We sort of agreed that each of us would share a brief testimony of how the Lord led us into a study of spiritual warfare and how God has worked in our lives since that time. Those of you who've read a couple of my books, I think I've mentioned my testimony, at least in the Satanic Revival. of how the Lord thrust me into spiritual warfare. The great burden of my heart since the time I was very young in the Lord's work has been for revival. I can't really explain that, except that it just has seemed to be a special assignment that God has laid upon me, and one that I've had to deal with many times in preaching and teaching, and I'm grateful that God has kept that burden before me. I can truthfully say that we are in an hour where, in my humble judgment, that's the only thing now that can possibly save our nation. I was saying to someone during the break that it seems like In every major revival, things have gotten very, very dark just before God in his sovereignty and love has moved. And so perhaps that's sort of what's happening again. God's people are beginning to awaken. The Lord taught me as a young pastor the importance of walking and praying. at least two, three, even four mornings a week. I would go to the church where I pastored, usually quite early in the morning, and just walk and pray. I always had at least an hour blocked out, and sometimes those would extend longer. I can truthfully say that God taught me so much about himself. during those shutaway times of just seeking his face. When I first began that, I had no idea how marvelous and wonderful that would prove to be. But I urge upon any of you pastors who are privileged to have the privilege of walking and praying in your church sanctuary, a privilege that many people don't have, that you utilize that and do it. On one occasion, while I still pastored in Colorado, I was praying for revival, and that would come up as a theme in my prayer occasionally, not every time. But I was sensing a tremendous freedom to just pray. I knew that it was beyond Mark Bubeck's intelligence and articulation I knew I was praying in what the scripture calls praying in the Spirit, where the Holy Spirit was just marvelously and wonderfully enabling me to articulate need for worldwide revival, when all of a sudden something very unusual happened. I can't really describe it other than just to say that a tremendous awareness from the Lord all of a sudden flooded upon me. that before a revival like I was asking God to bring could happen, there would have to be a strong encounter with Satan. I remember it startled me so much that I just quit praying, and I walked and I wondered what that meant. Well, at the time that happened, the Lord was in process of moving me from my pastorate Colorado, by the way, a little personal note. It's good for me to have my two nephews, Brian and Craig Bubeck. Their father is Dr. Ralph Bubeck, who practices here. He just happens to be my brother. And so they're my nephews, and they're here. Wave, fellas. But while I pastored in Colorado, that first event happened. But when I settled into my new pastorate in Oak Park, Illinois, that same practice began again of walking and praying. And once again, I suppose it was two or three months after I was there on the field, early in the morning I was just walking and sensing this unusual anointing. to pray for revival and just really into it, when all of a sudden the same thing happened. There was this tremendous awareness from the Lord. I guess you would have to call it, I'm not much into mystical experiences, but if you aren't particularly seeking them and the Lord chooses to minister to you that way, why, it is an unusual experience. And I said to the Lord on that occasion, Lord, I don't know anything about that subject. Now keep in mind I'd been through a very outstanding Bible college. I'd been through seminary. I had pastored for about 15 years. And here I am walking and praying and having to say to the Lord, Lord, I don't know anything about that subject. And I don't know anyone who does who's sound in his theology. But I said, if you have somebody to teach me, I'm ready to learn. Well, it's fascinating how God moves. Now, he first took me to the Scripture, and I just started to read through the New Testament. And I marked every single place that dealt with the battle that we have with the world, the flesh, or the devil. And I began to wonder where I'd been all my life. I discovered that when you really deal with those three major areas of struggle that there's not much left in the New Testament. Then it was, I think, about two weeks after the Lord did this to me that God through one of the men in our church, a man that was known as Mr. Sunday School. Clay Risley had been up to Grand Rapids, and he met this radical Baptist theologian who believed in Satan and the kingdom of darkness, and so he put me in touch with Victor Matthews. And Victor's been a wonderful encourager through the years, and you're just going to love him if you haven't met him. as you get to know him, you'll discover why God used him so much in encouraging my life. It was out of that, first of all, God began to deal with my own life and then my family, and most of what I wrote in The Adversary is just really kind of the testimony of what God taught me in those first several years of spiritual warfare study. And so that's how the Lord brought me into it. And it's interesting now that I've written a couple of books on spiritual warfare that God took me back to the subject of revival. And I'm just, I really feel, dear friends, spiritual warfare has a great part in revival as God would choose to bring it. Now you're going to hear all three of us keep coming back to this theme. of the importance of truth and coming to know the Lord and his word in a very practical way where doctrine, the great verities of scripture, begin to be lived out. You see, doctrine is not something you learn in church or in Bible college or seminary. It's something to live. Unless we're living out truth, then we're going to be in serious spiritual difficulty with really all of our enemies, because overcoming every enemy is vitally related to your understanding of truth. Let me tell you a story. This is one of my favorite stories. It's about a wealthy young businessman who had just about everything going for him. Didn't know what to do with all his money, so he bought himself a Porsche. And just kind of kept it in the garage most of the time, but sometimes he would take it out just to enjoy driving it. And he was driving it one day and pulled up to this stoplight and this fellow on a little moped pulled up beside him. And so the fellow, he pushed the button on an impulse and the wind rolled down and he said to the fellow on the little motorbike, how about a drag race? Well, the fellow on the motorbike just sort of nodded his head. And so the light changed and he hit the accelerator of his powerful Porsche burned rubber and steamed away, and he looked up in the rearview mirror, and here's that fellow on the moped just disappearing behind him in the distance. So he's thinking as he drives along how ridiculous with his powerful machine for him to challenge that little moped when he looks up in the rearview mirror, and here this moped is coming at a tremendous rate of speed, and vroom, he goes by him as though he's standing still. And he wonders in his mind what kind of a machine that is. And then the guy plays games with him. He looks up ahead, and here he's turning around and coming back. And vroom, he goes by him. And sure enough, he looks in the mirror after a little bit. Here he comes again. And he wonders. And then just at that moment, they pull up to this stop sign. And so he rolls his window down again and he says, what kind of a machine do you have there? And the fellow responds, well it's just an ordinary moped, but I'd sure appreciate it if you'd let me unhook my suspenders from your side view mirror. Now that's a very silly story, but I often say it has a wonderful, wonderful truth. You see, you're making it according to what you're tied to. Truth sets you free. And the Son sets you free because he is the truth. And if he sets you free, you're free indeed. I often have folk turn to Colossians chapter 3. It's just such a beautiful passage about, as he begins to talk about spiritual victory, how he ties us to absolutes. I want you to see this because it has a lot to say. I can't preach a sermon on it, but just notice what he says in verse one. Since then, you have been raised with Christ. That's an absolute. That's not maybe. That's really true. You have been raised with Christ. You have resurrection power in you. If you're a Christian, if you're saved, the power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead lives in you. and your function flows out of that. Notice how in the second verse, or even in the first verse, he says, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. And the second verse, set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. See, that's an imperative responsibility for a Christian, but it flows out of the absolute. You've got resurrection life in you. And when did that happen in your life? I'm sure most of you would say, when I was saved. And you wouldn't be wrong because that's when it came into your experience. But we need to realize that's not what this is talking about. This is talking about the resurrection of Christ. His resurrection is your resurrection. Now that's a very cornerstone of walking in your freedom. It's to know that the power that raised Christ from the dead lives in you. But you'll notice the second absolutes in verse three, for you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. Now, when did you die? Well, once again, most of you would say, well, when I became a Christian. But you see, this is like a finger pointing to the cross. This is talking about the Christian faith, the foundations of it, the truth of it, the absolutes of it. And unless you know that, you're soon going to be shaken from walking in your freedom, whether it's freedom from the rule of your flesh, or freedom from the rule of the world, or Satan. I often like to just use this little quick illustration. Let this represent you. Now you'll notice what it says. For you died. That, of course, is talking about the accomplishment of the death of Christ. And yet you have a paradox. You're still alive. And your life, it says, is now hidden with Christ. Let this hand represent Christ in God. Now that's awesome. Because it pictures the intimacy that you have with the Father in heaven and the Lord Jesus. And I think if you really understand that, what it's saying, is that your destiny as a believer is as sure as the destiny of God himself. Your life is hidden with Christ in God. Now those are both based on historic absolutes, the fact that Christ rose from the dead and the fact that he died on the cross. But the third one is future, but it's just as absolute. The third one is in verse four. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. The truth of that verse hit me when I was on one of those walking times in the church, and I'd been praying my union with Christ for years. But somehow the truth of this never quite got through to me. You know, all of a sudden, some great truth comes through to you that you just sort of passed over lightly before. And I heard myself praying, thank you, Lord, that you have so united me with yourself that you won't even come again without me. And all of a sudden, the truth of that hit me and I just burst into tears. the awesome wonder of it, that when he appears, you have to be there with him. He won't come without you. If you're in heaven, you come with him. If you're on earth, you're caught to meet him in the air. That's how intimate is the relationship between the believer and his Lord. Now those are very foundational truths and have to do with helping one another understand who we are. Now we're going to quickly in this hour try to deal with, and by the way this is in your notes so you can turn there, three important matters to keep in mind in studying this subject of spiritual warfare. And I'll usually say, there are three important things to keep in mind. The first one is to be balanced. The second one is to be balanced. And the third one is to be balanced. I'll never forget someone who tried to, was talking to me about buying real estate. And he said, the first thing to keep in mind When you buy real estate, it's the location. The second thing is location. Third thing is location. And so I sort of borrowed that way of emphasis. Dr. Warner pointed out that we've been terribly out of balance in our biblical worldview, especially as it comes to this whole subject of dealing with with Satan and the kingdom of darkness. We just ignored it, and we were afraid of it. In fact, I'm amazed as I travel about how many pastors are afraid to speak on the devil. One of them even said to me once, he said, you know, whenever I've preached on the devil, I've always really been hit hard, and so I just avoid it. Can you believe that? A pastor believing more in the grace of Satan than he does the grace of God. But that's kind of where we've been, really. And I hope we live to see the day. And I'm not sure, because the times, I'm convinced, are very short. But I would long that we could live to see the day where what Dr. Warner was sharing with us. could finally be taught on the mission fields, where these people who've come out of animistic, spiritistic societies could really understand what it is to walk in freedom from all of that. Because I've been out on enough mission fields to know that they are really hurting from the lack of teaching that their missionary evangelists and church planters never gave them. Just said, well, that's superstition and you don't need to be concerned about that. Dismissed the whole realm of spiritual warfare as though it weren't anything important at all. I'll never forget the experience I had when I was in Ghana teaching on warfare the first time. And I apologized to about a thousand pastors who had gathered for that conference. And I just expressed an apology to them. I gave them my own testimony, how I'd come up through seminary and young manhood in a Christian home, Christian church, and never knew anything about spiritual warfare. And I apologized for having sent them missionaries out of our Bible colleges and seminaries who just dismissed their whole orientation to a spiritistic worldview as though it were just to be dismissed. Ignorance and not real. And I was just talking like that and one man started to clap and then he was on his feet and before I knew what was happening. You had a thousand pastors on their feet applauding. And I just stood there and cried. I realized what that said, that these men are hurting simply because we were out of balance. It's an awful thing to fall into that. And we haven't come back into balance in this nation yet. We would have a thousand people at this conference. I'm convinced if we'd come back into balance. It's beginning. We're beginning to find more and more interest out there. And some pastors are beginning to warm up, but it's tough going. Yes. Amen. God bless you. Thank you. Thank you. Yes, we've hurt our missionaries and we've hurt our pastors by not really teaching them what we need to know. So balance. Now you can go the other way too, you know, where you get out of balance by blaming everything on the devil, always talking about the devil, giving him more headline credit than we ought to. But there's a place, there's a biblical balance. And then we need to be brave, absolutely fearless. If the Lord has taught me anything about spiritual warfare, it's how you can walk in freedom from the defeat of the oppressor, no matter how much he hates us. He can scream around out there on the edges, but he can't really do much. I was holding a conference up in Montana, almost clear to the border. We had Mennonites and Amish people there. It was a small church, but they had rented this auditorium. We had over 300 people coming night after night. Oh, the enemy was very angry over it. The very first night this eerie sound came over the loudspeaker. And I don't know why it is, but demons seem to have capacity to interfere with telephones and anything electronic. And this weird sort of noise was coming. I was praying in my heart whether or not the Lord wanted me to stop and pray about it. And he seemed to just assure me that I should just go on. So I never said anything. And about three-fourths of the way through the evening, all of a sudden, the lights in the front of the auditorium went out. And they were blinking off and on. And finally, they just went out and stayed out. That's where I was, up in the front. Afterwards, one of the men who's an electrician, he says, that can't happen. There's no way that could happen. He said, the way it's wired, it couldn't happen. But it did, you see. So the next night before I began, I said, you're all aware that something happened last night of an unusual nature. So why don't we just pray and ask the Lord to stop it? The eeriness over the loudspeaker system was already beginning. And so I just said, Lord, if it would please you, we know that you have full authority over all. And if you say no, it'll stop. And so if you'd be pleased to just relieve us of that noise, we'd be thankful and also attend to the lights tonight so we don't have this interference. And I finished my prayer. Immediately, the noise stopped when I was praying. But after I started to speak, I hadn't maybe a sentence or two, when all of a sudden, this tremendous bang came over the loudspeaker system. It was explosive. It was loud. It made my hair stand up and everybody else's. But I just said to the people that, by the way, that was the end of it. It's just like the enemy said, OK, I'll go. But before I go, you're going to know I was here. But I said, you know, he can roar around on the edges, but he cannot do anything to stop God's truth and God's people from meeting together like this. And it was a beautiful testimony and experience for the people. So we do need to be full of courage. Now to have balance, we need to recognize that we have three enemies. The first one, is what I consider to be the most serious of our enemies. And I probably put more emphasis on this than most of the men do. But I'd like for you to turn to James. James, most will agree, is the first of the New Testament books written by the apostle who pastored the church at Jerusalem. had a great heart for people. By the way, also, I want you to notice, this was the people who were a part of the Revival Church, the Pentecost, the awakening that turned the world upside down. But as James pastored those people, he began to realize that some of them were hurting. And they needed to put biblical truth into practice. So I want you to notice, beginning with verse 13 of the third chapter, he asks a question. Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in humility that comes from wisdom, from looking at things from God's point of view. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. You have to deal with it truthfully. Then he says, such wisdom does not come down from heaven. It's not of God. And then he tells us it's from one of three sources. He says, it's earthly or of the world, it's unspiritual or of the flesh, or it's of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. So if it's coming from the flesh, or from the world or from the devil, it's going to lead into evil, evil practice. But then he says, I love this, the wisdom that comes down from heaven, oh, how we need to hear this, is first of all pure. We live in such an impure age. I wish it were just in the world. They're broken, broken lives because of moral uncleanness in the church. And of course, he's addressing Christians here, by the way, Pentecost Christians. Then peace loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Now he's really talking about the fruit of the spirit, isn't he? Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness. Then he introduces us to the three enemies. And the first one is what I've called the internal enemy. Notice how he puts it. What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? Part of your very person. internal battle. You want something, but don't get it. And then notice how vile it can become. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. You see, your fleshly problem really messes up your prayer life. When you ask, you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives. that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. Now, most of us have gotten locked into that at some time. We pray because we want a certain list we have from God, and our whole prayer life builds around that self-centered desire for our own well-being, our own comforts, our own pleasures, our own internal desires. By the way, you'll notice that I've quoted two passages here or put two on that are from the Gospels. Jesus dealt with this internal problem. It's amazing that most of us have no problem believing in the total depravity of man, except when it comes to us. It's always the other person. And especially if you're a Christian. You know, I don't know why it's so hard for us to accept the fact that our flesh is really as wicked as God says it is. And the marvelous thing about studying the flesh in the Gospels and the Epistles is that the end result of it controlling you is the same. The wickedness is just as wicked, whether it's B.C., before you receive Christ, or after becoming a believer. And it seems to me that is essentially what James is saying. This internal problem, if you are not walking in your freedom, if you are not experiencing is just as deadly as it can be. Then he talks about the next enemy, hatred toward God. That's pretty strong. Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely, but he gives us more grace? That's why Scripture says God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Now the world, the word that's translated world here, is this word, a cosmos, which has more to do with the organized structure of things. And there's another word, however, that's just as deadly, and it is often translated world in the English, which is the word I own, which has more to do with the philosophy. This is the organized system of things, and they're always pretty much in agreement in any culture. because the organized structure flows out of the basic philosophy that's prevailing. And this is where you begin to see the interfacing of these three enemies. And as Timothy Warner said, you can't really separate them out all the way because they always interface. They always interrelate. And that's where we're going to spend really the rest of our time this morning, seeing how that happens. Then we have this third enemy, the infernal, the supernatural evil enemy. And you'll notice that's in the next verses, beginning with verse seven. But as in all of these, you'll notice that it has to do, victory over this enemy has to do with our relationship to God. Submit yourselves then to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Keep in mind who he's talking about here. Christians. Sinners. Yeah. Double-minded. Yeah? And then he says, grieve, mourn, and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Now is God against Christians laughing and being joyful? No. In fact, we're supposed to do that. We're supposed to rejoice in the Lord. Paul says, again I say, rejoice. Now what's he talking about here? He is saying that if you've got unresolved sin in your life that you're not dealing with, it's time to get down to business with God because you're in trouble, trouble, trouble with Satan. And so the emphasis is upon submit yourself to God, come near to God, Humble yourselves before the Lord and get the sin problem worked out so that you can begin to walk in your freedom. So that's really what spiritual warfare is all about. It's teaching people how to relate to their enemies and how to walk in freedom over them. Where do you begin? Well, most of us recognize that you have to begin with who you are. Who are you? We all probably answer a little differently. And I'm sure those of you who are counselors recognize how few people can answer that meaningfully. Who are you? Think about that a moment. Who are you? Dr. Matthews has a very good study. I don't know if it's in your notes or not, but it's very helpful. And of course, that's a very important question. Neil Anderson's study too. Who are you? Well, many of you would say, well, I'm Mark Bubeck or whatever your name is. No, that's your name. Who are you? Well, I'm Floyd Bubeck's son. No, that's your dad. And Agnes Bubeck, your mother. No, that's your parents. Who are you? Well, I'm a pastor. I've been a pastor for 40 years. No, that's what you do. Who are you? That's amazing. One of the most basic questions most people can't answer. They really don't know. Now, we don't have time to really answer that as thoroughly as it deserves, but let me just say that the basic answer is I'm a person created in the likeness and image of God. That's a beautiful statement. And it's just awesome the more you deal with that. So we start with the person. A person has three parts. I'm tri-part view of man. So I divide it up in three parts. You have an external part, very much a part of your person. Eternally is your body. Don't treat it too disrespectfully when you die. It's still part of you. That's what Jesus said when he talked about Lazarus. Where have you laid him? Lazarus had departed to paradise in his spirit and soul, but Lazarus, part of him was his body. So it's a very important part of your person, your body. Then you have two internal parts. You have your soulishness, where your personality resides, which includes your intellect and your ability to decide and act, which is your will, and then your feelings or your emotions. And that usually is recognized as what makes us a person. We have mind, will, and emotions. I remember in seminary, I was assigned by our theology professor, our old class, to prove from the scripture that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit were individual persons, even though they function as one God. And I remember what a thrilling exercise that was for me to look through the scripture and be able to show that each one of them had an independent mind, even though they're totally in harmony, each one of them has an independent will, even though they're totally in harmony, and each of them have feelings. And so personhood is there. Then we have that spiritual part of our original creation, which we call our spirit. Now, this is the capacity that has the unique mark of godness upon us all, and that is that we can commune with him, we can know him, we can love him, we can understand him, and so the spirit is tremendously important. Now, a disaster happened, as we all know. The scripture tells us that God had said to Adam and Eve, the day you eat thereof of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will surely die. And we know that they made that choice, and so they died. But you know and I know that at least on that day, the body didn't die. Adam lived over 900 years. The soul didn't die, they could still think, they could still will, they could still feel. Even though both of these were thoroughly corrupted, the part that most theologians agree died is that unique spirit of man that was capable of communing with God and obeying God and loving the Lord. Theologians disagree as to what happened to it. Some have said it ceased to be. Others have said it went back to God. I personally think the best explanation of what happened is that it just ceased to have any life in it. It's like going to a funeral, you know, and you see this body, looks like the person, and you see the recognition. The eyes are there, the hands, the mouth, the ears, the nose, and yet there's no life there, no function, no smelling taking place, no hearing, no seeing. The body's dead. It's there, but it's not capable of functioning. And I believe that's what happened when the spirit died. It was no longer capable of functioning. And I personally believe that man being what he is, that that function that God had planned for the spirit was now taken over by the soul. And that's where darkness entered in. But now, a very definitive statement was made by the Lord Jesus to Nicodemus. And I think we ought to watch for those in scripture and take real special note of them. It's in John 3 in verse 6. And in the interest of time, we just will not have you turn to it unless you want in your Bible. But the definitive statement explains so much to me about what we're up against in this problem with our flesh, excuse me, and with our enemies that are determined to rule over us. The first part of the statement is that flesh gives birth to flesh. Now, who's the first flesh? in relation to yourself? Well, it's obviously your mom and dad. What did they give you through natural progeny? You got a body. This is where fleshliness has its hold on you. And it's why even after you become a Christian, you still have to deal with it. Have to learn how to walk in freedom from its rule Because you still live in the same body Now, you know that your body is already glorified so far as Eventual absolutes are concerned that's in Romans 8 Whom he justified he also glorified So your body is already in God's economy of things. Glorified, but in experience it sure isn't. It's still weak. It still can get sick. It still can have desires that are very corrupt and sinful. Because that's part of being fleshly. The older I get, the more appreciation I have of how we have a tie to our ancestors through our flesh. I saw this when my first granddaughter was born. She just turned 18. But I can remember it like it was yesterday when she started to walk. Because the thing I remember is, When she walked, she carried her elbows. My wife sees me doing this once in a while. And she says, you look just like your dad. Because my father, he would walk like this. He always had his elbows kind of back, you know. And that's the way my grandmother, granddaughter walked. And I said, there's my dad and my little granddaughter. Now she's kind of outgrowing that. And I'm glad. But she's a very, What I'm saying, though, is, you know, I have nine grandchildren. And when I'm around them, it's a study. Sometimes I'll say, there's Anita. Or there's her parents. And it's not just in appearance. It's also in personality. It's written there, you see. It's amazing how that through natural progeny, God has ordained that you received your body and your soul. And that's why the problem with your flesh essentially focuses here in your soulishness and in your physical body appetites. Now we're thankful that we don't have to walk in defeat to that, but it is important to understand it for truth. Now the last part of the verse is the really beautiful part because it says the spirit gives birth to spirit. He's talking about regeneration. He's talking about this spirit that was non-functioning, that was dead, is brought to life by the spiritual birth. The Holy Spirit comes to live within you and takes up an intimate identity with your spirit. And personally, I believe And I'm sure theologians might debate me on this, some of them, but it's amazing how many have agreed with me that I believe this part of your person, the moment you are saved, is as righteous and as holy as it's ever going to be. God doesn't have to do anything to make that reborn, regenerated, renewed spirit more holy. Now, I know that there's growing in understanding, growing in knowledge. There's a sense in which the spirit is still living out in your person, the enlargement of your perfection. But that's really been helpful to me. I'm so glad that that's true, especially when so many times, you know, you feel kind of like a big failure. And you realize, you know, I mentioned to you earlier about my practice of going to the church and praying. Do you know, I never remember one time when I went to the church early in the morning like that, and I could say, Lord, I'm just 100% glad to be here. I just was thrilled to get out of that warm bed and come here and pray. No, my flesh didn't want to do it. It wanted to stay there. And my mind could think of all kinds of reasons why I should stay there. But you know what's helped me so many times? the work of grace, that I knew there was a reborn part of me that just couldn't wait to get alone with God, love Him, and experience His love in that intimacy that comes through prayer. And those have been great, great times. But it's the result of grace, you see, and the wonder of being a new creation. By the way, how does this sanctification that's already taken place in your spirit take place in your soul? Well, it's through the process. of growing in grace or sanctification. And that's a lifetime process. When will it be finished in your soul? Think about that a moment. When will it be finished? Well, I believe it's the moment you die. You're absent from your body, present with the Lord. And the mind, will, and emotions at that moment enter into the fullness of God's perfect plan for the saving and freeing up of a whole person beyond the reach of temptation or desire to do evil. But what do they do with your body? Well, I believe they should bury it. Sometimes people, more and more, I find are cremating. I personally don't prefer that. not any problem to God, but just out of the respect for the body and what it is, I think we ought to give it a decent burial. But you see, the body, too, is part of that perfect freedom that already belongs to you and me. Because when the Lord comes, the dead in Christ rise first. And then we which are alive and remain are caught up to meet Him in the air. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, it all happens in the moment in the twinkling of an eye. And our total redeemed perfection happens. Now, as Dr. Warner said, we need to dwell on this truth. I believe we need to pray through it. You know that I believe in doctrinal praying. And many of you have told me not so much here yet, but in other conferences, how much those written out prayers have meant to them. By the way, I hope you, if you haven't picked up one of the little blue booklets, those are really revival prayers, but they're doctrinal prayers, which I think will encourage you in your own prayer life, in a systematic use of doctrinal praying. But I'm getting bogged down here, and if I don't keep going, I won't show you the interfacing of these three enemies as I see it. We need to come now to recognize that this world that surrounds the person is an external enemy. This enemy is putting external pressure on you to conform to its value system. And it does that mainly, as we already saw in the two words, through its philosophy and through its organized structure. And it really gets very powerful in putting pressure on you. Of course, we are thankful that Russia finally now is breaking out of that tyrannical government But the external pressure upon us today is really becoming something. Thus far, at least, they haven't threatened to throw us in jail. May come to that because you insist on homeschooling. You won't have your children a part of the corrupt educational system. And they're really heating up the battle. They're talking now about the fact if you don't have an approved under education in the grade school, high school, that you'll never get in college. They won't take you because you somehow missed, even though you may be the most brilliant person. That's the world. Now, you see, it keeps coming at you powerfully. And it has many different ways. And I just like to put out here a few of them. Think about the world of education, for example. That's very powerful in trying to get you to conform to its standards. And almost without exception, those standards more and more in our culture giving evidence of being the enemy of God. Certainly, you can't be a part of the educational system today, but what you have to teach evolution, not just as a theory, but more and more, you're being pressured to teach it as the only, you certainly can't teach creationism. And out here also, you're learning about the new age, getting in touch with your higher self. Our grandson was in the talented and gifted group in his class. And this teacher, by the way, she was a Christian teacher. And I say that carefully because even though she wasn't a church member, in fact, she attended our church most of the time. And it wasn't until my daughter finally went to her, she has any idea what she was doing was spiritistic. She was just following the leader's guide. All the children were supposed to lie on the floor and just relax, and then you were to just kind of, and this was all being dictated by this tape that they were playing. Now someone's coming to you in your thought processes, and that person's there to help you. Welcome him. And wow, that's spiritism, you see. Getting in touch with what they said was the higher self, but opening yourself to spirits. I said to my grandson, what did you do when that was going on? He said, oh, I memorized my Juana verses. He knew, you see. Through his grandpa's teaching and his parents teaching that you don't do those things. I'm so glad that my daughter was able to go and talk with that teacher, and she never did that again. And she became very alarmed about some of this that was being fed to her, and she started watching it. But let me quickly go on and talk about, oh, there's so many we could deal with. There's the world of entertainment. There's the world of of peer pressure, there's the world of finance, politics, and we probably shouldn't miss religion, and on and on you could go. All of these have a philosophy which is basically anti-God, anti-Christ, and by the way, I like to think, this is where you see the interfacing again. I like to think of the world as it's spoken of as our enemy in scripture. Primarily it's coming at you as the tempter through your flesh or the satanic Deception. What do you find in the world? What is it offering you? Primarily what your flesh wants. It's made up of fleshly people who have a commercial value system. And so they're offering you everything from pornography to Porsches and on and on it goes. The world is very proficient at appealing to man's flesh, but it also is the extension department of Satan's program. So you're going to find in the world system of things, both in its philosophy and in its organized structure, that which is uniquely satanic and that which is uniquely fleshly. In fact, I believe if you understand how to deal with your flesh and understand how to deal with Satan, that so far as dealing with the world is concerned, you're well equipped. And that's why I like to spend most of the focus on helping people understand how to deal with their fleshliness and then to know how to exercise their authority in dealing with Satan and the kingdom of darkness. Now, we have to get, by the way, let me just illustrate that. Let's take the world of education, for example. What about the world of education is uniquely satanic? I think it's the whole evolutionary teaching. Can you imagine any greater insult to the true and living God who made it all, the Savior who holds it all together, than for the whole educational system forbidding that to be taught and teaching something as unbelievable as it just all happened, just all sort of came about. What a devilish thing. But it also teaches fleshliness. You realize where most of our kids are learning about condoms and about just doing what your flesh wants to do? In fact, they'd be very insulted if you go into the public schools and teach total abstinence. You're going to warp these kids. They've got sexual desires and this is where they ought to learn about. You see how fleshly that is? And so you're going to find them both coming at you pretty strong in the world system. Now, how do we get this third enemy into here and interface it? I think it's important to understand that this enemy comes at you both externally and internally. And so I put it in here with a series of wavy lines that extend into the internal part, but also out into the world. And sometimes I put a little something on here, make it look a little more like a snake. because Satan comes to us as a serpent. And not only do you find that in Genesis, but in Psalm 91, we will tread upon the lion and the cobra will trample the great lion and the serpent. Well, he's talking about Satan and his kingdom. Now this kingdom, He's called the God of this world. So out here in the world system, there's going to be a lot of Satan's program in all of these different areas coming at you. But the thing that's so unique about this enemy is that he has the power and the capacity as a personal being, spirit being, to reach right inside of you and to put thoughts in your mind that are not originating in your own mental process. It's coming from an external source. And you as a Christian are responsible to recognize that. It's a very clever, very hideous form of the enemy's deceptive ways. To be able to put feelings in your emotions that are not really your own and thoughts in your mind and even real attempt to rule over your will in such a deceptive disguise that you actually think that you're willing to do this. Or that this is your thought. And that's why so many Christians really get torn up by some of the things that come into their minds. That they think they're own thoughts. But you see, we're responsible as personal, redeemed persons to understand that we don't have to accept every thought that comes in our mind. Let me just illustrate that. I love to use this. I learned this from my good associate, Jim Logan. Let me just suggest something to you. Would you double up your fist and just turn around and hit the person right behind you in the nose? Will you? I didn't see anybody do that. Now, let me just illustrate that. Do you realize what a wicked thought you just had? You actually computed in your mind that you should punch somebody in the nose. Wouldn't that be mean? You say, well, I didn't feel that way. Yes, you see what you did. You just knew that thought was from that crazy guy, Buick, and you didn't do it. See how easy that was? You rejected that thought. And you said, no. You knew it wasn't your thought. And you took care of it in a very good way. I'm trembling for the day when someone takes that upon me. Somebody sues me for their bloody nose. Yeah, or a broken hand if you're on the back row. Well, I hope that helps illustrate what we're saying. That some thoughts that come to your mind that are uniquely demonic and satanic, we're responsible to recognize that and to reject them. I had an illustration of this vividly brought home to me. It's been quite a number of months ago now. A dear lady in Canada called me and we get lots of those calls. Most of us who've written on the subject of spiritual warfare just because so many people are hurting and they don't have anybody to go to. They go to their pastor and They send them to the secular or even the Christian psychologist who doesn't recognize the reality of spiritual struggle and spiritual battle. And it's all just thought of as psychological problems. And so they're hurting. Well, this woman, she and her husband had wanted to have a baby for eight years. They tried. And nothing would work. And finally, they went to one of these fertility doctors, who was successful in analyzing their problem and dealing with it. And she conceived their first child, which was a little girl. Well, you can imagine, your own flesh and blood, how much you would love that firstborn after waiting eight years. Most of us Remember that well, if you have children. And they did like most parents would do. After the lights were out in the nursery and just the little light was on, they just go in there and stand in the shadows and just love their little one and just look at her. Well, one night she was doing that. And all of a sudden, this thought, very strong, came into her mind. Take that pillow. Put it over your little baby's face and smother her life away." Well, she ran out of there, very frightened. She thought, sure, she must be losing her mind. Such a hideous thought. How could she think a thought like that? In fact, it so upset her, she wouldn't even tell her husband. And she was just going to, you know, Just avoid doing that, lest that thought come back. But you see, this is usually what happens when the enemy deceives you. He doesn't leave off even for a moment. And if he gets you believing and fearing in one area, he's going to carry it on. So the next day she was in the kitchen, feeding her little one. And there was a butcher knife there. And the thought came in her mind, pick up that butcher knife. thrust it into your baby's heart. And she started to cry. She thought, sure, she was losing her mind. She told her husband. Well, he was as alarmed as she was. And he said, well, we better talk to the doctor. So they talked to the pediatrician. And he said, well, I think it's just probably postnatal depression. And it'll probably just pass. But it didn't pass. Kept getting worse. And finally, he was the one suggested she go to the psychiatrist. Well, before she did that, somebody who had read my book, The Adversary, suggested that maybe she should call me. And that's how I got the call. And so I just began to share with her. I said, you know, we are responsible to recognize thoughts that are not our own. And that's a totally unnatural thought for you. Now, the flesh can kill. That's made clear. Usually when the flesh kills, though, it's either an outburst of temper or some greedy motive that you want to get rid of someone so you can have your own greedy way. But when it's violent like that, I said, I have no question, but that thought was from a wicked spirit. So I just taught her over the phone how to resist that, how to recognize that she was responsible Before the Lord to recognize I said if you'd have done this the first night that have been the end of it But I said because you believed that and let fear build in you, you just kept the thing going. So I said, here's what you should do. The next time it happens, you just say, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the power of his blood, I come against the wicked power trying to put this murderous thought in my mind toward my baby. You can't do that to me. I command you and all of your hosts, you must leave me and go where the Lord Jesus Christ sends you. Well, I made sure she wrote it all out. And about a week later, I got a call from her. She was crying again. She'd been crying the first time because she was in trouble. Now she was crying for joy because she said, you know, I've been doing that and it's almost totally gone. And I haven't heard from her since, so I know it went. You see, spiritual warfare is really very simple. It's just applying truth, recognizing and beginning to understand some of the interfacing of how these three enemies are very, very real, very powerful, and that they begin to feed on each other and take advantage of weakness in the flesh and begin to rule if they possibly can. So spiritual warfare is really just understanding truth and applying it, living it out. I get no greater joy than teaching somebody truth and then seeing them get free just by applying their truth. I get much more joy out of that than a confrontation session where we may deal with a wicked spirit just to see that person himself apply the truth and resist the enemy and stand in his freedom. Let's pray, then we'll have our lunchtime. Dear Heavenly Father, so wonderful to recognize that you have set us free in order to enjoy freedom. That's what your word says. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Free to love you. Free to serve you. Free to walk in obedience to you. Free from the awful dictates of invisible, powerful, wicked spirit beings. Free from the vile pressures of the world system to force us to conform to their value system. And most of all, what a joy to walk in freedom from the rule of those fleshly appetites that we all have to deal with because of the redemption we have in Christ. Teach us how to appropriate our victory and walk in it and share it with others in Jesus name. Amen.