Welcome to the I'm going to show you how to make a Okay, everybody, so good you're here.

Obviously, Dodger fans aren't because they're watching the game and going straight to hell when this is over.

But look, this is the end of a series that we've been doing, and this is the message that is so important.

It's kind of the culmination of a lot that's been going on in my ministry over the last 16 years, things I've noticed, and things that I think that all of us have to come to terms with.

So it's a little heavy.

It may appear to be disjointed at some times, but I'm asking you just to lean in.

First of all, turn in your Bibles, if you would, on all of our campuses.

Welcome.

James chapter one, a very familiar verse, but we're going to deal with it.

Verses, rather, 12 through 15.

And the other thing is, I know it's a different kind of series.

I know that this is not typical of what we've been doing, and I know that For some of us, when you talk about the demonic, we have the same interest in it as we would the angels or the raiders.

You know, we just don't really care.

And others of us, we do care, but it's a little bit too mystical, strange for us.

So we're hoping the series will be over and we can move on to something with which we can resonate.

And then it's a little scary on some parts.

I had a friend of mine tell me, you know, I started looking around my house at night after I turned the lights off, you know.

So I realize all of that.

is part and partial, but that's not what I meant to do at all.

I'm simply trying to make us aware of a battle, a real war that's going on in our lives and in the world around us.

So I spoke at Rancho campus a couple of weeks ago, and I shared a story, second service, that I don't think I've shared with you.

But when Robin and I went to Armenia two years ago for study break, and Armenia is a country that's supposed to be a Christian country, but there's not one evangelical church in the entire nation.

And people go to church, they do, but just to be married and to be buried.

Otherwise, they'll never darken the doors.

And we wanted to go to church because when I'm on study break, we want to find a place that we can go and worship with people.

But there was not, again, not one evangelical church in the country.

So we finally asked enough people till we discovered what they call an expat church.

It's an international type church.

So people, Americans, Canadians, people all over the world who are Christ followers.

who are working in the city of Yerevan, which is the capital of Armenia, had started a church.

So we found out about it.

They met in a theater, an auditorium, at 4 o'clock on Sunday evening.

So we were excited.

Robin and I went.

We took our daughter, Sian.

It was kind of a unique service.

It wasn't my cup of tea, but that's the thing about it.

God has all kinds of different types of services for different people.

Great sermon.

I thought the pastor did an excellent job.

Music wasn't really something that really drew me in.

But nevertheless, good service.

It was a long service.

You think I preach long?

I think he preached for an hour and a half, so cut me some slack.

And we listened.

As we were going out, they rented this auditorium, and in the foyer as people left, I was walking with my daughter, and we saw five or six older ladies with a young lady in the middle.

And when we walked out, we were terrified because this young girl kept screaming.

And I mean, it was the kind of scream that, you know, real, that comes down deep.

You know, it's horrifying.

And of course, I'm like a lot of you.

Unfortunately, I make a lot of my decisions first with the intellect before I ever allow it to get to the heart.

And sometimes that's not good.

Most of the time it is good.

Sometimes not so good because my first thing is I'm skeptical.

I'm thinking, what's going on here?

And so they pray for her.

And then she screams again, like every 30 seconds.

I mean, it is a scream that just resonates, goes all the way.

It's like that bitter cold that you have.

You know, there's cold, then there's bitter cold that just goes right through you.

And this was that scream.

And my daughter was a little concerned.

She goes, what's going on, Dad?

And I said, I don't know, but let's stay here.

Let's wait just a moment.

And then we realized what was going on, that they felt she had, she was under some kind of demonic oppression.

And they were praying scripture and prayers over her.

I was amazed at how gentle and quiet and peaceful they were.

While every 30 seconds, she would just let out this scream.

Now, the pastor saw to me, here's what I thought.

I said, oh man, why are you doing this in the foyer?

This should be done privately somewhere.

So all the judgment, just like you have, you don't judge people, do you?

Oh, I do.

I mean, just like that.

So I'm just, what are you doing?

Take this in the corner somewhere.

Why are you doing this out here?

And I just, but I had to stay.

I was compelled.

And I watched this beautiful thing happen with this young girl.

It took a couple of hours, by the way.

It wasn't something that happened in a short amount of time.

So on the following Tuesday, we were meeting with some of the pastoral staff who attend the church, and I had to bring it up.

I was going to find out what happened.

Well, as it turns out, they didn't have another space in the place to do it.

This was the only place, so shame on me for judgment.

And then they told me the story of what's happening.

So there are Armenians.

kind of rebel gangs going up into India and kidnapping young Indian girls, bringing them back and putting them into the sex slave trade and then getting them addicted to drugs.

And so they are a mess.

They've been brought back.

There's a lot of authorities involved in this.

It's not just them.

Big money, billions and billions of dollar business.

And these girls come in at 15, 16, 17, as young as 11 and 12.

sold into this trade, addicted to drugs, and then this church feels its mission is to rescue them.

So when they finally get one of them in their midst, they're recognizing there's a lot of things going on here, and they pray for them.

And there's kind of a tension between the girl and what's going on in her life and what she's been exposed to, no fault of her own.

And they believe that there's just such demonic oppression in these young girls because of the drug addiction, because of the prostitution that is unwilling prostitution, that they're just, they're a mess.

Their minds, their thought process, the evil is so real.

And they've been taking these young girls and praying for them.

Again, I was amazed at the ministry that they had of deliverance.

It was very simple.

They were singing songs.

They were speaking the name of Jesus.

And they were.

praying prayers of scripture over this young girl until finally she broke.

And this is going on every weekend.

Another young girl comes and their ministry is amazing.

Now, when I lived in Zimbabwe, I didn't get to go out to the rural areas that much.

I was in the city and a pastor of a church, but there were these big burly men, the Pemberton boys.

There were three of them.

And they had been missionaries in the southern part of Africa, Zimbabwe, for a long, long time.

And I'm talking, these boys are big.

You know, you're talking 6'7", 6'8", about 250.

Just big boys that love doing ministry.

And the witch doctors in the villages, I mean, to them, it's very real.

The potions and the incantations, the astrology, not astronomy, astrology.

The spiritual ancestral worship and getting power from beyond is very real.

And so they dress the part.

They got the necklaces.

They got the smoke.

They got the fire.

They got everything.

And sometimes the Pemberton boys will go preach the gospel.

And oftentimes a witch doctor will repent and want to come to Jesus.

And on one occasion, the witch doctor...

Coming in to give his life to Christ, they took him down into the water to baptize him.

And it was the strangest thing because you could tell he wanted to go down into the water, but you could also tell there was some kind of power force holding him out of the water.

It was an amazing thing.

Remember, the Pemberton boys are big boys.

These guys got strength.

You know, they're weightlifters.

But they can't get this teeny little skinny witch doctor down into the water.

Finally, after a battle, they did.

And when he came up out of the water, and I'm sure my brother Michael's witnessed a few things like this, as he came out of the water, constant calm, just everything broke.

Now, Pastor Jeff, you're saying, Pastor Jeff, what's going on here?

I don't know.

Look, I've seen too many things in our experiences around the world.

to deny the reality that there is the presence of evil in our world.

And the only reason I decided to do this series was just to wake you up a little bit and to help you understand that there's a battle going on in your life that is very subtle, that you can't see.

And when you deny that that battle is real, there's no way you're going to take seriously the weapons of your warfare.

And that's the primary tool of the evil one to make you think he doesn't exist.

and that there's no battle on present earth.

You remember last year we did the series called Under the Influence?

And remember how we talked about how when the Jesus movement came into the West and the Judeo-Christian values came in, that it changed culture.

Suddenly there was equality with men and women and into slavery.

It took a long time, but these Judeo-Christian values came in and basically the West was blessed.

But something happened starting around the 50s and 60s that those gods and goddesses That evil dominion that was relegated to the fringes because of the Judeo-Christian movement, because the breaking down of those values in Western culture, those gods and goddesses have come back in now.

And so you and I are living in a time that is presently controlled and heavily influenced and opposed to the will of God.

You can deny it all you want.

You can claim as the evolutionists do that life is purely material and the supernatural does not exist.

You can laugh off the trials of your life.

and the temptations of your life and say it's just good luck or bad luck, just dumb luck.

But the reality does not change.

The only plausible explanation for the evil that is in this world and the struggle that you have in your life to live a righteous life is because the evil that is in this world is real.

And if you go through the Bible and you read it with different eyes, you know what you discover?

There's a real danger that Christians can get sucked into this.

That the devil's greatest tool, in my opinion, in modern times is the death of truth.

Oh man, he loves that.

So now you have even Christ followers that somehow think their truth is just as valid as the Bible truth.

So that when your truth comes up against the scripture, you think you're just as valid as something Jesus said.

Satan loves that because if he can destroy truth in a culture, it goes all the way back to the garden of Eden in Genesis.

Did God really say that?

Did he really mean that?

Is that really true?

So I've tried to explain to you as a pastor, entering into my fourth quarter in my 60s, I'm appalled at the cavalier attitude that you and I too often have toward purity and righteousness.

I mentioned how during the popularity of...

Movies like Fifty Shades of Grey and Outlander, two movies that are just really pornography of how many Christians on Facebook and social media talked about how much they enjoyed the movies.

What's going on?

Well, the goddesses of sex have moved back in.

It's not only that, it's our love for money and wealth over and above God and his purposes.

It's become epidemic.

So those who have most seem to invest the less or the least.

The love we have in America and the West for perpetual, pleasurable satisfaction.

We just want to have fun all the time.

Nothing wrong with having fun.

You know, it's good to have a philosophy of fun, but not to the point where you're so addicted to it, you don't have time for spiritual disciplines.

We go on and on.

And if you're not careful, no matter how smart you think you are, No matter how often you go to church, and no matter how committed you think you are, if you're not careful, you too can have the wool pulled over your eyes, and you can become blinded to the reality that you now are chasing the wrong things, and you've become entangled in the things that are far too intense and demonic to ever bring about life, but instead will bring about death, depression, anxiety, fear, worry, doubt.

We think those are just symptomatic of a rat race, but the reality is when you're chasing the wrong thing, your soul knows it and it begins to disintegrate a little bit every day.

And sometimes when the depression and the fear and the anxiety come, it's a warning sign.

But if you go off to the closest medicine cabinet and try to numb the effects, it's not really going to change anything.

What really needs to change, you're just delaying the inevitable.

Jesus Christ was the wisest, most compassionate teacher who ever lived.

And he constantly warned us about these two kingdoms in no uncertain terms.

And he said that you and I in the latter days would have to choose every single day and every single moment, which kingdom we're going to live for.

Every single moment, who are you going to serve, follow, trust, and obey.

And the apostle Paul constantly warned us.

through the text that you and I have, that this is a world order or system that is governed, controlled, and influenced by the demonic.

Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1 says, And you were dead in your offenses and sins.

in which you previously walked according to the course of this world, the cosmos, the system, the values, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

That's one text of many who remind us, or that reminds us that the mind behind the course of this world and the way it thinks is the evil one.

But if you're not careful, it'll catch you in its flow.

You'll get caught up in it.

Think about where we are right now.

And I'm trying to wake myself up.

Can you tell?

I'm trying to wake all of us up.

It should not surprise us when the sacredness of marriage is being attacked.

Should not surprise us when the origins of gender are now being attacked.

The sacredness of sex, the origin and design of the parent-child relationship.

All of this.

And at the same time, culture is mocking.

The pursuit of righteousness, calling evil good and good evil.

The problem is because there are so many Christians who have become cavalier in their attitude of understanding Scripture, they get sucked up into a worldview that is going against God.

This is the most painful thing about being a pastor is seeing people for so long, and then suddenly they just disappear.

And I know it's not because of the rapture, because Michael's still here.

So he'll go first.

We're good.

As long as Michael's here, we're good.

So here are people that...

And then I try to do...

I used to try to do what we call exit interviews.

And I would go and sit down and have coffee and talk to them.

And my heart was broken so many times that I just decided I wasn't going to do it anymore.

I mentioned a few months ago or years ago, maybe about a lady that came and volunteered.

Beautiful people, beautiful family.

And suddenly they stopped coming.

And I decided to just, you know, quick meeting, say, hey, can you tell me a little bit what's going on?

And she said, well, to tell you the truth, we don't believe like you believe anymore.

I said, okay, well, what are you talking about?

And as I pried a little bit deeper, she simply said to me, well, you know, my daughter decided she wants to become a lesbian and date another woman.

And I listened to the story and I reminded the mom, you know, I still love your daughter.

You're still welcome here.

I can't tell you that what you're doing is right, but I don't want you to leave because you continue.

You need to hear the word.

And as you hear the word, I think the spirit of God.

will work in you.

But she says, no, we can't do that because now we believe the Bible doesn't teach that.

We believe, pastor, that you're wrong.

And I said, okay, can we open up the Bible?

And she said, no, of course, you're going to find somebody that will deconstruct the scripture to make it say what you want it to say.

I mean, that's, that's first Timothy all over again.

Of course you can, but this is happening more and more where people just decide.

that I'm going to go wherever the world goes.

The world tells me this is fine, so that's where I'm going.

And then there are those that we talked about up top, the message that somehow are born into the flow of a world so deeply impacted by the demonic through no fault of their own, like this young girl who's kidnapped at a very young age in India, brought down, sold into the same slave sex trade.

What opportunity, what chance does she have?

for healing and to be released from this captivity.

I can't remember.

I've told so many different stories to different crowds during this series.

I can't remember what I've told you and what I haven't because there's so many of them.

But I think I told you about the time that I walked in and there was a lady seated over here on a Saturday and I knew something was wrong.

I began to pray for her, but I didn't tell you the rest of that.

Yes, we did celebrate her sobriety, but I learned much more of her story and it's very similar.

Well, at least, okay, not very similar, but similar in type to the story I told you about the young Indian girl in Armenia.

She also had been raised in a house that just basically abandoned her.

There was sexual abuse.

There was horrific house, family, life from a very young age.

What chances does a young girl who grows up in a home like that, what chance does she have of finding Christ and being set?

free from the captivity.

So the point I'm making is that Jesus, Paul, and the apostles, all of them constantly talk about how they had to confront the demonic in this world through either people who had allowed the demonic forces in or people who were in a situation through no choice of their own that they were overwhelmed with this kind of evil.

In either case, we want to be the kind of church.

that does not judge people.

Now, when I say judge people, we're going to judge people by the word of God.

If the word of God says, don't do it, we're going to tell you, don't do it.

But what I mean is rather than shoot people who are wounded, we want to be a church that ministers to the people that God will send us privately, responsibly, patiently, trustingly.

We want to minister to those people.

We don't want to be scared.

We don't need to be scared.

The name of Jesus sets the captives free.

We're told that again and again.

But we also want to minister to the people of God within our own midst who are trapped in the snares of the demonic, our brothers and sisters who were perhaps not watching as carefully as they should have.

And as a result, the trap was set.

And now there's a habit, a temptation, even an addiction that is destroying them.

And it's even invisible to them at the same time.

We'll get to that momentarily.

But now go over to James 1.

Let's go back to a passage with which you're very familiar.

And let me break it down quickly for you.

Let's pretend that you're reading this passage for the first time in this context.

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial.

For once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him.

So I'm assuming James is talking to believers.

We're talking about believers here.

No one is to say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God.

For God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself does not tempt anyone.

But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.

Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin.

And sin, when it has run its course, brings forth death.

Okay, some key words here.

First of all, the words or phrases translated carried away and enticed, they are hunting and fishing terms.

Hunting and fishing terms.

The writer's trying to say, Something that my father illustrated when I was younger.

Here's the quick version.

Robin and I had just had our first child, Delaney.

My father was driving six hours from Tennessee up to Cincinnati to see his grandson for the first time.

As we're pulling in the apartments where we live, he's not yet seen Delaney.

There's a crowd standing out on the veranda looking over this small lake, this pond small lake.

And I went in to register my guess.

And I asked everybody what's going on.

He says, yeah, that old catfish.

They had named it an old catfish, Sam.

And they said, oh, Sam is wreaking havoc in our lake.

Well, I came back out to the car and I got ready to pull in.

And my dad said, wait a minute, what's the problem?

I said, oh, there's an old catfish in there and it's really wreaking havoc.

They don't know what to do.

Nobody can catch him.

Now, you don't say something like that to an old Tennessee hillbilly.

And my father, who doesn't go anywhere without his fishing stuff.

pulled to the side.

He hadn't even seen his grandson yet.

He pulls into the parking lot, gets his tackle bag out.

And I'm not a fisherman.

So if I get some terminology wrong here, I'm sorry.

I have no interest in fish.

The thought of just doing this and sitting there, just no.

But my father loves it.

He said, what kind of fish is it?

I said, it's a catfish.

He goes, no problem.

So he puts a bunch of stuff on the end of his line.

He goes over.

I'm telling you, it couldn't have been more than five minutes.

He's taking this old catfish out of the water.

And there was a standing ovation on the veranda for my father.

Now, why?

You don't tell a Tennessee boy that.

My father knows exactly what bait for what fish.

He's been doing it all his life.

The problem is, according to James 1, Satan has the goods on you.

He knows exactly what bait will trap and entice you.

That terrifies me to tell you the truth from the get-go.

Now, I don't stay afraid because I realize I got power in Christ, but the reality is he got the goods on, which tells me he's not omniscient.

He doesn't know everything.

He's just been watching you live your life.

So let's say you're feeling lonely, okay?

You're lonely, and you're desperate for a relationship, right?

You don't think the evil one knows that?

You don't think he'll send you the wrong person?

I can't believe how many times I've heard somebody say to me, Pastor Jeb, I know this guy's married, but I feel that God sent him to me.

What?

Or, you know, Pastor Jeff, I know this person is not a Christian and doesn't share any of my interests and doesn't understand the deepest part of me, doesn't share my values or love for Jesus and basically is ignorant of all spiritual things.

But I believe God sent this person to me.

You know, Jesus said a house divided will not stand.

He's not going to divide himself.

Don't you think if you're really lonely and he knows you want that more than anything else, and you almost worship that above and beyond your relationship with Christ, oh, he'll send you somebody.

And sometimes it's not God sending you them.

It's the devil sending you them.

You and me, if we get so caught up that our love for money is so powerful that it's our real security and hope, do you not think the evil one may give you the opportunity to make more?

Now think about this for a moment.

Just because you have more doesn't mean it comes from God.

Sometimes it can come from the other place because anything he can do to distract you from spiritual things, he's all in.

So if your personality top is the one that has more money, you're going to forget church on the weekend.

You're going to forget the disciplines associated with your walk.

And you're going to use that money to entertain yourself to the tilt.

Then, of course, he's going to try to send you more.

Alternatively, he also might tell you that you're entitled to more than you have so that you'll go in debt.

Because either way, If you have a lot, you're distracted.

If you're in debt, you're distracted.

However, whenever, whatever he has to do to entice you, to distract you from God, he'll send into your way.

All of us come into our relationship with personalities that have been greatly determined by our past experience.

And then whatever...

Our past experiences have created in us whatever desire that we want, whatever pursuit that we engage in to try to meet the needs of something we think we didn't have or get, Satan will always offer the counterfeit.

Jesus will give you the full fulfillment, but Satan will always offer you the counterfeit.

Unless you're well-versed in scripture to know this is wrong, this is right, this is appropriate, this is inappropriate, you can end up being well-intentioned and still go down a path of destruction.

He sets a trap.

So first we're told in James that he tempts you with your own specific individual desires.

He knows your personal weakness.

He knows the one thing that will get you.

He has the goods on you.

He knows that if you worship relationships, he'll send you the wrong person to destroy you.

He knows if you long for an escape, he can send you the wrong fix.

He knows if you're overwhelmed with guilt, he will send you the wrong remedy.

Denial, justification, rationalization, anything but repentance, confession, and forgiveness.

It's the way he works.

Verse 14, 15 then, then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin.

And sin, when it has run its course, brings forth death.

So there are two separate images here.

Image one, temptation finds an echoing cord.

In other words, the trap is tailored to you, right down your alley.

Okay, let me give you a quick example.

So all of us have things that have occurred in our lives that kind of shade us a little bit.

It's just the way of the world.

So if you're a great athlete and you grow up in a home where you are just filled with adoration because of your athletic prowess, okay?

You learn a lesson very young in life that, hey, when I perform well, I get praised.

So The evil one knows.

Now I've got somebody here.

You see, you think it's about drugs and alcohol only and sex?

No.

So I've got somebody here that is addicted to praise.

So I'm going to send more and more of it his way.

So that he will become so addicted to it, he'll find himself in a performance trap and his significance will be based upon his last success.

And then I'm going to remove all of it from him.

He's going to feel like a failure and he's going to give up on God because he's going to say, my life is not going the way it should be going and what good is God?

That's just one example of a gazillion.

He has the goods on you.

He knows how you're wired.

He knows what you're after and he will always offer you the counterfeit.

So we're told that temptation finds an echoing cord tailored to the person being tempted.

The hook resonates with them.

The person then grabs the hook, the line, and the sinker, gobbles it up.

They're enticed.

They're hooked.

They're dragged in, ignoring all the warning signs along the way.

And then image number two.

desire is conceived.

You act on the attraction, whatever it is.

It's taken in and the gestation begins where ultimately desire gives birth to sin and sin when it is full grown, gives birth to death.

And the idea here is stillborn.

Do you know that?

Do you know the pain and hurt stillborn causes in the heart of a mother?

So you've had this child only to discover this child is dead.

That's the imagery James uses.

You've given birth to this desire.

This desire rather gives birth to sin.

And now here it is, but it brings destruction, heartbreak.

The problem is, and this is why we want to gear ourselves up toward this thing we call deliverance ministry, is these things are so easy to grab hold of, very difficult to let go of.

Once you grab hold of it, easy.

To let go of it, incredibly difficult.

So I told you I wasn't a fisherman, but my father-in-law is, and my father.

And when I lived in Zimbabwe, my father said, hey, we're going to go up to a place called Teredzi to True Tree Dam, and we're going to fish for bass.

Great fishing spot.

So my father-in-law got in the truck, got the fishing gear loaded, and I'd never caught a fish in my entire life.

And we went bass fishing.

So you get in the boat, And if you know anything about bass fishing, fishermen, you know, you throw it in.

And if you do hook a bass, what does he do?

He jumps out of the water and tries to sling the hook out.

If I'm going to fish, this is the kind of fishing I would do.

Well, I'd never caught a fish, and it so happened that I hooked one.

And I couldn't reel him in.

Thank God, he jumped out of the water.

And when he did, he jumped over a tree limb and hung himself.

And so I caught my first fish by taking the boat over and getting a net and putting him in the net and cutting him off the hook.

Okay?

Now.

Why did I tell that story?

The problem is for most of us, once we get hooked, we do jump out and try to sling the hook, but it's in too deep.

It's in too deep.

I will try this drug one time, we think, right?

I will meet her in private just this one time.

I will go to this website just this one time.

Trap is set, bait is taken, the hook gets in, and it's deep.

And no matter how hard you try to sling it out.

You're going to need, often, outside intervention.

And then add to that, to make matters worse, our whole world is under the direction of the demonic, and it will attempt to normalize sin.

Okay, here we go.

Normalize sin.

So adultery, do you know adultery was once illegal in America?

It was actually on the books as a crime.

You could be arrested.

Now it's cool, exciting.

It was once frowned upon.

Now it's kind of appealing and adventurous.

Sex outside marriage was once a violation of honor and integrity.

Now it's accepted as part of everyday life.

In fact, honesty, integrity, character used to be the values of society.

Now those values have been replaced by wealth, prestige, power.

And however you get it, you get it.

The end justifies the means.

And then something I've been wanting to say a long time, but there's just this fear in a pastor that there may be somebody here struggling with same-sex attraction that I just don't want you to think somehow that you're worse than any other sinner.

I want you to know I do love you.

I am going to tell you the truth of scripture because the truth will set you free.

But I want you to know I love you.

But the reality is you've been caught up in this world system that's operating under the influence and control of the evil one.

Gay and lesbian relationships you are not just permitted now, they're actually preferred.

The BBC analyzed the streaming services of Amazon, Netflix, Disney, Hulu, and Paramount.

And I quote, on these platforms, there are 358 LBGT regular and recurring characters with representation of LBGT people from ethnic minorities increasing to 49%.

Well, what are they saying?

They're simply saying that it's saturated on television now.

It's presented as the norm.

This is the way it is.

This is the way it should be.

And as a result, the youth culture has been desensitized.

And now they think it's normal and it's good.

And so they delve into this area thinking perhaps this is the answer to their loneliness.

The trap is set.

The bait is taken.

The destruction begins.

But here's the thing.

We don't want to be a place that shoots our own wounded.

We want to rescue them.

We want to show them we love them.

My goodness, the last thing we want to do is try to say that one group of people are worse sinners than another group.

We all got it, man.

We all got sin in our lives, okay?

All of us.

But let's not use that kind of transparency as an excuse not to repent.

Let's go.

We want to bear each other's burdens and thus fulfill the law of Christ, just like Galatians 6 tells us.

And the reality is when a Christ follower starts to disobey God and the word of God in any area of their life, two horrible things happen.

Number one, we're told that we began to grieve the heart of God, that God weeps.

Ephesians 4.30, do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

So when you came to Jesus, humbled yourself, confessed your sin, a transaction occurred that cannot be undone.

You are saved.

You're made right with God because of Jesus'payment on the cross.

We've stated that numerous times.

However, when there's continual disobedience in your life, it grieves the Holy Spirit and it grieves the Holy Spirit because you're giving back territory to the demonic influences.

that Christ has rescued and saved, and the devil will not stop with just one room.

Second, you quench the fire of the Spirit.

By the way, 1 Thessalonians 5.19, for those who study Scripture, is written in a progressive format, which means, he says, do not quench the Spirit, do not utterly reject prophecies, but examine everything, hold firmly to that which is good, abstain from every form of evil.

So it's a progressive passage, which basically means this.

If you quench the fire of the spirit, in other words, that the spirit of God convicts you in an area of your life and you ignore it, then that, that fire of conviction will dissipate over time to the point where you think God's not angry with you anymore, just because you don't feel the conviction.

And then the next thing happens is you start to reject prophecies, which is the messages or sermons of your preacher, because he's not on your side and you stop examining everything anymore.

And you stop holding firm that which is good.

And ultimately, you're not abstaining from every form of evil.

You're inviting it in.

Quenching the fire of the Holy Spirit is one of the most dangerous things a Christian can do.

Now, I know this because the deepest wound that I have in my life is somebody that I love and respect quenching the fire of the Spirit.

And that's Ravi Zacharias.

So Ravi was my mentor.

I looked up to Ravi from 1999 when we first met in New Zealand.

I read every book I could by Ravi.

I got close to his family, Margie, Naomi, Sarah, Nathan, the family, my family.

When I was in London this last week, it all came up again because one of the ladies that worked for RZIM now works for Premier Radio.

And I didn't know that, but they brought me in the studio and they say, Pastor Jeff, what we want to do is we're going to fire questions at you for two hours.

And the camera's here.

Don't look at us, look at the camera.

So we're going to fire two hours worth of questions.

And they did.

And then we're going to take 60 to 90 minute spots.

And we're going to just flood social media throughout Europe.

So I sat there for two hours.

Finally, I looked over the head of the ones who was asking the questions.

I knew I recognized her.

We went to lunch.

She said, how are you doing, Jeff?

I said, well, I was doing fine until I met you again.

She goes, well, I need to tell you what we found out.

And I sat there and listened.

Because I always wondered, when did this start happening?

You know, did it happen when Ravi was younger?

Did it happen just a few years ago?

How long has it been going on?

this kind of sexual immorality in his life.

And it's been going on for like 15 years.

And my heart just broke.

I started thinking, how can someone so smart, so intellectual, allow the evil one to get a foothold and then to continue to stand before the people of God and preach and teach with such great passion and compassion.

And yet over here, live this duplicitous lifestyle against which he preached most of his life.

And as I'm there around the table, I'm thinking, this is too much.

And then suddenly I realized, or maybe the Holy Spirit is speaking to me.

Jeff, it can happen to you.

You think you're immune?

That we're all just one decision away.

And then a second one and then a third one.

And we get to the point where we start rationalizing.

Well, God understands why I'm like this and I need this over here because after all, I'm serving him.

You know, I read that story in the Old Testament of David and Nathan.

And the more I read it, the more I would think, this is King David.

I mean, this is switched on intellectually speaking.

He's not lacking.

And Nathan comes and starts telling the story, you know, the story of David when he sits with Bathsheba and has her husband Uriah sit to the front lines and he ends up dying.

And then Nathan comes to tell him a story to try to get him to repent.

He tells the story about a rich man coming into town or the village.

And instead of getting one of his little ewe lambs to offer the guests, this rich man who has a guest that is also wealthy goes to the poor man who has one little ewe lamb.

It takes that one little ewe lamb and sacrifices it, cooks it.

and prepares it and gives it to the guest.

Now, as I read the story, I'm thinking, dude, at what point does David said, I know who you're talking about.

If you heard that story and you'd done what you did with Bathsheba, wouldn't you be saying, oh, I don't like this story.

I don't like where this is going.

Never even dawns on him.

He's so clueless.

And finally, Nathan has to say, you are that man.

And then it dawns on David.

Oh, I am that man.

Notice how David was delivered.

Confrontation, truth.

And his eyes were open and he repented.

Folks, deliverance ministry is going to become part of this church because it has been part of the church from the beginning.

Because Jesus said and looked for the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he anointed me to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captains and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of our Lord.

Jesus came to set the captains free.

Now, I got to end our time.

I got to end our time because I have to do this.

Please listen.

This is the end of the message.

Deliverance is not magic.

It's not voodoo and hocus pocus.

Deliverance is simply the word of God spoken over you in the name of Jesus spoken over you until the breakthrough comes.

You have to be reawakened to spiritual reality.

This is where the spiritual gift of discernment comes in from the New Testament.

The Bible speaks of people who have the gift of discernment.

Now, I'm going to go over spiritual gifts when we do our series in January and February on what it is to be a disciple.

But for right now, the gift of discernment, make no mistake, is real.

And there are people who are given a gift to detect the presence of evil influence, to detect hidden evil.

They can distinguish between gifts that are real and those that are counterfeit.

They have an ability to diagnose spiritual dis-ease.

in the life of a believer and warfare in the life of the traumatized.

That kind of ministry I know can get messy, but you cannot avoid it just because it's tough.

But I want to give you my commitment right now.

Number one, we will vet all of those who are involved in our deliverance ministry.

No other ministry is more susceptible to demonic infiltration than this one.

We will vet and there will be clear protocol of how we handle this.

Two, we are an elder-led church, and all those who serve the people of one and all serve under the authority of our leaders and ultimately submit to God.

Protocol for how we do this is determined by the lead pastor, but under the approval and authority of the eldership.

Three, deliverance ministry leaders on each campus are under the direction of our campus pastors.

So those involved in this ministry must submit to the authority.

of the campus pastors because it's a biblical command.

Hebrews 13, 17.

Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account.

Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.

We are writing the protocol.

We are going to have deliverance ministry, but it's never going to be a show because it's not about the glory of any church or any man or woman.

It's about the glory of God, which is why this kind of ministry will not happen here.

It will happen in back rooms, in private, as it should, as those with those gifts of discernment will be able to discern what is happening and speak the truth of God's word over those who are oppressed.

However, I want to talk to you now, though.

I've got a very close friend.

So I'll finish with the story.

I've got a very close friend.

We've been friends since I was in Savannah, Georgia, just a great guy.

And he's written a book kind of describing how God has used him and spoke to him throughout the course of his life.

And he tells the story of being at a convention in Vegas.

Still, I still haven't been to Vegas.

Have you?

Yeah.

Nobody wants to raise their hand.

I love it.

Okay.

I love it.

So, so, uh, he says, we're in Vegas at this convention and it's Wednesday night and we decide, you know, let's go to church.

Cause there's a great church in Vegas called central.

Uh, a good guy, Judd Wilhite is the pastor there.

And, uh, they line up, uh, to get a taxi, kind of like in London.

You know, if you're in London, you leave the airport, you go out on the curb and there's a big line and you've got to stand in line until the taxi comes.

And there's a guy, there's a guide kind of saying, Hey, where are you going?

And he talks to the taxi driver and taxi drivers can say, I don't want to go there.

So sometimes you can stand in line a long time.

Well, same thing in Vegas.

They come out of this convention and there's taxis lined up and there's a guide.

And Mark says, yeah, we want to go to church.

And taxi driver after taxi driver, they're all like, we don't want to go.

It's too far.

We don't want to go.

Until finally, there's one guy.

What do you want to go?

He says, well, we want to go to Central Christian Church.

Okay, we'll take you.

I'll take you.

So he gets in the car.

The first thing the taxi driver says, guys, you're in Vegas.

Why do you want to go to church?

You don't come to Vegas to go to church.

And they kind of talked to him.

They keep driving.

It's about a 45 minute ride, I think.

And they get to the church.

And my friend Mark said, I just felt prompted by the spirit.

I said to the guy, hey, why don't you come in with us?

You're just going to drive all the way back.

I'll tell you what, leave the meter running and we'll pay you.

But come in, come into church with us.

Oh, Mark's great.

He said, no, I'll sit in the car.

He said, come on, man.

You don't want to, what are you going to do in the car?

Come on in.

No, I don't want to do that.

He said, come on, man.

We'll pay you.

I'll pay you extra.

Okay.

He goes into the church.

So they're all there, all worshiping.

I'm sure they heard a powerful message by Judd, and it's just a great night.

And then the invitation comes, and, you know, they're all standing around waiting for it to end so they can go back.

And then suddenly this taxi driver starts walking up the aisle.

He's going forward.

But when he gets there, Mark said, the thing is, it looked like everybody knew him already.

We didn't know.

So we got in the car.

He walks back, got in the car.

He says, the tax director says, I want to thank you guys.

This is my home church, but I haven't been for 10 years because I just got in a situation that I just got deeper and deeper into it and away from God.

I want to thank you guys for bringing me home tonight.

I love that story.

Now, here's the thing.

Here's the thing.

Some of you need to come back home now.

You've been away long enough, okay?

This thing's been eating at you and you know it's destroying you and you're in denial, you're rationalizing, but you know you're in the wrong path, man.

And if you're not careful and you quench and grieve the spirit long enough, the world will gobble you up and you will lose your ability to even feel God, which is the greatest loss.

It's time to come home.

Everybody in this room ought to be doing some business with God when we start singing together.

Everybody.

Some of you know exactly what it is in your life.

Man, you don't need three, 10 people to sit around right now and pray for you.

I think those are good things.

And I think deliverance is necessary for many of us.

But there's a lot of you who don't need that yet.

All you simply need to do is repent of what the Spirit of God just put upon your mind.

Others of you, you're far gone.

You are.

I don't know, but you know it.

And the reality is you don't feel anything anymore.

And you think there's no association between your lack of feeling God and your unwillingness to obey him in some area of your life.

Could be bitterness, could be alcohol, could be drugs, could be pornography, could be food.

Everybody has a God.

that tries to destroy them.

Everybody should be doing business with God, myself included, at least praying, God, show me something that's in my life that I've rationalized so long.

It's destroying me, but I can no longer see it because I've grieved and I've quenched the fire of the spirit of God.

This is the beginning of a ministry today that will be full throttle in the few weeks to come, but for now.

Let's everybody do our business with God and come home.

Father, thank you for your goodness and mercy.

I pray in Christ's name, your spirit would move in a powerful way right now.

We pray and we sing, Holy Spirit, fall on us, fall on this place.

Let us see your glory.

Father, I pray that this right here, right now, on all our campuses would be one of those moments.

where the spirit of the living God falls afresh on us, and where the reality of where we are with you is so intense right now in every individual life that it's undeniable, and that each person will be reminded you are one step away through confession and repentance of getting your life back.

Help us, oh God.

In Christ's name, everybody said, amen.

We hope you enjoyed today's message.

If you want to know more about what it's like to be a Christ follower, I want to encourage you to go to oneandall.church.com to get more information, as well as to reach out to us to walk alongside you in this step.

I also want to encourage you to download our One and All app, as we have so many resources there for you, like our daily devotionals, our conversations, podcasts, as well as the sermons and...

to know what is happening here at our church so you can get plugged in.

We hope you have a great rest of your week, and we'll end as we always do with one hope, one life in Christ.