be it. The whole world will be deceived and fall into, maybe this new age movement, which is nothing more than the old age, revived, may be it. The Lord Jesus Christ may come very soon. Don't be deceived into getting involved into things, and you say, well, I don't, I'm not going to have time now for a couple years to serve Christ, because I'm getting into this business deal, or this certain situation, but after that, I'm going to have more money, I'm going to have more time. You don't have that promise. You have today. Today is the day to work for the Lord. Don't be deceived. Be very careful about what you get involved with, what you get tied up to, your commitments. Satan's goal in deception, by the way, is to gain control in your life. If you'll receive thoughts and philosophies and ideas, and I was reading over in Colossians, and I've been sharing with you a little bit on Colossians. I was just going back over this, how there were five eras in chapter 2 that they needed to watch out for. There was in chapter 2, verse 4, and this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. Be careful of those that are very smooth and persuasive with their words, and then there's also in verse 8, I'd shared with you, beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy. This is the area of thoughts and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, and after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. And my friend, we're talking about philosophies and thoughts that enter into Christians' lives and minds, and into churches, and destroy. Are you seeing people saved in your church? Are you seeing God the Holy Spirit working in a powerful way, and God is glorified? Or have you received some traditions or something that has deadened your church to the point where nobody gets saved? Everything is just sort of like a factory. You go through this class, or you get to this certain age, or you go through this little ritual, and you're saved. But there's no personal commitment. There's no brokenness for sin. There's no repentance. Salvation is just something that's added to your life like another word. Have you been deceived? Have you accepted a tradition or a philosophy into your life, into your church? That's not what God wants. Satan's goal in deception is to gain control. He gains ground and control in your life. Any disobedience to the Word of God results in giving ground to Satan. If God has showed you something, and you haven't obeyed on it, then you have given ground to Satan. And watch out for partial obedience. God shows you something, and you just partially obey. It's dangerous. It's through surrendered ground in thoughts, emotions, decisions, that Satan has given ground in the life of family members. Read the book of Ephesians. This is a powerful book. Powerful book for spiritual warfare. In chapter 4, we're instructed, neither give place to the devil. You read it. You look at it. You'll get great encouragement. You get to study in the Word of God. Find in verses that you can memorize and use. You say, man, I'm so defeated. There's no hope for my life. There is hope for your life. And by the way, if you feel like that, you've just accepted a thought that's a lie. There is hope for your life. Your life may be in such a mess right now, that you say, there's no way out. There's absolutely no way out. You've accepted a lie. Jesus is the way out. He can do what you think is impossible. If you haven't received Christ as your Lord, you have no power for victory over your life. Your life will be under the complete dictate of Satan. He can do what he wants to, what he wants to with you, because you belong to him. And if you die without Christ, you'll go to an eternity. Without Christ, you'll go to a hell that was prepared for Satan and his angels. But right now, right as you're listening to me, I want you to understand you don't have to stay a captive. Jesus can set you free. Not the church. Not me, but Jesus. He's the one that died on Calvary. He shed his blood to pay the price for your sins, to set you free from the penalty of sin and the power of sin. You need forgiveness. You know that guilt that you have? You live with that guilt? He can cleanse you and set you free. Do you know what it's like to live without guilt? Do you know what it's like to live with a clear conscience? I don't believe many Christians do. I don't believe many of us understand what it's like to be free. You men, do you know what it's like to walk down the street and not have to look at every woman that passed by? Do you know what it's like to be free from lust? You women, do you know what it's like to be free from fear? Jesus can set you free. If you've never received him as your Savior, let me encourage you right now to consider giving him your life. You say, Lord, I know that I'm a sinner. I'm lost. I'm in trouble. I'm in bondage. My life is out of control. I need help. I have no hope. You just call out to him. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Ask him to save you. Invite him into your life. Repent of your sins. Some of you need to think this over. Some of you are ready right now to do it. Some of you, God has brought you to this point right now, to tune in this morning, just to hear this. You say, this is the strangest program I ever heard. This program, my friend, I hope it's just for the glory of God. If it's not, then it needs to go off the air. There's a lot of programs that shouldn't even be on the air. And if this one isn't supposed to be on the air, then then that's fine. All I want is God to be glorified. And if he can come into your life right now and be glorified, that's all that counts. Invite him to come into your life. You've been struggling. You've been going to this program. You've been searching. You've been going to this church and that church, when all you may be, all you really need is Jesus. And you, Christian, you've been saved. You've been washed by the blood of the Lamb. But you've been worrying. You've been fretting. You've been under bondage. You've been struggling. Come back to the cross. That's where you were set free from your sins. Come back to the cross. That's where you'll be set free from your guilt. Anything that the Holy Spirit shows you, you do. If he brings to something right now that you need to make right, you need to make restitution with a family member, then you make it right. You can't. You can't have fellowship with God. Remember Jesus said, what are you going to do? Bring your gift to the altar? And you're there. You remember that your brother has something against you? He said, you leave your gift right there, and you go get right with your brother. We make a mockery of Christ by pretending to come to church and worship. And you're fixing to go to church this morning, and you just had an argument with your wife, with your husband. You're out of sorts with that relative. That's a mockery. And what we're seeing in the church that God's moving us into to work for, I don't know how long, is people are standing up in church and making things right. They're standing up and making restitution. They're standing up and saying, I did this, and I want to confess it, and I want to get it right. There's people that head down to the prayer room, and they'll pray. Are you seeing this in your church? Is there a sensitive spirit to the Holy Spirit working? If there isn't, ground may have been given to Satan, and you've been deceived. His goal and deception is to gain ground for control. He controls some churches totally. They're so ritualistic, and they have so much money, that they'll function for till the rapture, till the tribulation, without God. Never miss a beat. Remember, any disobedience to the Word of God results in giving ground to Satan. What is it? One of the biggest areas is our thoughts. Are you giving ground to Satan in your thoughts? Are you receiving things that are a lie? Has someone told you something about yourself that you're a failure, and you've received it? I know for years and years and years, I've received from from certain family members lies that I was a failure. Every time I got one of them, I'd go through this drilling. Well, what are you doing? How much money are you making? And all of this was programmed to destroy me, putting thoughts in there that I wasn't successful. And the fact of the matter was that God was blessing that there was success. There was victory, and then I'd get to them, and they would begin to beat me down with these thoughts, these questions. And it's just been a tremendous liberating experience to realize that I didn't have to receive that stuff. I cast down that stuff. Quit giving place would mean in this context to give an opportunity to the devil. Don't give him an opportunity. He'll take it. Ground must be retaken before Satan's power is broken. I've been going over this stuff with you in the last few weeks because it's important. It's very important, and I believe God has got you tuned in so you'll listen. We are going into a new age of warfare, not just a new age in this world, and we don't know if this is it or not. I would say this is it. Jesus is coming soon. Satan's getting his kingdom set up. I'm not predicting any dates, though. This may all fizzle out. But we don't have time to be playing around. And we are encouraging you to get right with God. There's great freedom in Jesus. When a devil-possessed man was brought to Jesus, remember, Jesus taught his disciples some important truths about dealing with unclean spirits. He said, when the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through the dry places, seeking rest and findeth none. And then he said, I will return into my house from whence I came out. And when he has come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. And then he goeth and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there. And the last state of that man is worse than the first. Some of you are experiencing this right now. You've seen the light. God has showed you the truth. He showed you the cross, and you've gone back. A dangerous thing. If you've received Christ as your Savior, and God has showed you light, and He has set you free, and you know your sins were forgiven, and then you go back. It's a dangerous, dangerous place to go back. Any position away from the cross is dangerous. As a believer, if you've gone back, your life can be filled with torment. You can invite demons to destroy you, to distract you, to defeat you, to discourage you, and they will harass your life. They will harass your family, and they are just pests, like a fly. They have no more power. You are are far more powerful, because the Bible says greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. And the only power they have is the power that you've given them. This is why we shouldn't be fearful. That gives ground to Satan. Well, these things I've been sharing with you to encourage you. Our time's about gone for today. I'm just sitting here at a mic, talking. I'm not preaching. I'm just talking. If the Spirit of God is speaking to you, then do something about it. I have a lot of things that I can share with you on this. I'm not sharing a lot of stories. I could share with you many, many stories. I know of one man who had joined into a certain organization, and through the revival meetings, he realized that he had given ground to Satan by belonging to that certain organization. And that's a powerful organization, and Satan is the head of it, and many Christians have gotten into it. But through the revival meetings, he realized that he had given ground to Satan, and he faced a great struggle. But he got the victory, and he took back his ring, and he took back the tokens that went with that, and destroyed them. He got rid of that stuff. He denounced it, and got out of it, and was set free. Today, he's an elder in this church that I'm fixing to join in and help out with. Tremendous, tremendous testimony of being free. Are you free? As Jesus set you free. Ground must be retaken before Satan's power is broken. I've shared with you these things. You revoke past consent, reprove the works of darkness, remove all provision for the flesh, resist the devil. And what's the scripture say? Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Oh, I pray for you. Father, thank you for this time today with these folks. I'm just a voice. They don't even know what I look like, most of them. But I pray that this would be an encouragement to them, that they could find liberty and freedom in Jesus, and that Jesus would truly be the Lord of their lives, and not some other power. Set them free. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for what you've done for me. Until next time, Lord Jesus, you continue to be glorified in our lives. In your name, we pray. Amen. Well, trust God will richly bless you this day, my friend. Until next week, you keep on keeping on.