One: The gods have returned.

  

  

Two: When the Jesus movement is forced out of culture, there is a heavy price to pay.

  

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

-John 10:10

  

Three: You and I are owned by Jesus Christ.

  

  

Four: Every day is a day when you must decide which kingdom, Master, Rule you will live under.

  

If your spiritual house has been surrendered to Christ, Jesus is present in the house. He owns it. But for one reason or another, a window has been left open in the back and now there are squatters living in the house. They are not in the whole house and they have no ownership claim on the house, but the unlocked window has given them access to it. The process of clearing the house, filling it with wholesome things, and locking the windows is an illustration of what the Bible calls the process of sanctification—a struggle that goes on until the point of transferal to the eternal kingdom.

-Jon Thompson

  

Post conversion demonization is a matter of sanctification, not justification.

  

Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an impure spirit cried out, ‘What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!’ ‘Be quiet!’ said Jesus sternly. ‘Come out of him!’ The impure spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, ‘What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him.’ News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.

-Mark 1:23-28

On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, ‘Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.’ Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God. Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, ‘There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.’ The Lord answered him, ‘You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?’ When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.

-Luke 13:10-17

‘…should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?’

-Luke 13:16

  

Quick Application:

• We are not Jesus!
• We can’t assume that the victory will come easy just because we are on God’s side.
• Jesus dealt with the demons decisively, but never casually.
• It is His name and His Authority that caused the expulsion.

After Jesus gives the Holy Spirit to the Apostles we read…

‘But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’

-Acts 1:4-8

  

Battle One: In Jerusalem and Judea with Ananias and Sapphira inside the church.

  

Then Peter said, ‘Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.’

-Acts 5:3-4

  

Your life matters! You are not just a random individual in the house of God.

  

Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed.

-Acts 5:16

  

Battle Two: In Samaria with Simon the Warlock.

  

Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, ‘This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.’ They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery. But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.

-Acts 8:9-13

The demonic world may be limited in many ways but is not powerless.

Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.

-Acts 8:13

  

Did all your pre-conversion attitude leave when you became a Christ-follower?

Does Simon see his error?

Peter answered: ‘May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.’ Then Simon answered, ‘Pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me.’

-Acts 8:20-24

  

We Christians in the United States are becoming more Syncretic.

• Christians buy just as many eastern inspired self-help books than non-Christians.
• 40% of Christians believe in Psychics.
• 29% believe in reincarnation.
• 26% believe in Astrology.

Wow! The Bible describes each of these as being empowered by the demonic world and if you delve into any of these you are opening a huge door into the demonic realm.

He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

-Isaiah 53:2-3

‘No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.’

-Matthew 6:24

  

Battle Three: The Ends of the Earth and the demonic in Ephesus.

  

While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way.

-Acts 19:8-9

He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.

-Acts 19:9-12

‘No one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house.’

-Mark 3:27

Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, ‘In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.’ Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, ‘Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?’ Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.

-Acts 19:13-16

‘There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited; and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty.’ When they heard this, they were furious and began shouting: ‘Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!’ Soon the whole city was in an uproar. The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia, and all of them rushed into the theater together. Paul wanted to appear before the crowd, but the disciples would not let him. Even some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, sent him a message begging him not to venture into the theater. The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing, some another. Most of the people did not even know why they were there.

-Acts 19:27-32

  

First: When the Gospel takes new territory, the Demonic rise to the occasion. There will always be a turf war!

Second: The demonic are no match for the Spirit of the Living God.

Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.

-Acts 19:18-20

Third: Invoking the name of Jesus is the primary way to defeat the darkness.

Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, ‘In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.’

-Acts 19:13

  

Why would they do this?

1. Every time the Kingdom advances, the demonic responds with a turf war.

2. The majority of this work of confronting the demonic in individuals is done by the Clergy or by those equipped and appointed by the Clergy.

3. The demonic are defeated by two primary means.

4. Deliverance is a communal act, not an individual work.

5. Many if not most encounters with individuals require more than one encounter.

‘Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.’’

-Mark 9:17-18

After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, ‘Why couldn’t we drive it out?’ He replied, ‘This kind can come out only by prayer.’

-Mark 9:28-29

6. While the conditions that set off or cause an encounter vary, the presence of Christians engaged in the reading of Scripture, preaching, baptism, singing, prayer with fasting, and reciting creeds are all used to reveal and deal with the demonic.

  

Why is all of this important?

• The call on our church is to take this Valley for Christ.

• There is a call on our church to help people far from God come near.

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 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.

-2 Corinthians 4:4

• There is a call on our church to minister to the people of God.

Post conversion demonization is a matter of sanctification, not justification.

Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.

-C.S. Lewis

and do not give the devil a foothold.

-Ephesians 4:27

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

-Ephesians 3:20-21

‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’

-Luke 4:18-19

Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

-Romans 6:13-14

A large part of deliverance occurs when the Holy Spirit overwhelms the mind and emotions through prayer and the name of Jesus with a truth that sets you free.

  

  

  

  

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