WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.000 The church in America is really in trouble. 2 00:00:03.000 --> 00:00:10.000 We have a church that is much more into flower vases up front on the stage 3 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:12.000 and what the color of the carpet is, 4 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:17.000 how cushiony the pews are than they are about spiritual warfare, 5 00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:19.000 the battle in the heavenly realm. 6 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:27.000 And it was me being on the mission field, 7 00:00:27.000 --> 00:00:31.000 so many years ago that I first discovered the power of the demonic 8 00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:33.000 and the power of Satan. 9 00:00:33.000 --> 00:00:37.000 And I came back to America and quite frankly, 10 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:39.000 even though I had grown up in America, 11 00:00:39.000 --> 00:00:42.000 I was shocked to come back into even the evangelical church 12 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:48.000 and just realize how much the church is just overwhelmingly fascinated 13 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:53.000 with gimmicks and stuff and how little impact that we're having on the culture. 14 00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:58.000 And I'm beginning this series on Satan, Demons, and the Fourth Dimension 15 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:01.000 by looking, first of all, at the three-dimensional church. 16 00:01:01.000 --> 00:01:05.000 And let me just classify and define what I'm talking about here. 17 00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:09.000 What I mean by the three-dimensional world is the world that we can see, 18 00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:12.000 we can touch, we can feel. 19 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:14.000 It's where we live our lives. 20 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:15.000 You know, it's going to the bank. 21 00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:16.000 It's getting in our car. 22 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:17.000 It's eating food. 23 00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:19.000 That's the three-dimensional world that we live in. 24 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:26.000 It's the world that we make decisions in by what we can see, what we can feel. 25 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:29.000 But the fourth dimension is the spiritual realm, 26 00:01:29.000 --> 00:01:35.000 and that spiritual realm is where Satan, demons, and angels, and God hang out. 27 00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:37.000 I mean, that's a real world. 28 00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:41.000 As a matter of fact, I would argue, and I will in this series, 29 00:01:41.000 --> 00:01:46.000 that the fourth-dimensional world is actually what determines 30 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:48.000 what happens in the three-dimensional world. 31 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:55.000 So it is, there's so many spirit beings that are involved around us, 32 00:01:55.000 --> 00:02:00.000 touching us, influencing us way more than we want to know about 33 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:04.000 and that we even care about, especially in the Western church. 34 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:08.000 So the Western church has been largely a church 35 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:11.000 that does not understand the fourth dimension. 36 00:02:11.000 --> 00:02:12.000 Now, we understand God and demons. 37 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:16.000 We like to study about God and demons if we're a Bible-believing church. 38 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:19.000 And we come to these passages about Jesus casting out demons, 39 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:22.000 and we maybe make reference to it. 40 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:25.000 But very, very few pastors, very few leaders, 41 00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:27.000 very few men and women in the evangelical church 42 00:02:27.000 --> 00:02:31.000 know anything about how to engage in the warfare 43 00:02:31.000 --> 00:02:34.000 that's involved with Satan and demons in the fourth dimension. 44 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:36.000 And so I want to give you ten things. 45 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:40.000 This is ten issues that I think are ten problems 46 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:42.000 with the three-dimensional church in the West. 47 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:44.000 And the reason I'm going to classify the West 48 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:48.000 is because in other parts of the world, 49 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:52.000 I'm going to say like Asia, South America, 50 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:54.000 I would call it the two-thirds world, 51 00:02:54.000 --> 00:03:00.000 where people have grown up with much more of a closeness 52 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:02.000 to the spiritual dimension. 53 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:08.000 It's either through the relationship of witch doctors, shamans. 54 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:12.000 When I was on the island of Okinawa, the Utah, whatever, 55 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:17.000 there is a classic understanding in their culture, 56 00:03:17.000 --> 00:03:21.000 even their traditional culture of demons and of God. 57 00:03:21.000 --> 00:03:23.000 And that's not true in the West. 58 00:03:23.000 --> 00:03:26.000 The West has largely been very, very intellectual, 59 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:28.000 very pragmatic. 60 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:33.000 And because of that we've tended to just push that world 61 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:37.000 that we can't necessarily practically define 62 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:39.000 out of our Christianity. 63 00:03:39.000 --> 00:03:41.000 So I'm going to give you ten problems 64 00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:43.000 with the three-dimensional church in America. 65 00:03:43.000 --> 00:03:47.000 Number one, running after the latest, greatest gimmick 66 00:03:47.000 --> 00:03:49.000 to grow the church. 67 00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:53.000 I've never seen so many gimmicks as we have in American churches 68 00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:55.000 to try to grow their churches. 69 00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:57.000 I mean the advertising we use, 70 00:03:57.000 --> 00:04:00.000 the type of music that we are enhanced by, 71 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:05.000 the way in which we set up our churches is so gimmicky. 72 00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:09.000 And I just, I think that works against us 73 00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:12.000 largely because we're looking at the church 74 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:16.000 as a sociological institution 75 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:19.000 rather than a spiritual powerhouse of God. 76 00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:21.000 So that's number one. 77 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:23.000 Number two is selling out to the culture 78 00:04:23.000 --> 00:04:26.000 by not teaching the whole counsel of God. 79 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:28.000 So what we mean by that is that by and large 80 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:33.000 the church has so been enamored by, 81 00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:36.000 missiologically speaking, the culture, 82 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:40.000 that the culture is more influencing the church 83 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:43.000 than the church is influencing the culture. 84 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:47.000 And so we've allowed the cultural taboos to be out 85 00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:52.000 and the cultural enhancements to be in in our churches. 86 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:55.000 Number three, using secular business techniques 87 00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:56.000 to build the church. 88 00:04:56.000 --> 00:04:59.000 So I've been a pastor now for, 89 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:05.180 28 years and I can tell you that as an organization gets bigger 90 00:05:05.180 --> 00:05:11.880 We definitely become more and more aware of the business side the organizational side of the church 91 00:05:11.880 --> 00:05:16.340 And that's necessary, but oftentimes that actually drives 92 00:05:17.460 --> 00:05:23.360 the service and drives the way church is done everything from the length of the service to the length of the worship to the length 93 00:05:23.360 --> 00:05:27.380 Of the sermon and we have to be so careful with that number four 94 00:05:28.180 --> 00:05:31.660 Unwilling to surrender and this is really important unwilling to surrender 95 00:05:32.220 --> 00:05:37.340 to the mighty power and work of the Holy Spirit man when I got filled with the Holy Spirit when I was 96 00:05:37.580 --> 00:05:44.580 Baptized in the power of the Holy Spirit everything changed and I began to understand spiritual entities 97 00:05:44.580 --> 00:05:49.580 I began to understand Satan and demons in a whole new way and people are scared of that stuff 98 00:05:49.580 --> 00:05:51.260 and so because of that 99 00:05:51.260 --> 00:05:57.580 We've we've not wanted many evangelical churches have not wanted to move into the power and work of the Holy Spirit 100 00:05:58.020 --> 00:06:05.660 Because of the crazies and there's I mean there let's face it there are crazies out there in different aspects of the church 101 00:06:05.980 --> 00:06:11.540 But I think the challenge for us as pastors and leaders and for you that are Jesus disciples 102 00:06:11.820 --> 00:06:16.300 Is to is to go after all of the power in the work of the Holy Spirit 103 00:06:16.820 --> 00:06:23.780 Number five fearful of the unknown and lack of experience in spiritual warfare, and that's huge 104 00:06:24.300 --> 00:06:30.780 Because sometimes we're the most fearful of the things that we do not understand and I know I was 105 00:06:31.340 --> 00:06:37.100 And I read and read and studied and it really wasn't until I actually was in the arena 106 00:06:37.740 --> 00:06:42.700 Of casting out demons out of people that I began to grow in confidence 107 00:06:42.740 --> 00:06:49.140 But we have this fear factor about things like this like we're gonna be made fools of we're not we're not gonna know what to do 108 00:06:49.700 --> 00:06:52.020 Totally get that but you got to push through that 109 00:06:52.820 --> 00:06:54.740 number six 110 00:06:54.740 --> 00:07:01.580 Unprepared in seminary and other trainings and how to deal with real spiritual power from the enemy. That's absolutely true 111 00:07:01.580 --> 00:07:03.700 so I went to seminary and 112 00:07:04.220 --> 00:07:06.220 There was one class on spiritual warfare 113 00:07:06.580 --> 00:07:10.500 But this was this was a seminary that was very cutting-edge 114 00:07:10.980 --> 00:07:12.140 Most 115 00:07:12.140 --> 00:07:18.300 Evangelical conservative seminaries have very very little except from a theological biblical perspective about 116 00:07:18.820 --> 00:07:23.620 Dealing with the enemy dealing with Satan and demons, but not the practical 117 00:07:24.260 --> 00:07:28.380 Hands-on approach of how to cast out demons and so because of that 118 00:07:28.780 --> 00:07:33.260 Pastors and leaders are coming out and they are completely untrained in these areas 119 00:07:33.860 --> 00:07:40.780 Number seven pastors who are fearful of man and what people will say if they delve into spiritual warfare 120 00:07:40.780 --> 00:07:45.220 this is pretty huge too because a lot of churches are elder driven and 121 00:07:45.700 --> 00:07:53.340 So they're kind of hirelings to their elders rather than being visionary leaders. And so because of that there's a fear. There's a fear of 122 00:07:54.500 --> 00:07:56.500 Delving in to some of these dark 123 00:07:57.220 --> 00:08:00.260 Arts, I would call it kind of dark arts as it were 124 00:08:01.260 --> 00:08:05.740 Because of what people will think what people will say and I know that when I 125 00:08:06.740 --> 00:08:13.660 Began to move in the area of spiritual warfare both in Japan and Asia as well as the United States 126 00:08:14.220 --> 00:08:19.500 Definitely people asked a lot of questions. And so you have to be prepared for that and a lot of pastors are not 127 00:08:20.220 --> 00:08:21.940 number eight 128 00:08:21.940 --> 00:08:24.140 spiritual warfare mania and 129 00:08:24.900 --> 00:08:31.300 That is where there are people out there there's pastors and leaders and churches out there. They're they're weird 130 00:08:31.300 --> 00:08:36.620 I mean, let's just face it and here at the road at Chapel Hills and Colorado Springs from time to time 131 00:08:36.620 --> 00:08:43.780 I have the weirdies come to the road and they talk to me after the service and they tell me about their deliverance ministry and 132 00:08:43.780 --> 00:08:50.740 all that they do and it's almost like they want me to be fascinated by how strange their 133 00:08:51.500 --> 00:08:53.500 experiences have been and 134 00:08:53.740 --> 00:08:59.540 As we get into this series, I'm going to show you that you can have a balanced approach. That's not weird 135 00:09:00.100 --> 00:09:05.460 You can walk in power and authority and you can walk in confidence and you and here's the thing 136 00:09:05.460 --> 00:09:08.540 I have a real strong conviction about that. We'll talk about 137 00:09:09.260 --> 00:09:16.500 In the ongoing series here is how we respect the dignity of every person 138 00:09:16.820 --> 00:09:18.820 even someone who 139 00:09:19.020 --> 00:09:24.500 Maybe has many demons and we have to cast a lot of demons out or we have to begin to help them 140 00:09:24.820 --> 00:09:29.300 get set free we need to honor them we need to bless and they're creating the image of God and 141 00:09:30.380 --> 00:09:35.380 So we're not looking for wrestling matches and MMA spiritual warfare 142 00:09:36.500 --> 00:09:37.980 number nine 143 00:09:37.980 --> 00:09:42.220 cessationist theology that has taught that these things don't happen today, so 144 00:09:42.860 --> 00:09:44.860 cessationist theology is the idea that 145 00:09:45.940 --> 00:09:47.340 spiritual 146 00:09:47.340 --> 00:09:49.340 Warfare as I'm defining it 147 00:09:50.380 --> 00:09:52.540 signs and wonders miracles 148 00:09:54.420 --> 00:09:58.860 The gifts of the Holy Spirit that are more the power gifts of the Holy Spirit ceased 149 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:03.740 the completion of the New Testament canon. And I don't 150 00:10:03.780 --> 00:10:07.040 believe that, but many do. And so because of that, that 151 00:10:07.080 --> 00:10:10.080 drives them. As a matter of fact I was in a debate last 152 00:10:10.120 --> 00:10:14.420 year with a cessationist theologian that was really 153 00:10:14.460 --> 00:10:17.260 fun to do here in Colorado Springs where we debated the 154 00:10:17.280 --> 00:10:24.760 idea of signs and wonders being for today, and the idea 155 00:10:24.800 --> 00:10:28.300 of cessationism. And it was a very animated debate, really 156 00:10:28.300 --> 00:10:32.500 fun to do. And then lastly, number 10, Christians don't 157 00:10:32.540 --> 00:10:34.840 struggle with this stuff because we have the Holy 158 00:10:34.880 --> 00:10:38.940 Spirit theory. So the idea is that if you're a believer in 159 00:10:38.980 --> 00:10:41.340 Christ, you have the Holy Spirit, you're not going to 160 00:10:41.380 --> 00:10:44.480 struggle with demons. And so that causes people to 161 00:10:44.520 --> 00:10:48.220 struggle with demons, because the demons are hidden, and 162 00:10:48.260 --> 00:10:50.920 they have no belief that they could even struggle with 163 00:10:50.960 --> 00:10:53.160 demons. And they're struggling with them like crazy, but 164 00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:56.900 they don't even know it. And so it's really sad how many 165 00:10:57.000 --> 00:11:00.440 believers have gone through most of their life with a 166 00:11:00.460 --> 00:11:03.800 particular ailment, or a particular struggle, or a 167 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:07.540 particular area that if they just had a theology of the 168 00:11:07.580 --> 00:11:11.820 demonic and the power of the Holy Spirit they literally 169 00:11:11.840 --> 00:11:15.620 could be set free tomorrow. But they're not because they 170 00:11:15.640 --> 00:11:18.880 have no concept of what they're struggling with. So 171 00:11:18.920 --> 00:11:21.060 that's where we're going with this. And I felt like it was 172 00:11:21.080 --> 00:11:25.300 a good place to start because that may be your story. That 173 00:11:25.320 --> 00:11:27.500 might be the kind of church you're in. That might even be 174 00:11:27.520 --> 00:11:30.260 the kind of believer that you are. And I want to challenge 175 00:11:30.300 --> 00:11:35.040 you in this series that demons are real, Satan is real, but 176 00:11:35.060 --> 00:11:39.780 that we have authority and power in Christ Jesus. So I'm 177 00:11:39.800 --> 00:11:42.480 excited to get into this. I hope you're excited. It's 178 00:11:42.500 --> 00:11:44.520 going to be a great study.