If you have your Bibles with you, your iPad, iPhone, whatever it is you follow along, I'm in Ephesians 6 verse 12, but let me just tell you from the get-go, we're beginning a new series. It's quite a journey we're going to embark upon, and I'm going to use a lot of scripture in this message, this first message in particularly, because this is not just a one topic in a specific place found in the scripture. It's really the general theme of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. So I'm going to be all over the place, but those scriptures will be provided. I encourage you to follow along. Okay. So have you ever seen a news story or maybe something on YouTube and you saw it, you witnessed it and you think, my goodness, are we really capable of something so evil and atrocious as that?

Especially in the modern day world where we see everything from war to abuse to sexual immorality, whatever it is. Right now as this sermon series begins, there's a guy by the name of P Diddy who's a three-time Grammy award-winning rapper. So quite talented, very wealthy. And suddenly now we're getting these reports where he's accused of human trafficking, child sex trafficking, drugging and abusing men and women at these outlandish debaucherous parties.

And as I read more and more information that comes out more and more every day, I'm thinking to myself, can a person really be this evil? Can this kind of depravity and evil truly exist in an individual? I go back to the times when I was doing prison work in Rwanda, and I remember visiting the Rwanda Memorial Museum once.

It's very similar to the Museum of Tolerance that you'll find here in LA and Holocaust museums all around the world. It basically wanted to create an experience whereby we would never forget what happened in 1994 when a million Tutsis were slaughtered by their neighbors. This is the key. It wasn't as if a foreign army came in and slaughtered a million people in 90 days.

It was neighbors slaughtering neighbors. So people who had grown up together, people who had played on the same soccer or football team together, gone to the same schools together, suddenly, just like that, as if there was some click in the universe, the Hutus walked across the street, grabbed a machete out of the shed, and slaughtered their neighbors to the tune of over a million in just 90 days. And you have to ask the question, how...

How is an individual able to do that just like that? I remember reading a book called Machete Season in which they interviewed the 10 orchestrators of the genocide. And they asked that question, it was a New York Times author, asked that question to journalists. How are you able to do that? I'll never forget the quote. The first person they interviewed said, "After the first kill, it was like someone else was living inside me, as if I was just a conduit, an instrument of some great evil." I've mentioned before two of the movies that I've seen earlier in my life that I wish I had never seen because I can't unsee them. One was a movie based on the book Prince of Tides. The other was a movie based on a true story called Dead Man Walking.

Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon. It's a story about two death row inmates, Elmo Patrick Saunier and Robert Lee Willey. Now what they did over the course of about 20 days to these two teenagers, I really, I'd just like to leave it right there. And I mentioned the movie because of the impact it had upon me, but don't go out and watch it. This is something that should not be watched or viewed, maybe read about, but it is demonic at its very core.

The point I'm trying to make is you and I know we live in a world that even though there's a humanistic worldview that tells us that man is basically good, you and I are too smart to fall for that. We know that we know what we're capable of doing if we're put in the right or the wrong situation. Evil is real. It exists. In fact, what really should grab your attention is that Christians, Christ followers, those who are filled by the Holy Spirit, okay, are told, be alert and sober mind, be Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, stand firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. That's 1 Peter 5, 8, and 9. So sufferings here is a word that can mean wrestle or struggles or temptations or even warfare. So don't think that you're alone in this. It's part and partial to the Christian experience.

So it tells us that we're not immune to Satan's attacks. He roams and he waits and he looks for an opening. And evidently, there's an opening that you and I can give him whereby he can come into our life in some respect. We're going to talk about this, how that works, how it functions, that would start to bring darkness into our lives, even though we are members of the kingdom of light. Paul also warns the church at Ephesus who are tempted in this season to compromise their faith and fit in with society or to benefit from social services in society by engaging in anti-Christian, anti-godly cultural practices. Paul says, watch out, and then he says, or really he defines the real struggle in Ephesians 6.12. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood. It's not against these people who are passing policy. It's not against...

social services. It's not even against, on the surface, the false temple worship, the false god worships, rather, in the temples. He says our struggle is not against flesh and blood, not against people, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm. So your struggle is not merely against culture. That's a front. Your real struggle is against something far more powerful and far more sinister.

And by the way, I wish we had time to unpack Ephesians 6.12, but just to make sure we're on the same page here, Paul doesn't list these because he ran out of something to say and wanting to fill the gap. He lists the hierarchy of the demonic forces, the spiritual hosts of wickedness. He says that our battle is against the principalities or harxas is the Greek word. It means that there are community leaders in our present who are under the influence of someone or something else.

He says it's against the authorities, the exousias. It's the word from which we get our word execute. So there's a greater mind, greater power behind the decisions that are then executed within the human experience. And who are these great authorities or these powers? He says they're the rulers of the darkness of this age, the cosmocreators, the world rulers.

So Satan's representatives may live on planet Earth, but make no mistake, his influence, they are possessed with his power and his will to accomplish his purposes. Those in authority on our Earth, on the Earth, They are under, to a great degree, Satan's world system. His kingdom, his government. I go back to 1 John 5, 19. We know we are children of God, that the whole world is under the control or influence of the evil one. And then finally he says there's the spiritual host of wickedness. The Greek word is a host of evil in the heavenlies. So in other words, Paul tells us that angels are real.

God's ministering servants are real, doing God's work, God's way, God's will, God's purposes. But the demonic kingdom is also real. They are servants of Satan, doing Satan's work, doing his will, accomplishing his purposes. So in many cases, the only plausible explanation for some of the evil events in our world is the reality of the demonic influence, control, and even possession. Now here's the problem.

I grew up in a very conservative church, as many of those who will be listening did as well. We never or seldom discussed the Holy Spirit, and we never mentioned demonic influences. As I've gotten older and began to see how the Bible fits together, the question I have is, why not? Both are major topics in both Jesus and Paul's ministry. They're not just isolated events here and there. If you read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the book of Acts that describes the history of the early church, this is something you see again and again.

So John Thompson, who had a similar upbringing as I did, has written a book called Deliverance. And he makes a valid point when he says, one, our battle is real. It must be taken seriously. Two, the battle can be won, but it must be fought. And three, the war is against the people of God and is fought on three fronts. Now that's my summary, but he basically describes those fronts.

The demonic battles, they're fought, one, in the world. That's one of the fronts, the system or the culture. That is the flow of the world, the flow of culture does not gravitate toward God but away from God. It does not choose to glorify God. What the world glorifies, God often diminishes. What the world celebrates, God often abhors. And what society tolerates, God judges.

So therefore, you and I should not be surprised at the fact that culture glorifies things that oppose God. Think about where we are right now. Same-sex marriage, unlimited unrestricted abortion, adultery, violence, profanity. But most of all, what the demonic kingdom glorifies over everything else is self. To convince us that we are the owners instead of tenants serving the ultimate owner.

So that world system governed by, led by, inspired by the demonic world is the culture in which you and I live. And the second front then is the flesh. Even though we become Christ followers, the flesh does not go away. We are told to bring the flesh under the submission of the objective word of God. But there are still unbridled passions in us that And Satan works through those unbridled passions in order that those passions may be fulfilled in illegitimate ways. We've said before that Christ created us with passions. Those are legitimate. They are real, but they're to be fulfilled in legitimate ways that bring life instead of destruction. The evil one does not want any part of that.

So to the unbeliever, the flesh is king. If it feels good, do it. Desire is the only real authority in Satan's world system or order. But for the believer, there still is this constant temptation for you and I to return to the old man, to give into the flesh like we did before we became Christ followers, to be ruled by our desires rather than by the truth of God's word, to obey Christ.

The flesh rather than the spirit within. So the battle is fought on three fronts and it's real. The world, the flesh, and finally the third front is the devil himself. He is the chief fallen angel whose primary mission is destruction. Now, if you're familiar with the book of Revelation, there's a passage in Revelation 12 that tells us what happened in the heavens before.

And what was the result of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus? And we're given this incredibly encouraging word followed by a warning. So in Revelation 12, verse 10, we're told, who accuses them before our God day and night has been hurled down. So evidently before the crucifixion of Christ, Satan had an argument to make against the people on planet Earth. And that is they're losers. There's no one righteous. You should devastate and wipe them all out because Satan hates God and humanity.

But because of the cross now, you and I can come into relationship with God because we've been forgiven because of the blood of the Lamb. So the accuser no longer has a place to accuse man before the throne of God. He's been cast down. But then comes the warning, okay?

In verse 11, we're told that we triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb. Then the dragon, we're told, in verse 17 of chapter 12, and the dragon, very clearly a Satan, was enraged at the woman, that's the church, and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring, disciples of Christ, those who keep God's commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.

So then, the Bible is clear that spiritual warfare is real, and it involves, again, three things. The flow of the world, away from God. So be careful. Be very careful of anything that is popular, because chances are it's another of Satan's instruments to distract us or to cause our allegiance to go away from God into his world system. The desires of the flesh, which is why in Romans 6, Paul says, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness. So the flow of the world, the desires of the flesh, and then finally, the devil, who roams like a lion, right?

Looking for an opening, a weakness, a place where darkness has a foot in the door. And by the way, that passage is written to believers, not unbelievers. Now there's another problem in all this, and that's this, that sin, and maybe you don't like hearing a pastor say this, but sin initially is fun. Bottom line, it's attractive. It's not unattractive.

Not too long ago, my family and I took a trip over to Zimbabwe, one of my favorite places. We went to Victoria Falls, and they were bungee jumping off the Victoria Falls Bridge. And my son and my daughter and my wife and my father-in-law, who was in his late 70s at the time, wanted to go jump off the bridge. I have no idea why people would want to do this. So I went into the cafe and had a cup of coffee with my mother-in-law. And that, to me, was better than jumping off the Victoria Falls Bridge, which should tell you something.

I started thinking, why do you do this? Of course, the answer is it's fun. There's an adrenaline. There's an excitement to it. One of my favorite lines in one of my favorite James Bond movies goes like this, there's no use living if you can't feel alive.

And the fact of the matter is, at first effort, at first step, adultery, fornication, pornography, gossip, revenge, all of those things at first glance make you feel a rush of adrenaline. But you end up sacrificing your future for the pleasure of the present because the damage...

that comes in after all of these things is untold. We're like Esau who traded his birthright, his birthright and all of his inheritance for a bowl of soup. The bowl of soup might have been nice at the moment, but he ended up destroying his life. Now, at the same time, you and I as Christ followers We belong to Jesus, and therefore, we have a desire to want to be sexually pure, to be honest and live with integrity, to be selfless, to engage in reconciliation and forgiveness. And the spiritual warfare here, there's going to be a few keys in this message, this is the first one. The spiritual warfare then that is real and is fought on three fronts occurs in our lives when there is conflict between our loves.

Yes, we love God in Christ's kingdom. There's a part of us in the old man that still loves the things of the world, the flesh, and even the temptations of the world. So while this battle, come on, stay with me, while the battle takes place on three fronts, it exists primarily in two major arenas. In the mind, the intellect, and and the experiences and emotions and feelings. Now, you've got to understand that. The battle takes place in two major arenas. It comes after your intellect, your belief system, what you believe determines what you do, and your emotions, what you feel, what you experience in your life. So concerning the mind, when you believe wrong things, darkness shows up, gets a foot in the door.

where your emotions are concerned, when you experience wrong things, darkness shows up and gets a foot in the door. Let's address the emotions and experience just for a moment. Darkness shows up in you as a believer either when you open yourself willingness to darkness or when you are exposed to darkness unwillingly.

Both are experiences that open the door for Satan to enter in. Now let's talk about unwillingly exposed first. What does that mean? Well, there are a lot of children in this world who have experienced abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, whatever it is. And even though they had nothing to do with it, they were the victims of the perpetrator, the reality is still a world of darkness is open and it leads to behavioral and psychological problems both long and short term.

We know now that it causes increased illness, memory loss, severe mood changes, regressive behaviors, sleeping and eating disorders, nightmares, self-harm, suicidal thoughts, self-hatred, disinhibited behavior. I mean, wow. The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it to the full. So if Satan can get into you through another person, he will because he hates you.

So when some perpetrator of evil unleashes on us, you have to understand the door to that darkness has been opened. Now it can be closed and you can overcome. Nevertheless, this is a world system that marches away from God, not toward him. So I have a very good friend. And a lot of us who've grown up in a good home with good parents who did the best they could, that's becoming more and more rare. And that's why our culture is in the position that it's in. So I have a friend who I'm not going to mention a name, but I remember a few years ago walking in on a Saturday service and she was seated by herself.

I could tell she was quite distraught, so I was headed backstage to get ready for the Saturday night service. I felt a prompting by the Spirit of God, He does live in us, to go and sit down beside her. I said, "Hey, are you okay?" She just burst into tears. I want to tell you, when I was seated beside her, I could literally smell wine, alcohol coming out of her pores. I knew immediately this is a person who is struggling with some addiction that is absolutely destroying her.

I'm happy to say that a couple of weeks ago we celebrated an evening with her, a celebration of sobriety.

And our church has kind of gathered their arms around her. And myself and a few friends of mine have really looked after her and reminded her of God's unconditional love for her. And because people have come around her and loved her, she is now on her way to complete. She has been set free. She has been, the captives have been loosed, but she still has a journey to go. And she knows she has decisions to make every day and she's making good ones.

But the reason I tell you that is it's easy for us to look at that and think that's where it all began. But over time, I got to know her story. So here is a young lady whose home life was hell and wanted to get out even by the age of 10 or 11 and found herself without money, without food on the streets. And of course, when you're in that position, the evil one's going to send someone your way.

And so is God, but you still have a choice to make. She ends up doing things that are incredibly impacting on her soul and spirit. But in her mind, it's the only way she could survive and get money for food.

And she goes from that relationship, and then she ends up being owned by someone, and then she's abused by someone, and then she's addicted to drugs. I mean, it's just a horrible, horrible life that starts at a very young age when there's a demonic force in the home. So you can understand why we can have more passion for someone like that, right? And we can say, wait a minute, this is a person that rather...

Someone that we need to say, hey, you don't belong with us. You belong with us, especially because Jesus came to set the captives free. Yes, and we talked about how the cross reminds us that God can bring beauty pattern design out of whatever Satan orchestrates. That's true. But it doesn't mean that the battle is not real and it must be fought.

So sometimes there are things that happen to us, they are real because we live in a world that is held under the sway of the evil one. Even though we have the spirit of the living God in us to enable us to overcome, the reality is the reality. This world is evil. It has good things in it, but it is not trying to get us toward God, but to move us away from God because it's held under the sway of the evil one. And then there's the other side, the willingness exposure to sin.

This is when you willingly open yourself up to darkness. I read an article, science direct.com says that the research has demonstrated that men, and I know this is going to, this is going to cause a lot of you to shake your heads. You've been shaking your heads far too long, but it says that research, this is not a Christian magazine or journal. Now this is science direct.com research has demonstrated that young men who play violent video games have a significant increase in aggressive thoughts, physiological arousal and aggressive behavior and now they've connected it to bullying even leading young men to commit murder. Doesn't mean that everybody who plays a violent video game is going to kill somebody. I'm simply saying that the stats are out in 1995 for the first time in American history 1 million plus violent crimes like murder were committed by teenagers between the age of 12 and 17 1995 is it is there any connection to the reality that in 1994 video game directors released their most violent video games And then you have pornography. The facts are in. Pornography opens the door to the deepest darkness. It destroys present and future relationships. It creates insatiable appetites that will not take no for an answer. It catalyzes chronic depression and anxiety and ultimately destroys a person's capacity to think clearly about intimacy and relationships. If you're my age, how many of you remember Jeffrey Dahmer?

Okay, this was a serial killer, brutality, unheard of. He actually brutally killed 17 young men, sometimes eating their flesh. He said in his interview that the state has to kill him. That's what he said. You've got to kill me. Until you kill me, the world will not be safe. And then I quote Jeffrey Dahmer. I had this obsession, desires and thoughts wanting to control them.

to possess them permanently. Not because I was hungry with them or because I hated them, because I wanted to keep them with me. As my obsession grew, I would save some of their body parts. It's a process. It doesn't happen overnight when you dehumanize another person and start viewing them as an object of pleasure than living, breathing human beings. His main fuel, he said, his main fuel was horror movies and X-rated films. How about Ted Bundy?

He killed 30 women in the 1970s. Again, it's so brutal, I'd rather not just go there. But I will tell you this, in an interview, he said, "I am not a social scientist, nor have I done any survey, and I won't pretend that I know, but I have been in prison a long time now, and I know a lot of men who were motivated to be violent, just like me, and without exception, every one of them was deeply involved with pornography." The reason I give this example is, make no mistake, the brain has two main entries, the ears and the eyes. And it has two main exits, the hands and the mouth. What you are watching, reading, and exposing yourself to will be seen by what you say and how you act. I know what you've been feeding your brain by what you say and what you do.

And the fact that Christians believe that they can ingest movies that glorify evil and profanity, music that is explicit and ungodly, YouTube videos that are full of vulgar and just filled with all kinds of evil...

Books that are erotic and violent, television shows that mock sexual purity, you think you can ingest that on a regular basis and your mind and intellect remain unimpacted by the darkness is foolish. Besides that, this kind of life seems antithetical to what Paul called us to live. He says, for instance, set your minds on the things above, not on earthly things.

For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature, sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, greed, which is idolatry. You used to walk in these ways in the life you once lived, but now you must also rid yourselves of such things as these, anger, rage, malice, slander, filthy language, filthy language from your lips." Man, I just, you know, I can't open up the Apple app and watch a movie without hearing the F-bomb dropped 100 times in about three minutes. If you can watch that and you're not offended, can I just tell you, that's called giving the devil a foothold. It's called opening the door. You think you're strong enough to not be impacted by it because you're foolish. Bottom line.

And that's why in James chapter 4, submit yourselves then to God, resist the devil. And if you resist the devil, he will flee. And do not give the devil a foothold, Ephesians chapter 4, verse 27. By the way, foothold is the word scabbard. It's a word...

It's a word that describes the slot for a sword. So you've got your sword and then you slide it into the scabbard, okay? So what he's basically doing is don't give the devil a place to rest. Don't give him a place or space to reside. Don't open the door for Satan to enter in and take possession.

So while the battle takes place on three fronts, it exists primarily in two major arenas. One, the emotions, your feelings and experiences, what you are willingly exposed to or unwillingly exposed to.

And two, where the mind is concerned now. The mind. We said what you believe. If you believe wrong things, darkness shows up. 1 Timothy 4. The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and will follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.

So the wisdom of the world gets into you and you start thinking like the world. It's your truth and you determine right and wrong because the world has taught you to do exactly that. Now think for a moment. We're saying, the Bible teaching, that there are two separate kingdoms. And by the way, as I said in the Forgiveness series, you've got to listen to every message. You've got to lean into every message to answer the ultimate questions. So we're just laying the foundation like we did in the Forgiveness series.

There are two separate kingdoms in operation. One is the kingdom of this world ruled by Satan. The other is the kingdom of God ruled by God. The kingdom of God is real. Its citizens are saved by grace through faith. They walk in the dust of the rabbi. They pursue holiness, righteousness as defined by Christ, as revealed in his word, the scriptures. They think godly thoughts. They feel godly things. They do godly works. They set their minds on the higher things and they're on a one-way trip to heaven with God forever.

But the kingdom of Satan is also real. Its citizens are not saved by grace through faith. They mock something like that. They follow the ways of the world, Satan's domain. Right and wrong are determined by culture, not by the word of God. That kingdom follows the worldview and philosophies of Satan himself.

The world system is under the influence of Satan himself. And yet there are some good things in this world, obviously. God causes his reign on the righteous and the unrighteous. But the goal of each kingdom is totally different. The kingdom of God has as its end goal life to the full to the glory of God. And the kingdom of Satan has as its goal destruction to the full to the glory of self. So there are entire worldviews. This is what Christ followers, we get.

We get lulled to sleep. We're just lulled again and again, away from what is true into what is false because it's so powerful. There are so many worldviews in our world today, so many ways of thinking that are straight, that are not neutral. They're straight from the pit of hell, straight from Satan, the prince of the power of the air.

So, in 1 John 4, just one example, dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God. Pay attention. Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.

What that basically means is every spirit that acknowledges Jesus is God in the flesh for the redemption of mankind. But every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This, and it doesn't just stop there. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. And the Antichrist is governed as it is influenced by the dragon in Revelation or Satan himself. So for instance, Hinduism is not just another worldview.

The caste system tells us that people are devalued and marginalized based on value perceived by birth or tribe. There's no equality of essence. There's no intrinsic value in certain people.

They believe that such people do not deserve to live or to be assisted. Karma, they say, demands that they be discarded. That doesn't come from heaven and it's not neutral. That comes straight from hell. So I've made the comment in the past that Hinduism is a doctrine of demons and I stand by that still. Now, as much as this is going to offend some people, so is Islam. Because it directly attacks the deity of Christ. That is the core of Islam. We're supposed to test the spirits.

and every spirit that denies Jesus coming in the flesh for redemption, revelation, and reconciliation between God and man is not neutral. And the mind and the power behind the Antichrist is the dragon. And the dragon in apocalyptic literature is Satan, the demonic. Now this is one that's even, I think it's going to surprise some people, but even the Jews. Israel rejects Yeshua as Messiah.

So does that mean that this doctrine is the doctrine of demons? Absolutely. 2 Corinthians 4.4, the God of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ who is the image of God. The originator of the doctrine of salvation by works is not God. The gospel of morality is Christ's biggest competitor that you think you can be good enough and righteous enough.

What did Jesus say to those people who believed that in the New Testament? Let me read it for you. If God were your father, he's speaking to religious leaders, religious Jews. If God were your father, you would love me for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own. God sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say.

You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Wow! Jesus, there's no neutrality. He says this thing, this philosophy that you're believing does not come from God. It originates someplace else from your father, the devil. Now, what's the point?

The point is the world's way of thinking, the religions of this world, the dogma of this world, the entertainment of this world, the philosophies of this world are controlled and governed by who? Satan. They are anti-God and anti-Christ.

In 2 Corinthians 11, for such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. Right? There and then lies the problem. When you think of the demonic, you think of crazy eyes on Mr. Deeds. Or you think of the exorcist where there's foaming at the mouth and shaking. But the Bible tells us that's not how Satan comes to us.

He masquerades as an angel of light, of good. There are philosophies that appear to be good, dogma that can seem to be good, preachers in churches that can appear to be good, social efforts that can appear to be good, even satanic worldviews can have some good things in it, but the end goal is not the same. Jeff, why are you doing this? I'm doing this to try to convince you that you and I are members of the kingdom of light living in the midst of the kingdom of darkness.

It influences all around us. Let me say it again. You and I are members of the kingdom of light living in the midst of the kingdom of darkness, and its influences are all around us. And every person is either owned by God or owned by Satan. There's no middle ground. You are influenced and controlled by one or the other. You're either possessed or owned by Jesus, or you're possessed or owned by the other side. Now, wait a minute before you misunderstand.

Possession in the Bible is more about ownership than experience. Possession is always positional. It deals with the question, "To whom do you belong?" Now for Christ followers, we know who we belong to: Jesus Christ. We are saved by grace through faith and that will not change. However, At one time, you and I were part of a world and a kingdom that was ruled, governed, and influenced by the evil one. As we move toward Christmas in December, that's the beginning of the invasion where Jesus Christ came to set the captives free. But you have to understand, you know, somebody might say, Jeff, are you saying that all my non-Christian friends are possessed by Satan?

In a way, yes, they are owned. They are members. They are under the influence of the evil one, which is the reason they don't see or feel or do the things that you see, feel, or do. Now, that doesn't mean, please don't go out of here and start saying to your unchurched friends, you're the devil. That's not going to get you anywhere. But you have to understand in the back of your mind there may be things they cannot comprehend, understand, because they are blinded by the one who rules the world.

When Christ came, he made a way for you and me to be translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. Out of Satan's worldly influence, pursuits, philosophies, religions, and worldviews into Christ's influence, pursuits, philosophies, and worldview.

There's only one who defeated, and this is important, there's only one who defeated death and the power of the evil one. To wake us up to spiritual realities, to lift the blindness, to breathe life into us, to escort us into a new kingdom. The kingdom of God, the Greek word is basilia, which means a new rule, a new worldview, a new philosophy, away from death and destruction into one that leads to life and life to the full. And as a result, stay with me now, second keeper, as a result, You should praise God that he opened your eyes and raised you from the dead. That he lifted ... This would be a weekend where you say, "Oh, man, hallelujah.

I think I knew this, but I didn't realize the gratitude I should experience and express to God because he did lift the veil. I do see these two kingdoms. He shined his light in the darkness of my life. I see now how God orchestrated all the events of my life to bring me out of the darkness into the light. Praise God that he was willing to do whatever he needed to do and sometimes painful to get me out of that kingdom, to open my eyes, secure my eternity.

Second thing, you should rejoice that the ownership of your life, your mind, your will, and emotions changed hands. So your master is no longer sin. Satan does not own you. You've been set free to serve a new master. You've been bought with a price. Everyone is owned, serves, or is under the influence of a master. You and I are under the influence. We serve. We are owned by a master who brings light and life.

And you can't do that on your own accord. And this transaction that we experience on the day of our salvation is true and final. And here's the third and final key. However, every day is a day you must decide which master you're going to serve. Which kingdom today will I honor? Which ruler today will I obey? Which influence?

Will I allow into my life? Yes, you belong to God. You've been purchased by God. You've been bought with a price. He saved you. He breathed life into you. But every single day is a day of battle. Every day is a day you decide if you're going to give Satan a foothold or not, if you're going to allow the darkness in or not. And spiritual conflict occurs in the life of every believer when you begin serving any aspect of the old master.

Remember what we said, don't give the devil a foothold. No place to rest. No place to enter. Not even one small area of your life. Don't open the door to any room. And the reason this is important, and the reason we're doing this series, is because this is a war with real casualties. Because you can be possessed and owned by the kingdom of God, while at the same time yield to a different master.

And when you yield to that master of a different kingdom, listen now, he regains some influence over you. And the longer you play around in another kingdom, the more deeply that kingdom and its ruler becomes ingrained in an area of your life. Yes, you're a Christian. We are owned by Christ. He is our master.

But if I start to think that in some way I can serve the other master in a few areas of my life without suffering the deep ramifications, when you do that, you open the door to darkness and darkness makes its way in. And yes, we say greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world, and that's true. But if you invite the one in the world in...

into a room of your spiritual house, of course darkness can enter. It can creep in. And the more you allow the darkness to creep in, the more aggressive it becomes. Now look, we've got a lot to talk about, but I want to end like this. I'm asking you as we begin this journey to make a commitment. If your master is not Jesus, today's the day. There are no neutral kingdoms. Your attempt at goodness as a way to salvation has its origins in the kingdom of Satan.

It's a doctrine of demons designed to destroy you. At some point, you've got to throw yourself on the mercy of Jesus Christ at the foot of the cross and say, I can't do it in and of myself. I've got to stop playing around and give myself over to Christ completely, fully. I'm going to start to walk in the dust of the rabbi. But there are others of you, oh...

You've got those feelings of intellectual superiority. That somehow you're above all this and although you appreciate the morals of good Christian people and you think attending church is a good thing, you would never live the type of radicalism that Pastor Jeff talks about where you would die to yourself and live completely for another master. Your wisdom that you think you have is foolishness to God.

Because in your mind, you know what? You think, I'm a pretty good person and I'm pretty smart and intellectual and that'll get me in. That is a lie from the pit of hell. And on the day of judgment and accountability, you will not be told, welcome in good and faithful servant. And then there's some of you that come to this church. You teach at a local Christian college or university.

And you've begun to go a little bit away from center and you still attend church or this church even because you like music and you like preaching. But this idea that Jesus is the only way to the Father, you think because you're intellectually superior that that is somewhat archaic and imbecilic.

You have a deeper understanding of the word because you've been around the world and you've realized that there are some people who are sincere in other religions and therefore you believe that in the end we'll all get there. What you don't realize is it's not only the addict or the debaucherous that has allowed demonic forces into their lives, it's you too.

You have allowed the doctrine of demons to enter into your worldview. And as a result, you've made a mockery of the blood of Christ and the atonement that he gives for all those who are far from God. And as a result, you fluctuate between your commitment of Christ and the world because you think there are other good things out there. You have a divided allegiance and you've opened the door to darkness.

Today is the day to denounce Satan and believe the gospel. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. If your master is not Jesus, today's the day. Second, if your master is Jesus, ask him to show you your sin. Areas in your life where you've gone back to your old master. His word defines sin, period. Not you. And let me give you some thoughts today.

that enter into our brains that do not come from God but from the world system in which we live. 1. That's your interpretation straight from the devil. 2. That doesn't apply to my situation. 3. God loves me and wants me to be happy. That's usually used in justification of doing something that you know opposes the Word of God. 4. I can stop anytime I want. 5. I don't have to forgive when there's no repentance.

Six, that sort of entertainment does not affect me that way. Seven, if I truly love him, I can sleep with him. Eight, when I get out of debt, I will give to God. Nine, tolerance without truth. And ten, truth without love. If your master is not Jesus, today's the day. If your master is Jesus, ask him to show you where darkness has crept in and is expanding its influence.

And three, and finally, if your master is Jesus and he shows you where you've given the devil a foothold, as the Holy Spirit enlightens you, please repent and close the door and engage and lean into this series in order that you may learn how the captives can be set free. You know, for most of us that live in the world that we live in, This is something that happens suddenly. It doesn't come all at once because, again, the angel or the devil masquerades as an angel of light. And his tactics are more often than not subtle and not overwhelming. And he takes a little piece day after day after day. I like to tell the story a few years ago, I took my family on vacation to a place called Massanutten, Virginia. And one of the things we look most forward to is you get to tube down the Massanutten River.

And it just so happened that that summer had been like the third summer in a row where they hadn't gotten a lot of rain.

They still took our money and we got in these tubes, but we noticed that, man, if you don't paddle as hard as you can, you'll just stagnate and the drift that does happen will drift you over to the sides of the river. The thing about it is in the south, if the rivers aren't flowing, then all the debris, all the dead cows and all the stench just kind of stagnate, gather together until the rain comes and the flow begins and washes everything away.

Sian and I were in the front tube and we're paddling as fast as we can, but there's a lot of people that just refuse to exert that much effort and so they drifted over to the sides. When they drifted over to the sides, they got stuck in the debris, so the guides were having to come out hour after hour and rescue people and to tell them, "Hey, look, stay in the middle, paddle and then you will see this beautiful little falls." I've thought about that experience so often.

The church is asleep in the West and the flow of culture is so strong and we forget its origins. It has its origins in its philosophies, beliefs, and religions, in its entertainment, in someone who wants to bring destruction. If you are not engaged regularly in the disciplines of our faith and prayer and Bible study and worship, then you're just drifting because it takes great effort to live the Christian life because it's a battle.

Yes, the war has been won, but the battle still has to be fought. And if you're not careful, you will have a lackadaisical cavalier approach to spirituality, to Christ in you, the hope of glory. And you will just drift and you will find yourself stuck in the mud and the mire. And here's the thing, you're in so deep that you can't get your way out without help. That is what this series is about. That some of you You have drifted for so long that you're in so deep that you are so stuck because you've been out of the flow of God's presence for so long in this area of your life. And now you've decided maybe it's time that you fight. But the problem is the darkness is in so deep, you're going to need supernatural intervention. That's what this series is about. Just quickly, during World War II, One of the favorite Allied tricks was to make wooden tanks or trucks in order to trick the enemy. So when enemy planes flew overhead, they would empty their payload on a bunch of wooden tanks and ammunition. So they'd end up wasting their time, and that would distract them from the real battle.

But the enemy wasn't always fooled. I read an article about one time the Allies had a wooden tank. The Germans dropped a wooden bomb on it. So I guess they had a sense of humor as well. But the point is deception has always featured strongly in warfare. And the purpose of deception is that you might gain an advantage so that you can take more ground while the person is distracted over here.

And what I'm simply trying to say in this initial message, some of you are allowing far too much ground to be taken. You've been distracted far too long by the things of the world and it's choking you out. You've been deceived into following the world system, its philosophies, its entertainment, its cultural norms, its beliefs. Culture for you, not Christ, defines morality, sexuality, and the philosophies of life. Your worldview is worldly. And if you don't turn back now, you will drift into places so deep that extricating yourself is almost impossible. And that is the first powerful message in this series. Today's the day of salvation. The day is the day of repentance. It may not be the day of deliverance, but the first step toward deliverance is to admit your areas of sin and commit to this journey. And if you do, you'll get your life back. Father, thank you for your love and your passion for us.

I pray in Christ's name, first of all, that as we began this series, that there would be a significant amount of people who would lean in and participate in serious introspection and to ask the Holy Spirit of God to open their eyes to the blindness that has crept in because of the darkness that has come in because the devil was given a foothold. And as you reveal that to us, that today would be a day of salvation and repentance and and to cry out to God, oh God, I have sinned, I have drifted, I have gone away, I have walked away. Please set this captive free. And then as we go through the series, they would learn how, and then by the end of this series, salvation would come to this house. It's my prayer in Christ's name, amen.

We're so glad you could join us for this message. If you would like to learn more about what it means to become a Christian, we would love for you to go to oneandall.church/jesus. We have a team of people who are ready to connect with you and talk to you about what it means to grow closer to Jesus and to learn more about the life that He has for you. Now let's go as we always do, with one hope, one life in Christ.