Home > Church Family > Sermon Summaries > 14 Aug 2004, Denis Jenkins - Spiritual Warfare: the Battle for Our Mind

Spiritual Warfare: the Battle for Our Mind

14 Aug 2004, Denis Jenkins

(Denis is a member of Thornleigh church)

Christians are often heard talking about the balance between their spiritual and secular aspects of their life. Many will say "God has given us six days to do what we want and the Sabbath is his." The way that many Christians speak today is as if it was normal for each of us to have both a spiritual and a secular life. We have spiritual and secular music, we have spiritual and secular reading.

Brothers and sisters in Christ this is the lie that Satan uses to lure every Christian he can into the world. The reality brothers and sisters is that we either we choose a spiritual life or we chose a secular life. We cannot live two lives. Of such people, the scripture says:

Matt 6:24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

It is of such people who say at the lords coming:

Matt 7:21 "Not everyone who says to me, `Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23Then I will tell them plainly, `I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!

There are two kingdoms in this world. They are Christs Kingdom and Satan's Kingdom. These Kingdoms rule over and above all governments and kingdoms of this world. We think as human beings that we are in control. This is not so for if the rulers of this world are not surrendering to the wisdom and leadership of God, they are being directed and controlled by the very powers of Satan.

Even at the various levels of Government there is a battle between the ideologies of those who allow themselves to be led by God as opposed to those who want nothing to do with God.

These Kingdoms are both theocracies. Both have at the head of it Gods. Gods Kingdom has the God head at it's head. Satan's Kingdom has a counterfeit God at it's head. For Satan told Eve that by eating of the fruit she would become like a God. It was Satan's express desire to be a God and for centuries he has lured us as mankind into his doctrine.

Yes both kingdoms have a set of doctrines or beliefs. So for anyone in this world who says he or she is not religious is being fooled. All mankind is religious but it depends whether they are following the religion which leads to the truth and life or following the false religion that leads to lies and death.

God's Kingdom In the Mind - A spiritual kingdom of light

Luke 17: 20 Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, 21nor will people say, `Here it is,' or `There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you."

Mathew 12:28 . But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you

Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,

1 Corinthians 4:20 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.

1 Corinthians 2:14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment: 16"For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?"

But we have the mind of Christ.

Colosions 1:9-14 9For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified youD to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14in whom we have redemption,E the forgiveness of sins.

Ephesians 6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. 17The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

1 John 4:5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the SpiritA of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

Satan's Kingdom in the mind - A spiritual kingdom of darkness

Colosians 1:13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14in whom we have redemption,E the forgiveness of sins.

Ephesians 2: 1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful natureA and following its desires and thoughts.

Ephesians 6:11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

1John 4: 6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the SpiritA of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

As we can see, the secular world is another spiritual system of belief. It is not possible to balance one's life between the two spirits. This is why the scripture instructs us that we are to be in the world but not of it.

God teaches the subjects of his kingdom through the Holy Scriptures as they are guided by his spirit, through music and poetry and psalms.

How does Satan teach his subjects? Satan teaches his subjects through worldly literature which is the bible of the world. It is claimed that it is through the novel that social issues are solved by the philosophising of man. Such individuals are guided by the spirit of the air as the guiding spirit of evil is referred to in scripture.

Satan has captured the most effective leaning tools to teach his doctrines. Research has shown that it is through music that the most important messages of the world have been taught. Through story telling are the most powerful messages conveyed.

Jesus demonstrated the power of the story in his parables. The scriptures encourage us to lift up our voices in song and it is not just by chance that this medium of learning has been recommended by God.

Music was instrumental in the Hitler movement. Music has been the centre of the world wars for teaching the world what the leaders wanted them to know. It is not by chance that the secular music and the movie world are the world's largest focus of all the populations of the world. This is the design of satan to reach the minds of the masses.

It was also no mistake that God impressed Mrs White to warn the Seventh-day Adventist Church against the reading of worldly novels. God directed her in understanding that it was through this avenue that our minds can be directed from the will of God and the pattern of his thinking by seeming truth being mixed by massive error. Listening to worldly songs and music without being alert and extremely discriminating is the most dangerous way of causing a philosophical mind shift as the music appeals to the emotions rather than reason. Satan teaches the doctrines of the religion guided by the spirit of the air through these avenues.

Videos and movies have taken over from novels in a more powerful and dangerous form of teaching the doctrines of the world. With novels at least one had time to reflect on the issues at hand but movies force information on the brain at such a speed that it only has time to accept rather than reflect. This is why the Adventist church was directed keep away from movies. It is through these powerful media that satan has formed the bible of the false religion of the world guided by the spirit of the air.

Take time to just acknowledge what you are being taught. Why then do we avoid listening to worldly music and watching worldy films? Unless you have the time to measure what you are being taught in these with the measure of truth as the scripture guides us which is if it speaks to the law and to the testimony or not you have no safe way of acknowledging what is right or wrong.

We are told not to put ourselves in the way of evil men. This means not placing ourselves so that we learn evil habits by taking in their view points without a chance of monitoring it against scripture.

Our focus as Christians is to bare the gospel, not to be debating the issues of sinful world.

2 Cor 10:3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Christ is the solution of the worlds problems. Surrender to the Holy spirit is the solution to matters of wisdom. Why have we been instructed not to waste our time over reading worldly novels and sitting for hours watching films. The answer is as a Christian we have a different focus and that is the direction that we are to take the gospel to the world and how are we going to do that if all these activities takeaway our focus on what being a Christian really is.

When do we commune with God. When do we study to show that we really understand God. How can we be taking into our minds a pattern of the world that is foreign to the mind of God.

We cannot have both the pattern of worldly thinking at the same time embrace the pattern of God's mind. Both spirits cannot co exist.

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