Implication of His Cross Part 2

[music plays] Church and fellowships cannot be more spiritual than the individuals and families that constitute them. God greatly desires a godly home front. These are words of restoration and instruction in righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [music plays] [singing] To God be the glory, great things He has done So loved He the world that He gave us His Son Who yielded His life an atonement for sin And opened the life gate that all may go in Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear His voice Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice O come to the Father through Jesus the Son And give Him the glory, great things He has done. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear His voice Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice O come to the Father through Jesus the Son And give Him the glory, great things He has done. [Speaker 1] Our Father, to You be glory, to You be honor, to You be praise. We bless Your holy name again. We thank You for our gathering this evening. We commit ourselves into Your hands. Lord, the Bible says Paul plants, Apollos waters, it is God that gives increase. Lord, again as we gather together this evening, we who are here physically, our brethren who are connecting with us on Telegram, our brethren who are connecting with us on Mixlr, our God and our Father, we pray let Your spirit work within us, among us, in the name of Jesus. Lord, we are looking at why we should take the cross daily. We are looking at implication of the cross for those who look to the cross, the son of the cross for those who look to the cross. And last, we were looking at the cross as the basis of our righteousness. When people look to the cross, one important implication of looking to the cross is that they were made righteous. We looked at just trying to call our attention to 2 Corinthians 5 again. 2 Corinthians 5:21. It says, "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." And we discussed a lot of things about this last week. We saw that if we don't look to the cross, then the ability to enter into God's presence would become a difficult thing. So we stopped at 1 John 1 and 2, we are to move on from there today. But just before we move on, I want to ask if there is any comment from any of us? And for brethren who are online who have been connecting with us, if there is something you want to say or a question you want to ask, please let such come in. So for those who are here, is there anyone that has something to say before I move on today? Is there anybody that has something to say? Okay, nobody. Now let's look at where we stopped last week, 1 John 1. It says, "But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. However, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." The fact that the eternal truth that we were made righteous by the righteousness of Christ doesn't make us to want to see elements of sinlessness in us. Rather, it's telling us that while we are in the light, as we walk in the light, in the light, in that light, there are things that are not right about our lives. But as we walk in that light, those things, they are pointed to us and we become better and better people. Now we move on to 1 John 2. That was where I wanted to move in last week. "My little children, these things I write unto you that you may not sin. If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He Himself is the propitiation for our sin and not our sins only, but also for the whole world. Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commands. He who says I know Him and does not keep His command is a liar. The truth is not in him." Now you will notice that when he said if we sin, we have an advocate with the Father. This scripture is saying that when the matter of sin occurs, there is something that we need to realize, that we have an advocate with the Father. Now that advocacy will not make that advocacy is not giving a license for sin. No, it is not. Look at the next thing he said. He said, "Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commands. He who says I know Him and does not keep His command is a liar. The truth is not in him." Now you will notice that when he said if we sin we have an advocate with the Father, he is not giving a license that the believer can continue to sin because there is an advocate with the Father. No, that is not the point that he is making. The point that he is making is what he is drawing back again to us, that the fact that we have come to know Him, if truly we have to know Him, we cannot continue in sin. You will see that further when you look at 1 John 3 from around verse seven. "Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous." So the point is this: if indeed you have been made righteous, if actually it happened to you and you have an understanding of what happened to you, the truth is that you will practice righteousness. Your practice will be righteousness. If the sense of having an advocate with the Father becomes a license to sin, it is a clear indication that you are a liar, you have not encountered the life of Christ. It says, "Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous just as He is righteous." So you are seeing something that was we were made righteous through Him like I said last week, we were made righteous so that we can become godly. We were made righteous so that we can become holy. When righteousness is not producing godliness, then that person is a liar. The person has not encountered the life of Christ or the person does not know God. It is either that person is not born again, or that person is born again but he does not know God. He does not have a clear understanding of what it means to take the cross. So that having an advocate with the Father if we sin is not necessarily a license to continue to sin. Look at what it says, "Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous even as Jesus is righteous." You see that at chapter two, verse one. "These things I write unto you so that you will not sin. But if we sin, we have an advocate with the Father." If it happens that we fall into sin, we have an advocate with the Father. The righteous one, He's the one of course who took the place, who took our place. Now He came to the place that anybody who practices righteousness is righteous even as Jesus is righteous. He says, "He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was made manifest that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed, the seed of God, remains in him. He cannot sin because he has been born of God." Now you are seeing something very clearly. What he's trying to make us see very well is that we have an advocate with the Father if it happens that we fall into sin. The advocacy is not a license that you have an advocate, you can continue to sin. No. The advocacy is doing something that I will show us now in Hebrews. The advocacy is not a ground. Anybody who makes a practice of sin, who does not practice righteousness, is of the devil. That person have not come to know the Lord. But when we look to the cross, what is the issue about this our righteousness? Look at it in Hebrews now. Hebrews 4. Hebrews 4, I take it from verse 12. It says, "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of the soul and spirit, and of the joints and the marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intent of the heart. And there is no creature hidden before His sight, but all things are naked and open to Him with whom we have we must give account." So there's nothing hidden before the Lord. Everything is open to Him. Now he now came to the issue of our high priest. We have an advocate with the Father. Nothing is hidden from God. However, there's an advocacy. "Seeing then, seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus Christ the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need." I don't know whether you are seeing the purpose of that priesthood now. What's the purpose of the priesthood? What's the purpose of the advocate? The purpose of the advocacy that we have is that if we realize that we miss our step in our walk with God, when we see that His light points something wrong in our life, anybody pointing our attention to something that is not correct in our life, it does not give any reason why we cannot enter into God's presence. You know what I'm trying to explain. Most time when people want to pray, maybe I should use practical things in our fellowship. When we gather together and we want to pray, what do we do most of the time? The first thing we will do after opening prayer or whatever, we now pray that God, if there is a sin that will hinder our prayer, Lord, forgive those sin, let our prayer be acceptable and all of that. Now what we are trying to do is what? What are we trying to do? We are trying to create access to God so that whatever we do in that fellowship can be acceptable to God. Is that not? Now what the Bible is trying to make us see is that if indeed we have missed our step in our walk with God, when we see his intervention to us wrong in our life, it is not how much we come to tell God that God forgive some particular sin that you don't know that make God accessible. What make God accessible to us is Jesus Christ. What make God accessible is not that prayer we came to pray that God if there's any sin forgive us, you can hear our prayer. It is having a clear understanding. As I walk in the light as He's in the light, I have fellowship with Him. So all these [foreign language], Lord please forgive us, the one that we don't know, the one whatever sin that will hinder the prayer now. Please, those things they don't have relevance in the matter of prayer. Because if truly you are walking in the light, if actually you are walking righteously as the Lord is righteous, one important thing is that because you are still a work in progress, that the blood make you acceptable to God. What is making you acceptable to God is blood that is daily doing a cleansing. It is the sacrifice that He did once forever. That is why He was saying that if we sin, we have what? We have an advocate. So that if however we miss our step, we must have an understanding that we can come boldly to the throne of grace. Why? Why are we coming boldly? Why are we not coming cringing? Because there is an advocate. Many times when we want to pray, we don't come boldly. If you notice it, many times when people think they missed their step, they don't come to God again boldly. What they don't realize is that we were made righteous so that we can be made godly. It is God that is making us to become godly and holy. We are not godly, we are not holy, we have not become like God. But what God did was that in the cross, He did something. He imputed what? Righteousness. So that as you are coming, how are you coming? You are coming a righteous person. Not because of something you want to do, but as you take the cross. So the taking of the cross is the ability to come to the throne of grace, how? Boldly. Now the next thing I want to point our attention to, the basis of our righteousness, is dealing with the cross and our dealings with principalities and powers. The cross and our dealings with principalities and powers. We have looked at it as basis of our righteousness. We want to look at it as dealing with principalities and powers. Colossians 2:11-16. I read from verse 11 Colossians 2. "In Him you were circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off of the body of sin of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ. Buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in working of God who raised Him from the dead. And being dead in your trespasses, He has made us alive together with Him, having forgiven you all your trespasses, having forgiven all your trespasses." "Having wiped out the handwriting of requirement that was against us, that will be the third thing we'll be looking at, that of the curse of the law, the handwriting that was against us which was contrary to us and has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it." Can we have some translations of that verse 15? God disarmed the principalities and powers that were ranged against us and made a bold display and public example of them in triumphing over them in Him and in the cross. So triumphing over them it is the cross. Can we have NLT? [Speaker 3] "In this way, He disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by His victory over them on the cross." [Speaker 1] Now you can see something very clearly. The victory over principalities, the victories over powers was where? On the cross. Now you see, one thing about the cross, implication of the cross, why we should look to the cross, why we should take the cross. Have you been familiar with the story of Daniel? Daniel came to God, that the prince of Persia did not allow the answer, but until reinforcement was sent to him. The prince of Persia was then and then prayers could he could now come to meet Daniel. Are we familiar with that story? Are we familiar with that episode in the Bible? Yeah. Now when you look at that episode in the Bible, you will notice that Daniel and the principalities, ordinarily did they have any business? Was Daniel aware that a principality was hindering his prayer? Was he aware? What was Daniel busy doing? Daniel was busy praying to his God. Now somebody was to bring the answer to Daniel. And Daniel kept on praying. What happened? Reinforcement was sent from heaven, and the answer came to Daniel. Now you see one thing I want you to see in that place very well is that ordinarily Daniel did not have any business with principalities and powers. He was busy having a relationship with his God. There was this intimacy he shared with his God, and he was praying to his God. He was talking to his God. He was having a relationship with his God. And in having that relationship with his God, what happened? The so-called prince of Persia that was thinking that prayers would not be answered, was that person not taken out of the way? He was taken out of the way. You see what I'm trying to bring out from this from this is that we should be careful about the object of our prayers. We should be careful about who we are devoting our prayers to, and who is the object of our prayer. God was the focus of Daniel's prayers. And as Daniel remained focused on God, the principalities, the powers that were somewhere, did they give way? They gave way. We should be careful about the devices of the devil to shift the focus of our prayer, the focus of our concentration from God to demons. We should be careful about the devil shifting the focus of our prayer from being centered on God to being centered on the devil. What I am trying to say is this. See, brethren, as at the time we were looking at this story, this story of Daniel that we just made allusion to, Jesus the Messiah was yet to be revealed. Christ was yet to die on the cross. And even as at that time when Christ was yet to die on the cross, you notice that holy men of old did not focus their prayer on the devil. Holy men of old, their relationship was with their Father. And even when demons try to do something spiritually, it was their Father that made arrangement and knocked off those things and made sure that their prayers were answered. You see I am saying this because you know what some people will tell you? "Every demon, every prince of Persia, every demon that is hindering your prayer for being answered, now begin to bind them, begin to remove them from the way, begin to bind them, begin to bind them. Oya, prince of Persia, die now, die now. Prince of Persia that is holding my prayer from being answered." Look, if you are sharing intimacy with God, if there is a prince of Persia that will not allow Gabriel to come, God knows what to do about him. I am saying that under the Old Testament, I want you to see how it is under the Old Testament. What I'm trying to say that today there is a shift in what is the object of our prayer. There is this belief that Satan can hold your prayer from being answered. Satan can stop your prayer. Satan can stand somewhere so that your prayer cannot get to God. Let me tell you brethren, if your prayer don't get to God, it's not because of Satan, it is because of you. It is either you do not pray in faith, it is either you were asking amiss, it is either you did not pray according to the will of God. Are you understanding me at all? It has nothing to do with one demon. He said whatsoever you ask in prayer, if you believe you will have it. So if you are not having it, don't begin to look at one demon that is standing and God wanted to come, the demon say God you cannot come, stand here, you cannot come. And then God will now need you to come and bind that demon so that God can now answer. That is foolishness. It is not understanding the matter of the cross. But before before I before I establish the matter with that of the cross, I was trying to draw something from the Old Testament so that you can see how the matter presented itself in the Old Testament. So that we can get some things clear, that even in the Old Testament where the saint had to pray and talk to God, the saint kept talking to God. And as they kept talking to God, whatever thing that will not that will stand in between them and their prayer was a matter for God to resolve. It was not a matter that the saint had to start bothering their head about as to what to do and how to do it. And so they had to start binding one one demon that was not allowing their prayer to be answered and then they could not accept God. That was not it. If you also look at another one again I'll make allusion to before I sit on that Colossians 2:15, do you remember Job? You remember the case of Job also? The Bible says if you look at all the relationship between Job, now sorry that story about Daniel is in Daniel 10, not Daniel 9. It's Daniel 10 please, not Daniel 9. That should be around verse 20 thereabout, just for you to see that story in case you need to read, in case you want to read the story. It's in Daniel 10. Now if you look at that of Job, you will notice a similar trend also with Job. When you look at Job, what did the Bible say about Job in chapter one? The Bible says that Job was a man who fears God. He will if his children daily will make sacrifices. If his children do anything, he'll make sacrifice as in case that they have sinned. They said this Job did continually. Am I correct? He was doing that continually, every day, every day. I want to ask you the focus of Job's prayer. Does it have to do with the devil? No. You notice again that when we now look at the God side of it, what was the confession of the devil? God said have you seen my servant Job? A man who fear God and eschew evil. Please, what was the response of the devil? He said is it not because you have blessed all the works of his hand and you have placed a wall around him? You have placed a wall around him. Please brethren, was Job aware of any wall? Job don't have any awareness of any wall around him. But what I'm trying to make you see was that the more that man was sharing intimacy with God, could devil come in between? He could not. So we should be careful with the focus of our prayer, the object of our faith. Now coming to the New Testament, implication of the cross that we were looking at in Colossians 2:15. The Bible is now making us to see something very, very important. It says from the verse 14, "Having wiped out the handwriting of requirement that was against us, which was contrary to us and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public show of them, triumphing over them by that same cross." Please, what is the cross telling us from the things that we have read? The cross made us see that by that cross, principalities and powers were what? Were what? They were disarmed. Please, what does it mean to be disarmed? To render impotent, inactive, incapacitated. These are various ways of looking at disarm. Now the Bible says He disarmed them where? In the cross. Now have you seen the similar pattern in the matter of what we have been discussing all the while? The snakes that were biting them in the wilderness, you will notice that the venom of those snake is only disarmed where? In looking at the one that was lifted up, the bronze serpent. The more they look at the bronze serpent, the more the power of the living snake is disarmed. Now when they look away from the bronze serpent, what happened? The venom of the snake is potent. Now that is where believers are having issues. See, when we say Satan is disarmed, we are saying that Satan is disarmed in the cross, not outside the cross. The ability, the power of the enemy only become powerless if and only if we do what? We focus on the cross. Now if we don't focus on the cross, what happens? The power of the devil remains potent. So that many times it is because believers don't focus on the cross that makes the power of the devil potent. It now looks like oya, ah, you know, the devil did not allow him, the devil did not allow her, the devil did not and we begin to magnify the devil. Of course, for anybody who don't understand the taking of the cross on a daily basis, what will happen? As many days as you don't take the cross, what will happen? You will see that is when you see the power of the devil potent. So that what the Bible teaches us about the devil when it comes to dealing with principalities and powers. Now look at what the Bible says. The Bible in Ephesians 6, dealing with principalities and powers, Ephesians 6. I read from verse 10. "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." Now please, what are we standing against? We are not standing against the devil. We are standing against the wiles of the devil. Now please, what are wiles? What are wiles? Wiles we talk about things like tricks. Am I correct? Please check other other translation, wiles will stand for things like tricks. Strategies, schemes, deceit, schemes, slyness. All of that. Now believer is to put on the whole armor of God to stand against what? The wiles. Why are we standing against the wiles and not against the devil? Why? Why? It's because you need to get something clear: as long as the devil can make you look away from the cross, he becomes potent in your life. So the devil actually come with deceit. He come with wiles. The purpose of all those things is to make you look away from the cross. Once you look away from the cross, then you know that he can get at you. So the actual the whole armor of God of the believer is to put it on so that the wiles don't take you. As long as the wiles cannot take you, the devil cannot take you. Why? As long as your focus is on the cross, you have no business with the devil. That's the truth. So this struggle we have with the devil, this struggle we have with the devil is not about fighting the devil. It's about making sure that he does not take us by his deceit. It is not that Satan is powerful and then he can do something against us. No. No, brethren, no. He can't do anything against us unless we are lost. Now I'm starting to some people normally quote verse 12. But they did not take the verse 12 from the verse 11. Please, what is the first word in verse 12 from your translation? "For." Any other translation that does not put for? I've checked my NIV, there is for. I've checked my NLT, there is for. Are you getting something? Now it says put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand firm against the tricks of the devil, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood now. Please, what did he make you see brethren? Is the verse 12 premised on the verse 11? Is it not premised on verse 11? For, for put on the whole armor of God that you can stand against all the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against spiritual forces in heavenly places. So what's he telling you? Is he telling you notice that the verse 12 is an explanation from the verse 11? When he say we wrestle with principalities and powers, please what's the basis of the wrestle? What are we wrestling with? The wiles. People have come with ah, I'm battle ready the Jakadi. We are fighting with the devil. Now let us fight the devil. Let's bind the devil. The devil that is holding your destiny. Let's bind. We have no look, you need to understand that for us who came into Christ, we have been predestined before the foundation of the earth. Brethren, let me tell you this truth: from birth to death, Jesus commands your destiny. Are you understanding me at all? If you have a clear understanding that for us who are in Him, He foreknew us before the foundation of the world, like He told Jeremiah, before you were formed in your mother's womb I knew you, you should understand that from birth to death, even before you came forth, your destiny has been commanded. So one devil holding your destiny? What I'm trying to say is that these things make the believer to shift their focus from increasing intimacy with God to focusing on the devil. What you need is to increase your keep knowing your Father. Keep understanding your Father. Keep growing in that relationship. You have been made righteous because you have been made righteous in the light, there is no sin that can kill you. The blood of Jesus continue to cleanse you from all sin. When you read the word, when you come in contact with sin, "Oh this is wrong," you come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy. You come boldly, you obtain mercy. You know that you are righteous. You come in that stand of Jesus. You stand with that cross. You continue in that intimacy. You move on with Him. There is no devil holding your destiny. The implication of the cross, what Jesus did in the cross was that He disarmed principalities and powers. So that our our wrestle today with principalities and powers, with rulers of darkness, with all of them, what's our wrestle? Wrestle against their wiles. Their wiles. And what is this wiles? What is the whole wiles all about? Let the Bible answer that question. 1 Peter 5. The Bible will answer the question. 1 Peter 5. Are you there? Are you there? 1 Peter 5. I read from verse five. "Likewise, you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you, be submissive to one another." May God grant us a submissive spirit. It's a very, very important thing in our Christian walk. All of you learn to submit to one another. And he says, and then what is the next thing? "Be clothed with humility." I'm to show you where the matter is. What is this wrestle against principalities and powers? All of you be clothed with humility, for God does what? God does what? Check your Bible. God resists who? "But gives grace to the humble." Please, I'm showing you something about the wrestle. He says "Likewise you younger one, submit yourself to the elder. In any case, as elder, as younger one, everybody together, yes all of you be submissive to one another. [foreign language]. Regardless of who is elder who is younger, again let there be spirit of submission. Now and be clothed with humility. For God resists the proud, but give grace to humble." Now brethren, look I want to talk about the wrestle against principalities and powers. Now with this verse at the back of your mind, please look at 1 Timothy 3. 1 Timothy 3. Are you there? Are you there? Look at something. 1 Timothy 3, talking about choosing leaders. It began from verse one: man of one wife, all of that. Verse five: if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God? Now please look at verse six. Please look at something in the verse six. It says what? "Not a what?" Not a novice. Your version says what ma? Not a new believer. Not a new believer. My own version says not a novice. Any other one again? Any other one? Now when you say when you say "mature in faith", please I want you to get something. If you want to choose leaders, make sure that the leader is not a new believer. Make sure that he is not a novice. Another version says is not a novice. Make sure that he's matured in faith. Now why is that very, very important? What is peculiar about being a young believer? It's not about age. Please listen to me brethren. It's not about age. It's about it's about what? The level of knowledge and understanding. Is that not? Is that not? Now look at what it says. It says not a novice. Why? Why didn't he want somebody who have not who does not have good understanding and knowledge of God? Why? "Lest being puffed up with what? With pride, he falls into what? The same condemnation as the devil." So are you seeing the first battle? Are you seeing the first battle? The first battle against principalities is the battle of understanding. The battle not to be a novice. How do you know a novice? Arrogance. It has nothing to do with age. You see, when you begin to know God, you will understand that one way to stay with God is humility. What the enemy does in this battle is making you to feel you alone you are this, you alone you are that, you are like this, you are this. The battle is the battle to remain humble. Once once once you already taking side with the devil, you are already being as one who rises in your heart what? Arrogance, pride. Arrogance, pride. As that thing begin to come, what actually gives you problem is where we are coming from. It say God resists the proud. So the real issue is that you are resisted by the Lord. The real issue is that the enemy try to push us to come to a point where, you know, just like oh, thank You Jesus. The children of Israel, when Balak called Balaam to come and curse them. Balak brought Balaam. Balaam tried three times, he could not curse them. What did what did Balaam now counsel Balak? He said "See, you can't do anything against these people as long as they stand as one people with their God. You know what you can do with these people? Make them to sin against their God and then you will see how their God will scatter them." And please, did that work out? Did it work out? So that one thing about resisting devil, can you see why is pride? Why is pride about resisting the devil? Please look at it, look at what the Bible says in that Timothy. It says lest being puffed up with pride, he falls into what? The same condemnation as the devil. So please what condemned the devil? Something actually condemned the devil? Pride. So what is the devil doing today? Go and check scripture. The Bible says submit to the Lord, submit to the oh, obey Me. All these "I know what I'm doing", trust in the Lord with all your heart, don't lean your own understanding, acknowledge Him in all your ways. He's talking about humbling yourself under God. Humbling yourself under God. There is a spirit of this age that makes men to say without God. That is why you notice that the world, what are they doing? They are secularizing. Making everything, you know now secular. What's the meaning of secular? Without God. Marriage, without God. Money, without God. Governance, without God. Academics, without God. Sex, without God. We are removing God. We are removing God. The more we are removing God, what are we falling into? The same condemnation as who? As the devil. And that is why you notice that the scripture says that hell was not prepared for man. Have you read that scripture before? Have you read that scripture before? Who was it prepared for? Hell was prepared for the devil and his angels. So why are the why are men going to hell with the devil? Because they lifted themselves against God. Every element of arrogance is falling into the same shoe with the devil. So the fight is not fighting devil as being devil being powerful. Devil is not powerful in the cross. He has been disarmed. But there is this thing that wants to make you without God. You will shy away from acknowledging God for this daily quiet time, you must pray, you must ask God for direction, you must do this. Look, the thing is in you, you don't look, just get look, you don't and before you know it, your concentration, your dependence, your obedience, your quiet time, your prayer life, everything is dying, everything is going to yes. And everything looks like you are going without God. You are becoming a devil. That is what you are to resist. That is what you are to that's when you say we are fighting. We are fighting everything that wants to make us feel that we can do without God. Can you fight everything? Can you stand in a battle and say no, everything that wants to make me say it is without God, I stand against such thing. In your thought, in your decision making, ah, no. Let me acknowledge God in this thing. [foreign language]. Just do what you like. Oh, that is spirit of this age. That is the spirit of the devil. That thing that wants to just those are the things to those are the things to look out for. Arrogance, pride, everything that makes a man feel that he can exist without God. Every high I spirit. Now now so that when you go back again to that 1 Peter that we were reading, 1 Peter 5 that we were reading, that 1 Peter 5 that we were reading. Look at it again. We have looked at that of that of pride. God resists the proud. So be careful not to come to a point where God will resist you. Now look at the other thing there in that scripture. Look at the other thing. It says therefore, verse six, what are we asked to do? Humble yourself. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. Let us respect the word of God. Let us respect what God said. If God put period on something, please don't put comma. If God put what look, let us learn, don't call me Lord Lord without doing my will. Let us commune with God, let us share intimacy with God, let's fear God, don't let us be wise in our own eyes. That is a battle against principalities and powers. The Bible says these world, they work against God because they work if how did the Bible describe the children of this age? It say children of disobedience. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time. Number two, I'm talking about the battle. Look at the second thing. This issue of you and the devil. Casting all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you. Casting all your cares. Be careful about anxiety. Certain operation of principalities and powers is to shift you from God to shift you to your problem, to shift you to your cares, to shift you to your cares. Then you begin to look at your cares, you begin to look at this, you begin to look at that, you begin to look at it, you begin to look at that. Mind you, please, what is the instruction of God? What is the instruction of God? Be anxious about how many thing? Nothing. Be careful about anxiety. Be careful about those things that is pressing you, anxious about this, anxious about that, anxious about this, ay, this, that, that, that, that, that and all of that. The battle against the devil, then look at the next thing in verse eight. What did he say? Be sober. Look, I want you to look at the battle. What is the battle again? Be humble, be prayerful. What's the next thing? Be sober. Be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion. Please, what is a roaring lion? Why does a lion roar? When a lion roars, what does it send to the other animals? Is it not fear? Is it not fear? It say the devil goes about like a roaring lion, roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Look at what the Bible says. Resisting him where? Steadfastly. Where? In the faith. Please brethren, what did we call the cross? The just shall live by what? You remember that I brought together for you the cross and our faith? I hope you can still remember. I hope you can still remember. What are we finding in this place? It says resisting him steadfastly in the faith. That is resisting him based on what the cross has made available. Resist the devil based on the provision of the cross. Don't let him shift you to resisting him in any other way. The only way to resist the devil is where? According to the faith, resisting him in the faith. It is in the faith you resist. Where does faith come from? Faith come by hearing and hearing the word of God. You stand on what the cross has made available. Resisting steadfastly according to the faith. Resisting him in the faith. It is in the faith. And Jesus gave us that perfect example. I would I would I would discuss that better when we meet next week. It's already 6:30. I want us to close for today. Let's go ahead and talk to the Lord for today about principalities and powers. The cross and our dealings with principalities and powers. Don't let us ascribe to the devil what he does not have. He cannot hold your prayer, he cannot hold your destiny, these are these are these are lies. And a lot of people are living under that fear: the Satan that is holding your life from going well, oya come and kill that Satan. Those things they exist in our time. Satan cannot hold your life, cannot hold your destiny. What can hold your destiny and your life is the level of intimacy you share with God. That's where your life and your destiny is, the kind of intimacy you share with God, the kind of relationship you have with your Father. Increase in your intimacy with God. Are you praying this evening, talk to the Lord? The wiles of the devil, the wiles of the devil. We will not be taken by his wiles. We will not be taken by his wiles. We will not be taken by his wiles. We'll not be taken by his wiles. Don't ascribe to the devil what he does not have, what He does what does not belong to him. There are even people who believe that Satan is Satan is omnipresent. Ah, [foreign language]. People come with all kinds of vague belief. Satan is not omnipresent. But you see, he only goes about, he goes about in different network using different things. But he's not omnipresent. Let us resist the devil in the faith. Let us understand where the battle is. The battle is against the wiles. Father, blessed be Your holy name our God. In Jesus name we pray. Let me ask some font to close us. [Speaker 2] Eternal Father, we thank You so very much for Your word to our hearts again tonight. Thank You for enlightening our eyes of understanding to know Your will for us in following You step by step every day. We are asking that the truth we have known today, let it abide with us in the name of Jesus. Father, we pray that Lord our eyes will behold steadfastly upon the cross in the name of Jesus. And daily, Lord as the enemy comes with his wiles, Lord our eyes will not be shifted, our focus will not be shifted from the cross in the name of Jesus. And as many, oh Lord who have heard this message, whose eyes of focus have been shifted already, we are asking for restoration in the name of Jesus. The doctrines and the things that are going on around us have diverted our focus. We are asking, oh Lord as many that are in this net that have been shifted and diverted as a result, oh God of the doctrine of the devils. Father we are asking the Lord, let there be restoration by the reason of the truth in the name of Jesus. Thank You everlasting Father. Lord we lift up Your servant whom You have used again into Your hands. We are asking that Lord You will strengthen him. Strengthen his faith, strengthen his heart to the glory and honor of Your name in the name of Jesus. Help him to see clearly without any any shadow in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank You Lord for hearing us pray, as we go tonight, please still continue to raise this matter with us in Jesus name. For it is in Jesus name we pray. Amen. The grace together. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us now and forever more. Amen. Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! [Speaker 1] This message is coming to you from Family Tent Ministry, a Christian ministry involved in enriching the lives of singles and married through preaching and teaching of God's word, discipleship, family life enrichment, social and community development and mission help. Our regular activities are: Discipleship class, every Monday, 5:00 PM; Adolescent and Singles club, every first Saturday of of every month, at 10:00 AM; Marriage forum, second Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM; Family life seminars; regular school outreaches and everyday counseling. For further counseling you can reach us at our location, Life Camp by the first bridge, Ilere community, opposite Very Joy filling station along Ije Road, Akure Ondo State Nigeria. You can also reach us through our social media handles, familytent@yahoo.co.uk, familytentministry01@gmail.com, www.familytentministry.org. Our phone numbers are 08033861136, 07033613848. God bless you all.