In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of seeking the heart of Christ and being after the kingdom of God. They highlight the authority and power that believers have through the keys of the kingdom and the Holy Spirit. The preacher encourages the congregation to trust in Jesus and serve Him faithfully, preaching the gospel. They also discuss the need to resist the enemy and submit to God, referencing James 4:7-10. The sermon concludes with a call to repentance and obedience to the Word of God in order to overcome spiritual warfare.

So we are excited to continue on our program and our main theme for the last weeks and even starting again is what the church must know. What the church must know, and today the title of our message is spiritual warfare. What the church must know about spiritual warfare. Are we doing the right thing? Is there any extreme about this subject? What does the Bible say? I believe that we need to go into the Bible and see what is the heart of God and see the heart of Christ, the heart of these apostles who wrote the Bible so that we can fully live according to the pure doctrine of Christ. So I would like you to open your Bibles with me in the book of Ephesians chapter six because this is the main scripture that the church refers to when we talk about spiritual warfare, spiritual warfare. Are we involved in spiritual warfare? To what point? In the book of Ephesians chapter six, verse 10 to eight, I believe the apostle Paul gives us a very clear picture, a very, very clear picture, and he gives us the secret. The secret to walk in victory. In fact, that's the purpose of the apostle Paul when he talks to the church in this part of scripture. He wants us to walk in victory. He wants us not to backslide and to fall back in sin. That's the main objective. He wants us to walk a righteous life, a pure life, pleasing to God. That's the objective. That's the aim for the apostle Paul to write this scripture. And he says in chapter six, verse 10, finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. This is the call. This is what the apostle Paul is looking forward for all of us. The call is to be strong, is to make sure that we are growing spiritually, that we are walking in maturity, that we more and more become a whole man according to the full stature of Christ. That's what's in his heart to transmit to the church. And he goes on and he says, put on the old armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. But against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the old armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand and having done all to stand. In other words, be ready for the attack of the enemy. Be ready when the enemy attack. Be strong. That's the call. That's what Paul is calling us, to be strong so that when the enemy attacks, we can stand firm when he attacks and win the victory. So the call is to be strong. And Paul is talking about the attacks of the enemy and the secret to stand against it. The secret to stand against it. We need to be clear. And I believe that the church has understood that to be able to win the victory, we need to fight every demon, every evil spirit, every principality, fight it, bind it, paralyze it so that we may walk in victory. I believe we need to put things straight and understand the heart of the apostle Paul who desires us to walk in victory. Be strong. Be strong so as to stand when the attack comes. You know, the attack of the enemy can last for a short time or can last for a long time, depending on how we deal with it. Depending on how we deal with it in the spirit. Because the apostle Paul says, we are not fighting against flesh and blood. It's not a natural fight. It's in the spirit. The attack of the enemy against Christians is in the spirit. That's why it is absolutely necessary for us to be strong in the Lord so that we might stand and refute the attack of the enemy. So the old purpose of what Paul is saying here is to make sure that we are spiritually strong. But if we are a young Christian and we are somehow spiritually weak, the Lord will give us the grace to stand and he will not allow the enemy to pass the line somehow because God is our protector, he's our shield and he's looking after us. But the call for every Christian is to grow, is to become mature so that in the evil day, when the enemy attacks, when the enemy attacks, we are strong enough to deal with it. We are strong enough to resist them. We are strong enough not to be deceived by him. We are strong enough not to backslide, not to go back to where we came from before we were born again. That's the purpose of that. The purpose of this scripture is not to teach us how to go into spiritual warfare, how to enter into spiritual warfare. And some people have gone even further to teach the body of Christ about cosmic spiritual warfare. And they spend more time serving the Lord than preaching the word of God and serving him. They spend more time fighting the enemy, binding and losing, which we are going to look at later on, than serving Jesus Christ. They spend more time into spiritual warfare than serving the Lord. That's not the purpose of the Apostle Paul. That's not the heart of the Apostle Paul. He wants us to serve the Lord. And when the enemy attacks, we are strong enough, spiritually strong enough to be able to stand when the attack comes and resist the enemy and walk in victory. That's the purpose here. It's not to lead us into fighting every demon on earth. If that was the case, we would spend more time doing other things than serving Jesus Christ. Our spiritual armor does not consist of quoting scripture and binding all demons and all evil spirits. It is not a battle of words. It's a spiritual state. It's our maturity. That's why the Apostle Paul encourages us to be strong in the spirit, to be strong, to be able to deal with the attacks of the enemy. How many of you believe that our authority lies in the righteousness of God as a gift, in a life of righteousness, in our faith, in the revelation that we carry in our hearts, in the road that we are walking on, which is the road of the cross, in the truth of God's word written on the hearts, on the tables of our hearts? That's the authority that we have. It's in the name of Jesus Christ, because of who we are, because of what we carry in our hearts. That's why I believe that it is the state of our hearts. It's who we are. And the Apostle Paul encourages us to be strong, to be strong in the Lord. And he states that our old armor, it's who we are spiritually. It's what we believe. It's our faith in the cross. It's our faith in Christ. It's our prayer life. It's our relationship with Christ. It's a truth that we carry. It's a pure doctrine of Christ in our hearts. This is our spiritual state. That is the call that the Apostle Paul is pressing to us, is asking us, asking all Christians, be strong. If we are not strong, we can court scripture. We can fight every demon. We can bind every demon. We won't have the victory. The victory is what we carry in our hearts. The victory lies on the road of the cross. The victory lies in what we believe, in our faith, in the truth that we carry. Our lifestyle, our relationship with Christ, if that is acquired, then when the enemy attack, we shall stand. We shall resist him when he attacks. It's not a permanent fight, a permanent warfare, where we have to deal with all the evil spirits in the heavenly places. We will be confused that way. That's why we need to understand what is the call here. And if we look at James chapter four, verse seven to 10, it's the same call. When the Apostle James tells us that we need to resist the enemy, what does he say? Firstly, chapter four, verse seven, the book of James. He says, resist, therefore submit to God. Submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Isn't that simple, brothers and sisters? Isn't that simple? When our feet are strongly founded in the pure doctrine of Christ, when we are walking on the road of the cross, amen? So we are submitting our lives to God. We are giving our lives to the Lord. That's where is our authority. Of course, it is in the name of Jesus Christ. Yes, but it's a state of heart. It's a lifestyle. And James says, therefore, submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up, and he will give you the victory, and he will not allow the enemy to crush you down. And when I read these verses from Apostle James, I understand that he is calling us to the same lifestyle, to desire to be strong in the Lord, to desire that relationship with Christ, to desire that walk of righteousness, to understand the gift of righteousness, to live for the revelation of Christ in our hearts, to desire the pure doctrine of Christ in our lives, and God himself will give us the victory by his grace. Then we'll be able to carry the authority of God in the name of Jesus Christ. And when the enemy attacks in the evil day, when he attacks, you see, the problem is not when he attacks. The problem is getting ready before he attacks. That's where the problem lies. If we are not ready, if we do not stand and walk on that road of the cross where our lives is being dealt with by the Lord, and we are being strengthened in the power of his might, and we are not becoming stronger and stronger in the Lord, then we will have trouble when he attacks. So Paul is not telling us to go and fight every demon in the heavenly places. He's drawing us to become strong. That's the call. Strengthen yourself in the Lord, so that in the evil day, when the enemy attacks, you might stand. I want to stand. I don't mind how many times he attacks, but when he attacks, I resist him. That's what James says. Am I correct? Yes. Therefore, submit your life to God. What is that submission, our lives to God? Is it holding our lives in our own hands and then taking a few scriptures here and there and fighting every demon and believing that we are going to have the victory? We're deceiving ourselves, my brothers and sisters, because our authority is in the truth, is in our faith, is in our relationship with Christ, is in our prayer life, our relationship with the Lord. And when we are strong, we understand who we are. Yeah? So where's the call here? Humble ourselves. Cleanse our hands. Purify our hearts. Be strong. You can't be strong if you don't take that road and allow the Lord to purify you and deal with you. You cannot. You will quote every scripture. You will bind every demon. You will paralyze everyone. You will talk and claim and bind and lose and all sorts of spiritual warfare. And your whole life is in a mess, is in a mess, because when you resist the enemy, he doesn't flee. He doesn't go. He'll hold your life. He'll get you to walk in sin. He'll get you to backslide. He'll get you to have a heart full of hate. Yeah? Telling you the truth. So what's the call here? Be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. Be strong in the Lord. How do you be strong? We put the old armor of God. What's the armor of God? It's our lifestyle. It's who we are. It's what we believe. It's what God has written on the tables of our hearts. It's a pure doctrine of Christ. It's our faith in Jesus, our faith in the cross, what he has accomplished in the cross. These things have become real in our lives. Then we are strong and spiritually mature. And when he comes, I resist him, and that's it. He comes again, I resist him again. The Apostle John says, if we are in Christ, the devil cannot touch us. Yeah? In 1 John chapter 5. If we are established in Christ, in other words, if we are strong in him, the devil cannot touch you. He cannot take your life so that you backslide. He cannot do that. Remember what God did to Job. Satan was allowed to go up to one line, and he would not be able to step across that line. God said to Satan, you do that to my servant Job, but no more, no more. And if we walk in the righteousness of God, we walk by faith, that's our armor. Read the old armor of God, you will see. Read it. The breastplate of righteousness. Yeah. Helmet of salvation. Where do we go and get that? Where do you get that from? You go and buy it at the supermarket. Hey, where do you go and get that? How do you put that on you? Hey, where do you get it from? How do you get strong? The armor of God is for us to be strong. To be strong and wait, wait for him to come. He can't bypass that line. Because of who we are, because of what we believe, because of what we carry, because of our maturity, because of our spiritual state. Oh, the enemy, the devil has been crushed down. And the plan of God for every Christian is to be strong. Can the devil walk over you when you are strong? Tell me my brothers, can the devil walk over you when you are strong? When he comes with his arrows, what do you do? You resist him. And where does he go? He flees from you. But you say, but you must prepare the way. We must stop him. We must bind him so that he doesn't come. You can bind him, but he still comes. Have you found out that? He still comes. He still attacks. Yeah, he will attack. He will attack. He will throw his arrows. And when he throws his arrows, it's too late if you are weak. It's too late if you walk in sin. It's too late if you are backslidden. It's too late. It's too late. It's too late when you walk in adultery. It's too late when you walk with a heart that has not repented. It's too late. It's too late. You can't resist him. It's too late. We're talking about a life of righteousness. The breastplate of righteousness. We're talking about a pure heart. We're talking about the cross of Jesus Christ dealing with us. It's too late, my brother. If you keep that unrepented heart, it's too late. You can bind him. It's too late. You've got to cleanse and purify your heart. That's what the Apostle James is talking about. That is the call, my brothers and sisters. That is the call. The call is not to go into spiritual warfare. The call is to be strong. Grow. Take the road of the cross. Mature in Christ. Be like a whole man. The full stature of Christ. Be strong. Catch the revelation of the gospel. Yeah, that the gospel shows you what Jesus Christ has accomplished on the cross. Live it. Live it. Serve Jesus Christ. And when he comes, the devil, when the devil comes, he just has to flee. He just has to flee. He cannot do anything else except to flee. Otherwise, this Bible is not the truth. It's not the truth. What's the call? Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Hallelujah. Be ready for the evil day. That's what Paul is saying. Be ready. Put your armor. What is our armor? Walk a righteous life. Walk a pure life. Allow the Holy Spirit to write on your heart the truth of God's word. I sense that some people are getting angry at me now. Yeah, that's the call. The secret, the secret has been given. The secret has been given. Be strong. Humble yourself. Purify your heart. Oh, Jesus. If Christianity was a life of a spiritual warfare against all the demons and the evil spirits, oh, we would spend all day. I tell you, we need to see the call. We need to see here the heart of the Apostle Paul, the heart of the Apostle James, giving us the key, giving us the secret for victory, the secret for a victorious life, the secret not to backslide. What happens when you backslide, sir? Where does it start? When the enemy comes and he attacks you. Yeah, when he throws his darts towards you, when he tells you all his lies and all his deception. But when you're strong, when you are strong, when the word of God is written in your hearts, when you're walking on that cross, you experience the grace of God. The powerful grace of God takes you. Yeah. Because you have decided to give your life and surrender your life and submit your life and lose your life for the sake of Christ. Do you think that the Lord will begin to abandon you? Do you think that the Lord is going to let you alone? Never. He'll be right there. His power will be there. His spirit will be right with you. His grace will be manifested. And instead of backsliding, you'll stand strong. And I believe somehow that we have accepted extremes. We've gone into extremes. Why? You know why we go into extremes? Because we don't walk in victory. Because the church doesn't walk in victory over sin. Yeah. And then we do this, that, and the other. And we follow anything. We read any book. And we take the teaching and we put it into practice. But we want to follow what the word of God tells us. And it's very clear here. It's not a teaching to draw you to fight the demons. It's a teaching from the Apostle Paul, from the heart of the Lord, to encourage you to be strong, to be a mature man and woman, to a spiritual person. Hallelujah. I do not believe that the Apostle Paul had one hour a day to fight every demon on earth before he starts the day. I don't believe that. And I don't believe that Jesus had to do the same thing. And I don't believe that the church in the book of Acts had to do the same thing. It's not even written in there. Not even written. And here we see a call. You see the heart of that man for the people of God. What have we seen? You know what I saw before? I saw a trick. I saw a technique. I saw a principle. But I never felt the heart of the Apostle Paul to secure and protect the church. And to give the church the key so that the devil, the evil one, and all the evil spirits, when they attack, they would not take the church and send it to backslide and to fall in sin. I didn't see it that way. Now I can feel the heart of that man, which is the heart of God, the heart of Christ, drawing the people where? To fight in the heavenly places? No. Drawing the people's heart to Jesus Christ. Drawing their heart on the road of the cross. Drawing them to lose their life. Drawing them to purify their heart. Drawing them to cleanse their soul. That's the heart I see in here. Before, I saw it as a technique. Ah, good. I've got a good technique. I'm strong in the law. I've got the technique. I've got the principle. Come on, you come. And then you start binding and losing and paralyzing and putting everything into captivity and putting this devil in that prison and sending him in the pigs and sending him in the desert place and all sorts of things. And then when I look at my life, it's still a mess. I still have a twisted heart. It's normal. How can he listen to me? Remember the demons? You know, the sons of Saba. You know, they tried to imitate the apostle Paul and these demons say, Jesus, I know. Paul, I knew. But who are you? I don't know you. You know, when you are known spiritually, when you are known in the spirit, when you are known for who you are, you will not only be known by God, you'll not only be known by those who live around you, but you will be known by demons. For who you are. You'll be known for what you carry because the spiritual world is alive. That's why my desire for you is for you to be strong. Be strong. Take that cross. Deny yourself. Lose your life for the sake of Christ. Oh, Lord, help us. Lord, help us. Matthew chapter 16. Matthew chapter 16. This is a very interesting scripture. Do you like the gospel? Oh, I love the gospel. You know, it testifies, it witnesses to my spirit. I don't see any law behind that. I don't see any something trying to manipulate me and tell me you've got to do that. You've got to know to deal with this one. No, I see a freedom in my heart to follow Christ. To give my life to him. I'm telling you, evil spirit exists. They are real. Huh? Demon spirits exist. They are real. But Jesus Christ pulled them down. Defeated all of them. That's reality. And it becomes real for the Christians who want to grow in Christ. Who want to give and surrender and submit their lives to Christ. That's why you don't have to fear demons. You don't have to fear them if your life is submitted. If your life is in the hands of God. Otherwise, you and I, we don't understand what happened on that cross. We are ignorant. Matthew chapter 16, we read from verse 18. And I also say to you that you are Peter and on this rock, I will build my church. And the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Now read that carefully with me. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. He holds the keys of the kingdom. The kingdom. I want you to see something. Jesus has given us the keys of the kingdom and the kingdom of heaven. Oh, I love that. Is represented on earth by the church. So we have the keys for the church. Now you will have to follow me very carefully. Jesus said to Paul, Peter, I will build my church, my church. I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail. And then he says, I give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Don't forget that he says, I will build my church, my church. So the kingdom of heaven is represented by the church. And the Lord says to Peter, I give you the keys for the church. I give you authority in the church. In my name, I give you the authority for the church. I'm going slowly here. I want you to catch. I want you to see. And then he says, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. On earth, whatever you bound on earth, on earth, where the church, on earth, whatever you bind on earth, I'll give you authority in the church. Slowly, slowly. And whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. I give you Peter, who represents the church at that time. I give you the leadership and the authority of my church. Whatever you declare in my will, according to my plan, according to my will for the church, I'll back you. I'll be right there with you and I will make it to be accomplished. Whatever authority that you take according to my plan and my will on this earth for the church, I will back you. I'll stand with you. Whatever you decide according to my will, I will stand behind you and I will make it happen. I'll make it happen. Anything you decide on earth for my church, from heaven, I'll stand with you. And from heaven, I'll declare that this, whatever you have decided according to my will, says God, I'll stand with you, I'll make it happen. And we are going to see it from the scriptures. Whatever you want to stop to happen in the church, whatever you see and decide to stop according to my will and my plan, which I will reveal to you by my spirit. If you decide to stop the things according to my will in the church and to take authority in certain situations in the leadership that I give you, I will stand by you also. I will make it to happen also. Now open your Bibles with me. Acts chapter five, verse one. Did you catch what I say? Acts chapter five, verse one. But a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira, his wife, sold a possession and he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostle's feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men, but you have lied to God. Then Ananias hearing these words fell down and breath is lost. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things. And the young man arose and wrapped him up, carried him out and buried him. Night was about three hours later when his wife came in and not knowing what had happened. And Peter answered, tell me whether you sold the land for so much? She said, yes, for so much. Then Peter said to her, how is it that you have agreed together to test the spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door and they will carry you out. Whatever you bind on earth, I will bind in heaven. I've given you authority for my church. Whatever you do, you declare according to my will, by my spirit, I will stand by you. I'll accomplish it. I'll make it to happen. And this is exactly what happened here. Amen. Exactly what happened here. Heaven agreed with what Peter decided to do. Heaven stood behind the words of Peter. Heaven accomplished what Peter spoke. Whatever you bind on earth, I will bind in heaven. Whatever you don't agree and decide to do, according to my plan and my will. This is important. According to my plan and my will. Now tell me something there. Do you think that Peter acted on his own idea, initiative? Or do you think that it was the plan of God? Do you think that Peter acted by the move of the Holy Spirit? Do you believe that the Holy Spirit spoke to Peter to do that or Peter was in the flesh and God Almighty in heaven backed him, stood by him and accomplished what he said because he said it? No, no. Peter said it according to the will of God, spoken to his heart by the Holy Spirit. He did not agree what Peter, what Ammonias and Sapphira had done and he spoke that word and whatever he bound on earth was bound in heaven. In 1 Corinthians chapter five, verse one to five, we read. Now we see the apostle Paul. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. To build my church on earth. 1 Corinthians chapter five, it says, it is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles that a man has his father's wife and you are puffed up and have not rather mourned that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you. For I need as absent in body but present in spirit have already judged as though I were present him who has so done this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you gather together along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to Satan for in the destruction of the flesh that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Do you think that God did it? Do you think that God did it? That was not Paul's decision in the flesh that was led by the Holy Spirit and Paul declared what had to happen. He took authority in the spirit in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and he delivered that man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh so that his spirit might be saved. Do you see? Whatever you bind on earth, I will bind in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. And just by the way, what can we loose on the earth? What do we loose? Some people bind evil spirits, which is all right. You bind all sorts of demons, but what do you loose? Can you tell me what do you loose? You loose what? Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth will be bound loose in heaven. What do you loose? What, what? I was told that I've got to loose the Holy Spirit. That's what I was told. When you finish to bind all the demons, then you loose the Holy Spirit to do his work. That's what I was told. When you finish to bind and to paralyze and to put them in prison, then the door, the way is open for the Holy Spirit to work. So you loose the Holy Spirit. How can we do that? How do you loose the Holy Spirit? Is he bound? Is the Holy Spirit in prison? How do we do that? How can we set the Holy Spirit free? Is he in prison? No, you can't do that. You cannot do that. Matthew chapter 18. Are you with me? Matthew chapter 18, we are going to read from verse 15. Quickly, quickly. Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church, to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. Assuredly, verily I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Now, what are evil spirits and demons doing right here? What is he doing here? Now, Jesus is saying, listen, this man refuses to repent. He doesn't want to hear you. He doesn't want to hear you and the brother that you bring to him. He doesn't want to hear the church. Now you do with him like that. And he says, if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be like a heathen. Amen. And if you declare that this man is to you and the church like a heathen, I will stand by you. I will accept that. I've given you the keys of my kingdom. I've given you authority in the church. And when you do that, which is my will and my plan, I will make it happen. Same scripture here. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Correct? We're talking about authority here. We're talking about leadership here. We're talking about having been given the keys of the kingdom to take decisions. According to the will and the plan of God. According to the heart of God. God loves his church. And God has given to men the authority in the spirit to declare, to decide, to take a direction, to proclaim good and evil, to accept and bless, but to also declare what we just have read. Or even proclaim death by the will of God. According to his plan. According to the leading of the spirit. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever you decide, you declare, you proclaim, I'll stand by you. I'll make sure that it will be done. I'll make sure that whatever you consider is right, according to my plan, I will consider the same because it's my plan and my will anyway. Now I don't believe that Jesus is saying here, now this man, you know, he doesn't want to repent. Now you've got to fight all the devils and all the evil spirit and the demon of non-repentance. There's nothing like that here. Doesn't work that way. And then he says again, I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything, is that scripture meaning that you can ask anything from the Lord to bless you? No. No. It's got nothing to do here that scripture. It doesn't mean that you take a brother and you ask God for an airplane and he will give it to you. Nothing that way. He's saying here, if you take a brother with you and you ask the Lord, according to the leading of my spirit, to do something special, either in the life of somebody, either for the church, either for something to happen, God will back you. If any two of you, any two of you on earth, on earth, on earth, agree on earth, my kingdom, my church, for the sake of my church, for the church, for my people, for my sake, for the good of my church, for the testimony of my church. That's what happened with Ananias and Sapphira. When they came, it was a good of the church. When you read what happened after that, the Bible said that the church received then the fear of God. The fear of God came among the people of God. Can you see the church? Whatever you and I in the spirit declare by the spirit, according to his will, God will stand by us. God will make it to happen. God will accomplish it. Why? Because he's building his church. Not to destroy people. No. But his church. That's why we are coming, I believe, to a time of great judgment, of great cleansing, of great purifying by God himself. Prophets are going to rise up and talk because of the church, because of their love for the church, the authority that God will give them to speak according to the spirit. They will declare things to happen. And Almighty God in heaven will back them, will make it to be accomplished, will make it to happen. Why? Because I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. It's not for you and I to have airplanes and helicopters and everything natural. It's for the kingdom of God and the kingdom of God is represented on this earth by the church, you and I, who want to serve God and listen to the voice of the spirit, take someone with you and declare things to happen. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. There's no evil spirits there. There's no demons in there. Jesus is talking about the authority in the spirit. Oh, Lord, help us. Heaven agreed. Heaven is backing us. Heaven is behind us. Those who want to serve the kingdom. Those who want to give their lives for the kingdom. Those who want to pay the price. Those who want to stand up and talk. Those prophets of God anointed by the spirit who have no fear to stand up and declare what God wants. And I'm going to tell you, God will be behind them. They will speak in the authority of God. Leave the demons to fight among themselves. In Luke 9, verse 55, Oh, Lord, help us. Book of Luke 9, verse 55, there's one scripture there. You know the story. You know there was a village, a Samaritan village that rejected the Savior. But the disciples were sent to prepare the way for the Lord. But this village, this village did not receive the message. And what did the disciples wanted to do? And they said, Lord, verse 54, do you want us to come on fire, to come down from heaven and consume them just as Elisha did? But he turned them and rebuked them and said, you do not know what manner of spirit you are of. I tell you, Jesus was ready to back them if they were in the right spirit. If they would have done things according to the Holy Spirit, Jesus would have accomplished it. But Jesus said, in what manner of spirit are you? No, no, no, no, no, no. It's not that way. It's not that way. Oh, I tell you, we need to see the heart of God for the church, for the kingdom. Jesus said to them, in this, I'm not with you. In what you want to do there, I'm not with you. In other words, if you had done something that you felt the Holy Spirit asking you to do, whatever that might have been, I would have been with you. Do it. Do it. Heaven will be with you. Heaven will be with you because you want the kingdom of God to be established here. Oh, Lord help us. To Corinthians chapter 10. We are going to read verse 1 to 6. Now, here, there were enemies of the cross that desired to undermine Paul's ministry. And they have talked to the Corinthians. They have sown seeds in the life of the Corinthian people, which they have believed. That's what they've done. And they said to the Corinthians people, listen, these people, they're saying about me that when I am present before you, I'm meek and gentle and weak. But when I write letters to you, I'm strong and I am hard. That's what the people said to the Corinthians about the apostle Paul. Now we read. Now I, Paul, myself, am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence I'm lowly among you, but being absent, I'm bold toward you. But I beg you that when I am present, I may not be bold with that confidence by which I intend to be bold against some who think of us as if we walk according to the flesh. But though we walk in the flesh, we do not walk according to the flesh. You see what they have said about Paul? He walks in the flesh. He doesn't walk by the spirit. He walks in the flesh. He pretends to be someone who he's not. That's what they said about him. Because you remember the first letter? Paul was hard. Paul was very hard on the Corinthians. He told them the truth. And the others who were enemies of the cross, they deceived the Corinthians people and many fell into the trap. Now Paul says what these guys are doing, it's a spiritual condition. They are talking, accusing in the flesh. But it is a spiritual state. It's a spiritual issue. It's something in the spirit. But I'm not going to fight on their terms. I'm not going to justify myself. I am going to do one thing and only one thing. You have received thoughts in your mind about me. You have made conclusions about me. You have accepted them. So let's make a deal. I'm going to come to you and I'm going to pitch you the gospel in the authority of God. And if you are prepared as I pitch to you the gospel to obey God and obey what I'm going to tell you, then I'm going to go to these destructors, my enemies, and talk to them. But unless you repent and unless you obey me, we're going to read it, but I'm explaining it to you. Unless you repent and allow the word of God to set you free and allow the word of God to remove all that thoughts, all these thoughts and all these conclusions that you have received in you and you have accepted, unless you are prepared to allow the word of God to set you free of these things and repent and obey, then and only then I'm going to go to these, my enemies, and talk to them about it. Now we read. Now you know what's in there. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. We do not war. Have you seen that word we? We? Who is we? Who is we? No. Paul and Timothy. We. Now read 2 Corinthians chapter one, verse one. Read 2 Corinthians chapter one, verse one. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God and Timothy, our brother, correct? Now we, not the church. We. Now we, always take the wrong Bible. Now we do not war according to the flesh. We do not consider that this is a natural and a fleshly matter. It is spiritual. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God, for putting out strongholds, strongholds, thoughts, what they have accepted, what they have concluded, strongholds. Now they saw Paul as a hypocrite and these have become strongholds in their minds, casting down arguments, arguments. We're talking about arguments. We're not talking about spirits. We're not talking about demons. We're talking about strongholds. We're talking about thoughts. We're talking about arguments. And every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Now the apostle Paul demonstrates that the way to refute his enemies was by the authority of the gospel. And look what he says in verse six. And being ready to punish all disobedience when, only when your obedience is fulfilled. Other words, if you become convicted about your state, about the lies that you have received, if you repent and you are ready to obey me, my words and what I tell you, then and only then I'm going to punish their disobedience. Paul wanted the protection and security of the Corinthian people. He was not teaching them spiritual warfare. He was trying to bring their heart to repentance and he counted on the authority in the spirit of the gospel to bring their hearts to conviction, to repentance and to obedience. And when the word of the Lord, the power of the gospel would have caught their hearts and brought them to repentance and obedience, then the apostle Paul was ready to go and see his enemies and tell them about what he think of them, but not before the Corinthians repented, not before. And being ready to punish all disobedience, punish all disobedience, when, so it's not talking about the Corinthians, because they would obey, you see? You see, when your obedience is fulfilled, or in other words, when you would have obeyed and submitted, I will punish the disobedience, not them. He can't punish those who repent. He can't punish those who obey. No, he would punish those, or in other words, his enemies. That's why he said at the beginning, I'm not going to justify myself. I'm not going to deal with that issue on their terms. No, I'm not going to talk about them. I'm not going to accuse them of who they are, but watch verse 12. Verse 12 declares, for we dare not class ourselves, ourselves, Paul and Timothy and the team, we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. He would not act like them. He would not start a fight in the flesh. He would not stand with these guys and say, listen, what you're saying is not right. Yes, it's right. I'm telling you, it's not right. I'm not like that. No, and the fight starts. He says, no, we don't, what did he say in verse three? For though we walk in the flesh, we do not walk according to the flesh. Or in other words, I'm not going to go and see them until you repent. When you repent and you obey what I tell you, and when our hearts are united, and when we are one in Christ, then I'll stand before them and tell them what I think of them. But not before your heart becomes right. No, not before your heart becomes right, because if you do not obey, I'm not going to start a fight. I need your heart. I need you to stand with me. When you obey what I'm going to tell you, then I'm going to go and speak to these who commend themselves. They commend themselves. But they, they, they, they, you understand they? Who are they? They. His enemy is they, they. He says they measure themselves by themselves. Lord help them. They measure themselves by themselves. And comparing themselves among themselves. We know about them. And Paul says they are not wise. They are not wise. See, look verse eight. For even if I should boast somewhat more about our authority, about our authority. Now remember what you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Remember I will give you the keys of the kingdom of God. I am building my church. Do you understand? So the apostle Paul carried the apostolic anointing, the apostolic authority. And he says here, for even if I should boast somewhat more about our authority, which the Lord gave us for edification and not for your destruction, I shall not be ashamed. That's wonderful. That's wonderful. Now you understand the heart, the heart of that man. He does, he's not telling us, now listen guys, these guys are talking about us. Let's go and pray and cast out the demons. Let us go in spiritual warfare against these guys. He says, no, no, no, no. He says, listen guys, I'm not gonna justify myself. I will come and preach to you. That's all I'm gonna do. Until you obey. Now the apostle Paul is not casting out the demon of disobedience. No, you know what apostle Paul believes? In the power of the gospel. That's what he believes. In the power of the gospel. In the power of the gospel. And he knows that he will get back their hearts. He knows the power of the gospel. He knows they will obey. He knows they will repent. He knows they will be convicted. He knows they will submit. I tell you, it has nothing to do with spiritual warfare, that scripture. Absolutely nothing. He said, if they want to fight with me, let them do it. Because our warfare is spiritual. You know, each time we see the word warfare, fight, we think, where are these demons? Where are they? But no, you can fight me. If you want to. People fight us. But what do we do? Close our mouth. Why? Because it's not a war in the flesh. It's in the spirit. Our warfare, the weapons, they are not carnal. They are mighty. They are mighty. The power of the gospel. Lord help us. No way is the apostle Paul is going to use the same weapon as they did. They were in the flesh. They were in the flesh. It's so easy to get in the flesh. It's so easy to justify, to respond, to write a letter. No, our weapons are not carnal. We are not going to get into big discussions. No, our weapons are not carnal, but they are mighty. They are mighty. Our authority lies in the power of the gospel. In the name of Jesus Christ. When and only when. I'll make you do something. Say to your brother or sister, when and only when. Enough. Enough. When and only when our life is right before God. When and only when we walk a righteous life before God. Then our authority is in the name of Jesus and in the power of his gospel. Spiritual warfare, they do it in intercession. Some people are specialists in intercession. They pray in the spirit to fight the demons. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 14, verse four, that if we pray in tongues, we edify ourselves. The Bible say that if we pray in the spirit in Romans chapter eight, verse 26, 27, is to allow the Holy Spirit to intercede for us. Am I right? But I don't see any scripture where it tells me to pray in tongues to fight all the demons on earth. My dear brothers and sisters, there is one call. One call. There is a place to cast out demons. There is a good place in our lives to resist the devil, to oppose him, to stop his work, but we can't live by it. When the Apostle Paul was in prison with Silas, I don't think that they had a spiritual warfare session. The Bible talks about them praising God. They praised God in their intelligence and in their spirit. They sang choruses. They praised him and God delivered them. You see, they did not have to bind any demon spirit to be delivered. Their hearts were right. They worshiped God. They praised him. They gave him all the glory and they knew that their deliverance was near and one day God shook the prison and delivered them from the prison. I don't want to tell you another extreme. No, I'm just warning you about one extreme. We know that by the spirit where we stand, we know our call. We know it. We know when we need to resist the enemy. When the Apostle Paul came to Athens in Greece and the Bible said that this man was shocked by the statutes, the idols, the, you call that, little gods that they were worshiping and there was one God who said to an unknown God. And you know what he did? You know what the Apostle Paul did? He stood up and preached the gospel. That's what he did. I don't think he had a session of spiritual warfare. No, God sent him to Greece. He walked down the city of Athens and he saw this pagan city and he said, what must I do now? Must I start to bind all these demons? He walked down that road and he says, you people of Athens, you worship all sorts of God but the one that you want to worship, I'll talk to you about him because he is my God. And he started to preach to them about Jesus Christ. And many of them left and didn't want to hear about him and his message but many stood by him and were born again and were converted. He couldn't change that city. You can't change a city. Do you want to change New York? You can't change New York, my friend. It's going to become worse and worse but praise God that in New York there are men and women that are seeking God and God will save them by the preaching of the word of God. I'm glad about that one. You can't change New York. You can't walk around the city of New York and bind every demon in New York. You can't do that, sir. No, seek the Lord. Be strengthened in him. Stand up, find a place, use a microphone, preach the gospel and the power of God will save men. You like it or not, he will save men. Let us preach the gospel. Let us preach this gospel, gospel of Jesus Christ. You like it or not, God stands with us. We are the keys of the kingdom. We are the keys. We are called to preach the gospel. We are not called in spiritual warfare six hours a day. We are called to preach the gospel. God said to his disciples, Jesus said to them, go into the world and preach the gospel to all creature and teach them what I have taught you. Oh, Lord, help us. Oh, I love the gospel. I love the gospel. You love the gospel. I tell you, what manner of spirit are you? In what manner of spirit are you? That's the key. That's the key. In what manner of heart are you? Are we seeking the heart of Christ? Are we seeking the heart of God? Are we after the kingdom? I will give you the keys of the kingdom. The kingdom, the kingdom, the church. We have got the keys for the church. We've got the spirit. We've got the authority. We speak and God is there. I like that one. Hallelujah. Oh, Jesus is so good. I'm telling you, Jesus is so good. I'm sure that this month, there are five Sundays. Oh, wonderful Jesus. I just trust that. I just trust that somehow you've seen something. Well, you've seen something. And that we are going to serve Jesus. We're going to serve him and preach the gospel. Amen. Would you stand up with me?