Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes the ongoing 'Holy War' in the lives of believers, where the Holy Spirit is reclaiming His property—us. He discusses the identity crisis faced by Christians, who often forget that they are not their own but belong to Christ, and how this misunderstanding leads to sin and bondage. By referencing 1 Corinthians 6, he highlights the importance of recognizing our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit, meant to express Christ's desires rather than our own. The sermon calls for a transformation in thinking and living, urging believers to yield to the Holy Spirit and embrace their identity in Christ to experience true victory over sin. Ultimately, Beach encourages the church to awaken to their true identity and the power of Christ within them.

He's reclaiming his property, beloved. He's reclaiming his property, beloved. This morning, with the help of God's Spirit, and His Word, I want to be able to share a message that indeed confirms what the Holy Spirit is doing in our midst even now. He is reclaiming his property. Beloved, it is my conviction and firm belief, and I pray that God will continue to enable my conviction and my firm belief to grow more and more and more insomuch that I become fully consumed in this conviction and belief. And that firm conviction and belief that is welling up within my soul, within my mind, that is a predominant theme in the Word of God, is found in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, beginning in verse number 12. May I suggest this morning, and if I would title this message this morning, I would entitle it, The Holy War. You know that there has been declared a holy war in the East, and those who are adherents to the Muslim religion, who follow the Quora, have been encouraged and commanded by their leaders to begin a holy war, which is basically an all-out effort to destroy and deliver themselves from the aliens that have come into their area who are a threat to their shrines and their religious customs. Those aliens, of course, happen to be the armies that are there defending Saudi Arabia. And they have declared a holy war. But, beloved, there is a holy war that is occurring now, and it is the true holy war, and this is the holy war of which we want to bring your attention this morning, found in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, beginning with verse... Well, let's begin in verse number 9. 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verse number 9. Paul is dealing with a number of issues at this time. First of all, in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, he deals with sin in the congregation. There was sexual immorality occurring in the congregation, and the believers were not humbling themselves and weeping before God, mourning over this sin, but rather they were puffed up, Paul said. In other words, they weren't dealing with the problem. They were pretending that it wasn't there. And oh, how dangerous this is. How dangerous this is. When the Christian begins to pretend that there's nothing wrong when the Lord is possibly wanting to deal with an area of sin, perhaps in our life or perhaps in the life of a local church. Pretending that there was nothing wrong. And Paul, of course, loved the Corinthians with the love of Christ. And he had a very tender heart toward the Corinthians. But he also had a rage. He had a rage that was in him against the devil. And he knew how subtle the serpent was. He knew how tricky Satan was. And it broke Paul's heart to see how the serpent was mingling in the church at Corinth and causing all kinds of problems to occur. Taking advantage of the Corinthian immaturity. Taking advantage of many of the saints. And this is what inspired Paul to be so tender toward the Corinthian church, but yet on the other hand to be so firm and so definite. And in chapter number 6 of 1 Corinthians, we find that Paul is beginning to deal with a problem that had occurred in the Corinthian church. One that was inspiring the believers to take other believers to court. They were having problems among themselves. And instead of getting together as mature Christians and talking the problems out and allowing the attitude of Christ and the spirit of humility in order to reign in their thinking, they were acting carnal. They were wanting to take people to court and sue them. And Paul here in verse number 9 is describing those people that the Corinthians were subjecting themselves to as their judge. See, they were Christians and they were going to the court and they were having these kind of people be their judge over matters that they themselves should have handled. And I'm reading this in context in order to be able to come to the Scripture that we want to deal with this morning that is becoming that conviction and that belief that I want to consume myself and I'm praying that it will consume you also. Verse number 9 after Paul deals with how they were doing wrong by bringing these people to court, how they should have settled it among themselves. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived. Neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you, but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. Now when Paul refers here in verse number 12, all things are lawful unto me, he is not referring to those things that are unlawful. Here many times Christians use this scripture to say, well, there's really nothing that you can do as a Christian that's wrong, because the Bible says that all things are lawful unto you. Not so. Paul is speaking within the context of Christian liberty. But he's saying even though as Christians we are free, we're not under any legalistic laws, yet I will not allow my Christian freedom to bring me into the bondage or servitude of anything, because then my Christian freedom becomes perverted. The very reason why I became free as a Christian was to be the Lord's bondservant. So the only slavery, if I might use that word, that should be operating in our life as Christians is the slavery of our relationship to Christ. He is our master, we are the servant. Paul called himself the bondservant of the Lord Jesus Christ. So Paul here is explaining that though I'm free, yet I must not allow my freedom to bring me into the captivity of anything, lest something other than Christ Himself become my master. Who masters you this morning? What masters you this morning? Verse number 13, meats for the belly and the belly for meats. Here Paul is talking about the legalistic convictions regarding ceremonial eating and things, but Paul puts it in proper perspective. He said meats for the belly and the belly for meats, but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. Now beloved, before we go on, we must bring this out in order for us to be able to comprehend the heart of the Lord in what God is saying and the moving of the Holy Spirit this morning. Let us read verse number 13 again, the latter part. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. Now let me ask a question. Who are we as redeemed children of God? We are the body of Christ. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Now Paul is helping these Corinthian believers to make a transition that they have failed to do thus far in their Christian experience, which has become the root of their problem. They are suffering from an identity crisis. The Corinthian believers are suffering from an identity crisis. They are still walking around as men who suppose that they belong to themselves and that it is the desires of their own heart that ought to be expressed through their mortal bodies. And Paul is showing that this is a fundamental error in their thinking which is resulting in their continued captivity to sin. You see, he says the body is not for fornication. My human body and the body of Christ at large is not for fornication. In other words, your body is not to become that which expresses the desires of sin. You see, the new identity is I am in Christ now. We must become conscious of God in us. For prior to our conversion in Ephesians chapter 2, we can go there very quickly in order that we can substantiate these sayings by the word of God which is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. Prior to our conversion, Ephesians chapter 2, And you have he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. What the apostle Paul is saying here is you Ephesian believers prior to your conversion, prior to the day when you experienced life in Jesus Christ, you were dead in sin and in trespasses. You were alienated from the life of God. Listen, your only identity, your only communion that you had was with the sin that lurked within. In other words, Paul is saying, your body became an avenue by which sin expressed itself. That's the old identity. When we were dead to Christ, we were alive to sin. Meaning, when we were dead to Christ, Christ did not express his holy desires in us and through us. Our tongue did not speak the words that are seasoned with salt in order to minister grace to the hearers. Our minds did not think the holy thoughts of God's word and the holy thoughts of righteousness and holiness. Our hands did not work the works of God. Our feet did not take us into places that are pleasing to God. But rather, our tongues spoke the corrupt words of the devil and our sinful heart. Our hands worked the work of our own selfish interests and the interests of the devil. Our bodies became the means by which sin and the abyss of wickedness within us expressed itself. This is the old identity. This is just touching the iceberg of the depths of the fall. When Adam fell, his body became the very means by which his sin would express itself. And here these Corinthian believers were confused. They were walking around as Christians, but yet they were not identifying themselves with the new life that lived within them. Thereby, they were yet being captive to those things that Christ pronounced as dead and cursed and to be forever laid aside. You see? And you hath he quickened, we're going to go back to 1 Corinthians 6, who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world. Now see what we're doing here? We are seeing a life identified with the old. See, our life identified with the old is characterized by walking according to the course of this world. That's the old. That's what we used to do. We had no other alternative. According to the prince of the power of the air. So not only did we walk according to the course of this world, but we were walking in accordance to the prince of the power of this air. That is, we were in obedience to and in allegiance to the devil. Which meant our mind became the place where he thought his thoughts. Our body became the place where he expressed his wicked desires. There's the old. Oh, the redemption of Christ. According to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now walketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation. Now the word conversation there suggests our lifestyle. Not just our speech, but our entire lifestyle. Our entire lifestyle, when it's identified with Adam, was completely corrupt and our bodies became the expression not of Christ, not of righteousness, not of holiness, not of goodness, but of the things of the flesh. Now he's comparing here. Among whom also we had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh. Our lifestyle was characterized by the lusts of the flesh manifesting themselves through the body. Now remember our text. Paul said the body is not for fornication. The body is not for fornication. That characterized the old way of life. Fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. And we're by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened. That means made alive. We were only alive to sin, but now we are alive to who? To Christ. If so be that Christ dwells in you, you are alive to Christ. He quickened us together with Christ. By grace ye are saved. Now, going back to 1 Corinthians 6. 1 Corinthians 6, latter part of verse 13. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord. And the Lord for the body. And God hath both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by his own power. Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Now here Christ Jesus is the head and this is the body. Now, if this is the head, which is Christ himself, Christ Jesus, then if we are his body, then tell me, whose desires should be expressed in these bodies if he is the head? If this is the body of which Christ Jesus is the head, then the desires of Christ, the desires of the head, should be expressing themselves through every single member of the body. Every single member of the body. And this is how then the body of Christ glorifies Jesus. Because the body of Christ becomes that visible means by which Christ himself expresses what he is. Identity crisis. Now what's the holy war? The holy war consists of the devil's attempts to keep the church of God captive to their old identity in Adam, so as to prevent them from recognizing that they, the body of Christ corporately and the individual members, that means you and me, so as to get us not to realize that both the body of Christ and us individually do not belong to ourselves. We are not our own. We belong to the one who redeemed us, listen, whose body we have become. You are an individual member of the body of Christ. Now let's develop this thought. The holy war. Keep the church from understanding that eternal life in the person of the Holy Spirit dwells in them. Keep the church from understanding that Christ in them has become the victory over everything that they were in Adam. Keep the church from understanding that it is no longer their desires that are to be expressed through their body and through their minds, but it is the desires of the Holy Christ that lives within them. Keep the church from realizing that they have been impregnated with the very presence of eternal God. Keep the church from recognizing that through the operation of faith and by yielding and by coming to God, they can become in Christ victorious over all the works of the flesh and the enemy. Keep the church from realizing this. Ah, devious plan, isn't it? Keep us walking around thinking like the world does. Well, I'm just a person. Hey, hey, life? What's life? Just get in, make a living, try to be successful, get enough so that you can be happy? Keep the church from realizing they've been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Now they're placed as witnesses in this world. Now they've been given opportunity to reflect in their very action the life of the Son of God by the way, which life is greater than any power of the devil. Keep the church from understanding their union with eternal God through Christ. Because the moment the light shines, and a believer, not just a believer, can you imagine the corporate body of Christ? Everyone that's truly one of God's? Can you imagine an awakening beginning to occur where suddenly we come to realize that we are in Christ, Christ dwells in us, and now I have been given the blessed opportunity to arise morning by morning and get in tune with Christ's life in me and put down Adam's life by virtue of abiding in Christ and letting His life express Himself through the day? What a revival would occur! What a revival! It wouldn't be this revival of emotionalism and gifts where there's no change, but it would be a revival, it would be a reliving of Christ again, walking through His people, a reliving of Christ, walking in His people, going to the supermarket. I wonder what it would be like if Jesus went to the supermarket. Well, if there's any Christians in there, He's there in them. See, remember, the body of Christ. The body of Christ. It is Christ the head, Jesus is the head, He is God, He alone is God, the body does not become God, but the body has the joy of being joined to the head in the Spirit. Well, read that. And as the body yields to Christ, then Christ Himself can live through us. What is your victory over every area of conflict that is presently bombarding you as a Christian? Christ in you. The hope of glory. Now it gets better. Now, by the way, I forgot to mention, verse 14, "...and God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by His own power." I personally don't believe that He's talking about the future resurrection at the last day. I believe Paul here is referring to the raising up of the Christian out of the identity of Adam into the identity of Christ where victory reigns. There's the resurrection that Jesus wants the church to experience before the trump. The present resurrection. Jesus said, "...I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." Oh, that we may live in His presence. That we may reign as kings. Remember, Paul said, Oh, I wish you did reign as kings. He was talking to the Corinthians. What was he talking about? That they would get a kingdom and get a throne and sit down on it and have people serve Him? No. To reign as kings in this life means that in Christ, by allowing Christ's life to become our life, we reign over the flesh. We reign over the devil. We reign over the lower powers of Adam in us. And in Christ, we find victory evermore. Verse number 15, Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of a harlot? God forbid. What? Know ye not that he which is joined to the Lord is one body? For two, saith he, shall be one flesh. You see, one body. The head and the body. One body. We who are joined to the Lord are one spirit. Christ dwells in us. Christ in us. See that? Christ in us. But he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit. Now, free fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body. But he that committed fornication sinneth against his own body. What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? Do you see this now? Ye are not your own. You see, we walk around in an identity that we belong to ourself, that we are accountable to ourself, that our standard of judgment is what we think. But that whole frame of thinking must be brought down to subjection to the word of God that says, now that we are Christians, we can't think that way anymore. We have been bought with a price. We are Christ's possession. We are his body. It is his holy desires that are to be manifested in us. This union of being the body of Christ suggests that we have the same interests of Christ, the same service and burden as Christ, the same outlook as Christ, and we are in union with his desires. Now listen, Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5. Here is the same teaching, but in another place. The same teaching, but in another place. Ephesians chapter 5, beginning in verse number 21. Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God, wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the Savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it unto himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as what? As their own bodies. Now, beloved, Paul's taking us through a transition here. He's introducing the Ephesians in this few Scriptures, he's introducing them to the same thoughts that he was teaching the Corinthians. Now, let's read this slowly and understand. Men ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife, what? Loveth himself. Now watch this. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourished and cherished it, even as the Lord the church. Beloved, can you see what the Holy Spirit is trying to show us here? The Bible says that the man, if he loves his wife, okay, this equals what? Loving his own flesh. Now, understand this now. The man who loves his wife is like loving his own flesh. Verse number 29. For no man yet hated his own flesh, but nourished it and cherished it. So Paul here is saying a man does not hate his own flesh, but he nourishes himself and takes care of himself, even as the Lord the church. The idea here is what? Here's what Paul is trying to say. Christ considers the church to be what? His own flesh. In that, he considers himself so intimate with you, so involved with you, that he considers you to be his own body, his own flesh. Now, I want to ask a question. How many wake up morning by morning and affirm the moment you awake, I am a member in the body of Christ, I have been redeemed by him, I am not my own, Christ lives in me and considers me to be his body. Listen, if you consider you to be your body, then you will do what you want through your body, right? But on the other hand, if you consider you to be his body, Christ's body, then it will be Christ that doeth what he wants through you, as you agree and yield to the word of God. You see the transition we're making here? We arise and it's the society, it's the world that we live in. I wake up, I'm me, and I associate me, it's my body, it's my life, it's my plans, it's my job, it's my money, it's my house, it's my interests, you see? An identity crisis. The word of God says that Christ doesn't look at us as our own, he looks at us as his own. You've got to think. You've got to think. Christ doesn't even look at you the way you look at you, and the way I look at me. He doesn't look at you as one who is, this is my body, and I could do... No, Christ says, no, wait a minute, you are my body. As my body, I've redeemed you for one purpose, so that I can have a body to express what I am through. The man loves his wife, it's like loving his own flesh. Why do you think the Lord takes care of us so much? Why do you think the Lord watches over us so intimately? What man doesn't watch over his own flesh? What man doesn't take time to take care of himself? Why does the Lord take so much interest and cherish us and nourish us? Because we are his flesh, and bone, and body. You say, Brother Phil, I never thought of it that way. Well, here, let's read it then. Ephesians chapter 5, verse 30. Watch this now. For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. There it is. Black and white. Now can you see this, beloved? Now can you see the tears that were falling from Paul's eyes when he wrote this in 1 Corinthians chapter 6? Can you imagine this? Listen, can you imagine this? Now the body, now the body, which is his flesh, and his bone, in which he dwells, now the body, is not for fornication. Can you think of such a thought? Can you think of such a thought? We're just using fornication as one sin, but beloved, when God shows you this whole thing, it's not just fornication, it's any sin. Now can you see defiling the temple of God? What does Christ wish for his body? The expression of what he is. Can you see it? Now the body is not for fornication. Here Paul, understanding this magnificent revelation of what the church really is, here he sees the very members of Christ. Did you forget that God dwells in you? And that Christ is so intimately involved in your spirit? And when you yield or turn to that which is not pleasing to the Lord, you say, hey, it's my body, I can do with it what I want. No, you can't do with it what you want. It's not your body anymore. Listen, you're taking the member of Christ, and what? Subjecting it to something. Taking the members of Christ. See, this goes back to what we preached on Wednesday, accountability. Oh Lord, we are in need of the Holy Spirit to reveal these things. We would cease from demanding. We would cease from justifying all of the things that we do to please ourself and say, hey, God doesn't deal with all, beloved. When you see that you are not your own and that you are a member of Christ, something happens in your life. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord. And the Lord for the body. So what's this body for? The Lord Jesus. What is my human body for? In the natural, apart from Christ. My human body is the vessel by which I express what I want to do. I want to go get a drink? I get a drink. My human body, I want to go to the mall and buy something? My body takes me so I fulfill what I want to do. Beloved, the magnitude and depths of what the church is astounds us. But now that we are redeemed, it's not our body anymore. It's His. And He wants to establish His reign in us. 2 Corinthians 6. Another Scripture. Verse 14. Now, be honest. Is anyone utterly confused and totally distraught and you can't understand anything? Besides the children. Anybody at all. Because, beloved, I don't want to drown, but yet this has to be communicated. This is what will determine and make the difference between the victorious Christian and the Christian that is defeated. You realize it's not your power anymore, but it's His working in you. 2 Corinthians 6. Verse 14. Now, we're going to get a whole new meaning on these verses. A whole new meaning. Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? Now, can you see it? And what concord hath Christ with Beel? Now, what do you mean, what concord? That means what fellowship has Christ with Beel? Beel represents the devil. In other words, listen, do you see yourself as part of the body of Christ? If you are part of the body of Christ and you make up His body on earth, if you make up His body on earth, then what fellowship do you, in your new identity as in Christ, have with anything that the devil's doing? How can you subject the very body and flesh, that is, the earthly body and flesh of Christ, which you are, the Bible says it, how can you subject that to that which is of the devil? Here's why we do, because we don't see ourself the way Christ sees us, and that's why we do it. We continue because we don't see ourselves as that accountable to God. We are accountable to God to the extent that we have lost possession of our own self. We belong to Him now. This is true with the baby Christian as well as with the mature Christian. Now watch this. Verse 16. What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? Now who is he talking about? The Jewish synagogue? Was he saying get the temples out of the Jewish synagogue or get the idols out of the Jewish synagogue? No. Who is the temple of God he was referring to here? The church. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and that God dwells in you by the Spirit? For ye are the temple of the living God. As God hath said, here it goes, I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing. And I will receive you and will be a father unto you and ye shall be my sons. Now here's the word sons in comparison to children. Sons and daughters are those who recognize their identity in Christ and allow themselves through yielding and responding to the initiating work of God and the grace of God, allow themselves to be lost in Him. Listen to what it does. It changes your thinking, it changes your actions, it changes the whole way you do things because you become keenly aware you are not your own. And I will be a father and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Now you see? In other words, Paul is saying now that we realize that we are the body of Christ, let us cleanse ourselves. Now what is it to cleanse ourselves? Yield, take responsibility, say no to what God says say no to, say yes to Him, walk softly before the Lord and let Jesus fill His temple with His glory. The devil says let's do everything within our power to keep them blind to who they are in Christ. Because the moment they awake and realize who they are in Christ, we are defeated. Because we already are defeated. Christ has defeated the devil. He's defeated the flesh. He's defeated sin. And as we awake through the realization of our identity with Christ and through the working of the Holy Spirit, this begins to become a reality in us, the victory of Christ reigns and the devil is put down. So beloved, in closing I want to encourage you, expect God to lay hold of your life. And when God lays hold of your life, you can expect a change in who you thought you were. A change in your thinking, which will result in a change in your actions and glorious victory will follow. Now how many thought Christianity involved such a work of transformation in the way you think? How many ever thought Christianity delivered you from the identity of who you were and put you into the body of Christ where you become a vessel in another one's hands? Doesn't happen through passivity. We don't have time. There's so many angles then that you can keep going at in order to solidify this. Some Christians think this happens through passivity. You commit intellectual suicide and you just become completely passive and God moves you. No, it's not passivity at all. It is your human spirit. You are in agreement with God. You agree with God and then God works through you. He doesn't bypass your mind. He doesn't bypass what you are. He works through you. He becomes the life in you working through you. It is not passivity, but it is active cooperation with the Holy Spirit and Christ Himself. Well, we'll have to call it, we'll have to bring it to an end. We're going to continue on these very things. Well, thank you, sweetie. We're going to continue on these very things and continue to solidify our identity in Christ. You know when people really get filled with the Holy Ghost and the power of God starts moving? When God begins to show us who we are, we recognize our need for Christ more than ever and then that's when it all starts happening. So, be encouraged. Don't be dismayed by the attacks of the devil. Don't be dismayed when he comes suddenly and disrupts things. Just remember the song, On Christ the solid rock I stand. God wants to bring a real work in our life and He's doing it. Praise the Lord. Let's just have a word of prayer. Colette, you want to go to the piano? Father, thank You for the Word of God for Your holy presence this morning. Lord, we confess that we need You. We need the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of who You are and who we are in Christ. Lord, do it, I pray. And we will give You praise forever.