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One of the greatest discoveries you can make in your life is that you've been created by God

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to rule and conquer on this earth.

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From the very beginning in Genesis 1, 26 through 28, the command given to man was to have

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rulership over the earth, to have authority over the earth, to have power over the earth.

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And as Jesus followers, those that have put their faith in Christ, we have the authority

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of Christ in us. And this was the point of Jesus' ministry from day one, was Him

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raising up disciples that will learn how to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit,

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know their authority in Christ, know their power from God, and deal with the darkness

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and deal with the demonic in their lives. Here's Jesus' first commands to the disciples who've

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been following Him for a period of time. They've been watching Him cast out demons. They've been

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watching Him heal the sick. And in Luke, excuse me, in Matthew 10, He says,

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and when He had called His 12 disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits

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to cast them out and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.

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Then He's going to go to 70. He's going to give them the same power and authority.

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Matter of fact, the disciples come back shocked that they have authority and power over the

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demonic. Men and women, that's the same power and authority that we've also been given. In Luke

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10, Jesus says this. He says, behold, I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions

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and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

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So the authority and power of Jesus has been given to us to press back, push back darkness.

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And I remember fasting and praying for 21 days in Japan one time, and I was fasting and praying,

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saying, God, would you come and deal with the demonic world over this island? And during that

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time, we saw over 50 Japanese come to Christ. Another time I fasted and prayed for 10 days,

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and we saw over 150 people get saved and come to Christ. When we fast and we pray and we know our

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authority and our power in Christ, God does amazing things. That power and authority has

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been given to us over the enemy. In Romans 8, Paul talks about that we are more than conquerors,

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that we can conquer the enemy through believing and trusting in him. One of the passages that

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really powerfully worked in my life so many years ago, and I come back to it again and again,

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is John 14, 12 through 14. Jesus says, most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me,

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the works that I do, he will do also. And greater works than these he will do, because I go to my

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Father. And whatever you ask in my name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the

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Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. Jesus is giving us this power and authority

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to come to him in prayer, to ask him to do great and mighty things through us, to push back

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the enemy through healing, through signs and wonders. We've seen hundreds of people healed

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through the power of the Spirit and knowing that authority. You have that authority in your life

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through the Holy Spirit. One of the great passages about the church and the power of the church is

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Matthew 16. Jesus says this, I say to you, Peter, you're on this rock. I will build my church and

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the gates of hell or the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys

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of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth, we bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on

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earth will be loose in heaven. So Jesus has given his operable work of the kingdom to the church.

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That's us. We are the church and he's building a church. A church that he's building should be

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pushing back the gates of hell. The gates of hell are defensive position. God wants us attacking

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the gates of hell. That's what a kingdom of God revolution is, is us attacking the gates of hell

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in our community, in our cities by coming with power and authority from the Holy Spirit.

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Best illustration I can think of is D-Day and V-E-Day in World War II. So in World War II,

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when the allied forces hit the beaches of Normandy, it was called D-Day. And then over the

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next few weeks as we moved across France and then into Germany, the back of the Germans had been

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broken. But the war wasn't over until V-E-Day, which was Victor in Europe Day, when the allied

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forces actually finally signed with the Axis forces surrender. They were surrendered at that point.

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That's our life right now. V-E-Day.

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Christ has won the victory but we're in a battle right now it's a pitch battle

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we we've hit the beaches at the cross and that's D-Day D-Day is the cross of

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Christ but now there's a battle until the coming second coming of Christ and

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that's the battle that we're in right now so it's the battle of the already

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but then not yet but we have authority and power and this authority and power

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is through the taking down of strongholds and that's the battle of the

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believer 2nd Corinthians 10 4 through 6 for the weapons of our warfare are not

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carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds casting down arguments

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and every high thing that exhausts itself against the knowledge of God

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bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ and being ready

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to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled so the battle

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that every believer has are these strongholds in our life where we have

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allowed the enemy through arguments and through knowledge that's demonic to

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build up a belief system within us that opposes God we've been given the weapons

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weapons of our warfare to take down and pull down those strongholds and that is

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largely through renewing our mind it's through the renewing of our mind with

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the Word of God that we pull down strongholds there's the most powerful

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thing you can do in in having power over the enemy is learning to pull down

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strongholds through reading God's Word we call it here PB&J and in some of

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the other messages I've talked about what that is but that's prayer Bible and

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journal that we learn to pray through praying through spending time with God

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and giving and surrendering our lives to Him and having an intimate relationship

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with Him prayer is communication with God but prayer also is focused on the

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Word that's why when I wake up in the morning the first thing I do is I mean I

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give God the day but that's not really my prayer time I go to God's Word and I

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read God's Word because truth is what sets me free so I set truth into my

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heart by reading God's Word believing God's Word and then I go into prayer and

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so I usually use a journal or something I write down what God's saying to me the

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bottom line is that this is where the victory lies is believing and hanging on

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to truth the other is putting on the armor of God so in Ephesians 6 we read

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finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might put

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on the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand that so that you

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can stand against the wiles or another word for that is the strategies of the

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devil for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against

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principalities against powers against the rulers of darkness of this age

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against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places therefore take up

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the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and

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having done all to stand verse 14 stand therefore having girded your waist with

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truth having put on the breastplate of righteousness having shod your feet with

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the preparation of the gospel of peace above all taking the shield of faith

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with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one

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take the helmet of salvation the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God

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praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit being watchful

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to the sin with all perseverance and supplication for all the Saints amen

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okay what do I what does this mean well for me I have a very practical thing

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that I've done through the years that has really really helped me and that is

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literally physically putting on the armor so what I do is I put on the

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helmet of salvation and say Lord I just right now put on the helmet of salvation

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today would you renew my mind would you renew my mind with things that are true

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good wholesome and pure I'm gonna believe truth today using my mind I

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reject falsehood I reject worry I reject deception that comes through the media

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deception that comes through maybe the TV or the Internet I'm gonna believe and

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act on truth so renew my mind that's putting on men and women the helmet of

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salvation then I put on the breastplate of righteousness

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Well, what's what's the breastplate of righteousness protecting? It's your heart

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So I asked God I would did I be wholehearted today that the motivations of my heart is that I would be fired up for you

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So God fire me up with your spirit. I'm asked for your protection of

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Righteousness, I'm gonna live and have a heart for

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Righteousness in my life. Then I take the shield of faith the shield of faith is

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That belief that

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God's good that he's going to do good things today that he's in control that he can heal

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So I take that shield of faith and what the scriptures say is it extinguishes the fiery darts of the enemy?

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So what that means is that the darts of the enemy the belief systems of the enemy?

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I want him to hit that shield of faith. So how do I pick up my faith?

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Well faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God and I've been given the sword of the Spirit

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Which is the Word of God. So I say Lord. I just pray right now

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Strengthen my faith with the Word of God

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God

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give me a

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Sharp two-edged sword from the Word of God as I'm reading your word. I'm gonna believe it

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I'm gonna be empowered by it

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I'm gonna renew my mind with it with the Word of God then I put on the belt of truth. I'm gonna believe truth a

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belt in

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Medieval armor held everything together it held the leggings of the lower part of the of the night

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together along with the breastplate of righteousness and so

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Truth holds my life together. So I'm not gonna believe lies from the enemy. I'm not gonna believe falsehood

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I'm gonna walk in truth. I put on the belt of truth. I shod my feet with the gospel of peace

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That means that wherever I walk

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whoever I meet

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Whoever I'm talking to you. I pray Lord. I could be a peacemaker

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no, I

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Would that I would do everything possible in my power through that relationship to bring peace and folks

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I'll tell you right now

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You know people are at war in their own lives or at war with other people and God wants us to be

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Peacemakers and to be his peacemakers when we come now

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It's kind of crazy in that sometimes we come as peacemakers. It actually creates havoc because we're a Jesus follower

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But that's up to God to do that. I believe we're called to be peacemakers. So helmet of salvation

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Renewing my mind breastplate of righteousness being wholehearted

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Shield of faith being able to extinguish all the fiery darts the enemy sword of the Spirit word of God

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belt of truth

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Rejecting lies believing truth and also shodding my feet with the gospel of peace which makes me a peacemaker

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So I challenge you today, that's that's how we overcome the enemy

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That's how we pull down strongholds in our lives and start practicing that put on the armor every day

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Go to Matthew 16 8 3 18 through 19 and realize that we as the church

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We prevail against the enemy that we'd be pushing forward be missionaries wherever we go

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Whatever vocation we're in whatever we're doing in our marriage and our family

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Walk in that kind of power and you're gonna see strongholds pulled down in my next message. I'm going to talk about

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How we overcome?

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Individually in our lives in some new and different ways that I think will be helpful to you

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So God bless you pull down strongholds know that you are created to rule and to conquer