It’s Time to Pull Down Every Strong Hold | Associate Pastor Chad Erickson

but if you will stand to your feet and i i've got a lot of notes and i'm going to try to move quickly through what god has given me today um i try to tell god that it was too much and and he just kept on giving so apparently he didn't agree with me so we just we just kept on rolling but i promise you i am going to do my very best to get across what god has given me to the church today uh three passages just turn with me to john chapter 8 verse 34 and then um well you can maybe try to catch up if you want to but let's start off with john 8 34 the bible says jesus answered them verily verily i say unto you whatsoever committeth whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin that's good that's good uh look with me in first john not the gospel but but first john chapter one verse six if you can't get there it'll be on the screen it says if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth everybody say the truth but if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another that's us in christ in the blood of jesus christ his son cleanseth us from all sin if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us again say the truth if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and then i want to just just just maybe lighten it up just a little bit second corinthians chapter 10 verse 3. you know this one well says for though we walk in the flesh we do not war after the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through god to the pulling down of strongholds i just want to preach in your hearing today just simply this it's time to pull down every stronghold it's time to pull down every stronghold and notice i put the word every in there because some strongholds are easier to pull down than others we're going to preach a little bit about what are strongholds and how do we define a stronghold and how do we know that we are in a stronghold well today i want you to know if you'll listen closely and if you will respond to the word of god i believe that every stronghold that's represented in every life that's in this building today will be torn down in jesus name if you believe that let's just pray father we love you father we're asking you lord god just to anoint lord the voice of the preacher today because your word is already anointed lord i want you to speak through me lord i want you lord god to speak to every person lord whether they've been in church for 70 years or they've been in church for seven days father i pray that you'll speak to this congregation and let us know lord god exactly how you would have us to live and have us to respond to your word in jesus name we pray and everyone said amen you may be seated genesis 1 and 28 i want to kind of start here today and we're going to teach and i think we'll probably end up preaching before the before the message is over but the bible says in genesis 1 and 28 it says and god blessed them speaking of man and woman and god said unto them be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea he's saying have dominion over the fowl of the air have dominion over every living thing that moveth upon the earth and from the book of genesis the very book of beginnings we read about the purpose for the existence of man in psalm chapter 8 the shepherd boy named david he uh he contemplated man's existence and in psalm 8 4 says what is man that thou art mindful of him in the son of man that thou visiteth him for thou has made him a little lower than the angels and has crowned him with glory and honor thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands thou has put all things under his feet it was jeremiah that helped us to understand the thoughts and the plans of our creator for his creation jeremy jeremiah 29 11 says for i know the thoughts that i think towards you saith the lord thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end and how many are thankful for a god that wants to see us have an expected end that's good news that that's that's beautiful news to the child of god because it tells us that god has a plan for our life there's a perfect will of god for each and every life represented here today but my question is for you today i what i want you to do is i want you to step back and look at the big picture what is the purpose for our existence i want you to think about that because a lot of times we can just live life from day to day and we live it from work day to work day in the weekend the weekend and the month the month and year to year and and we don't contemplate what are we doing what is our purpose why are we here are we fulfilling what god created us to do so i i've been contemplating these things that i've been studying and i'm going to simplify and narrow the answer to this question down to two things the human race was created for two things number one was to enjoy life to enjoy life to enjoy each other he created us so that we could enjoy the world that he created for us and then the second thing is to have a relationship with the creator that includes worship bible talks about it being our reasonable service so i want to go over that again because if you miss this you're going to miss this whole message we were created the reason for our existence god said i'm creating you a world i'm creating you a paradise i'm creating you a place that you're gonna have dominion over i want you to enjoy it i want you to multiply i want you to come together man and woman i want you to rule over this is your kingdom that i'm giving you to rule over multiply i want you just to populate it it's yours you're going to have dominion over it but then the second thing is as my creation i want you to worship me as creator as my creation i don't want you to worship me as a bunch of robots that have have no will and have no mind i'm putting a mind into you that i'm not put into any other animal any other creature any other mammal any fish in the sea any bird of the air i'm giving you a will and the will that i've given you was created so that you could decide to worship me enjoy life relationship isaiah 43 and 21 god is speaking he says this people have a form for myself they shall show forth my praise but then we realize that the first adam messed it all up right it's very clear though that the second adam reinstated what the first adam lost the first atom is kicked out of paradise the second adam brought back paradise and gives us life more abundantly and invites us back into this paradise that he has created god came to earth on a mission he said i have come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly and i like to read that from a multiple of translations john 10 and 10 is what i'm reading it says the thief's purpose is to steal kill and destroy but my purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life the thief enters only to steal here's another translation to steal to kill and destroy i came so that they could have life in deed so that they can live life to the fullest i'm going somewhere with this one more translation the thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy i came that they have joy everlasting and have it in abundance to the full until it overflows you say why i thought we're supposed to have abundant life in eternity i got news for you attorney begins right now these mortal bodies are going to put on immortality but we live for eternity from this point right here there's no reason to wait for happiness or to wait to have joy and i know where i'm preaching today i'm going to be preaching where people are living here and i don't want to step on toes but i just believe that some people settle for a life that's anything less than full joy there's people who settle for a life that's not overflowing with goodness and happiness and peace people don't really understand why god came to earth in the first place he said i'm coming that you might have life and life everlasting he didn't say i'm coming so you just have life everlasting he's wanting to give you life right now that turns into a life of eternity of everlasting joy i can't listen listen i can't stand seeing people who look pentecostal but make it super obvious that they have no joy anybody ever been to dollywood tell me something why is it on the streets of gatlinburg and i guess we just live in this part of the country and some of you are vacationing and you're you're going to know right what i'm talking about i'll be walking brother joe i'll be walking down the streets of gatlinburg and here comes people that look pentecostal have the outward appearance of being pentecostal have all the right lengths and have everything just right and they look like they've been sucking on lemons look mad upset and god forbid they say hello to you i mean it's obvious what we look like i mean i'm with my wife and with my three daughters it's i mean i don't want to make things too plain but it's kind of obvious that we're also apostolic you know that here comes the ordinance in me i love making people say hi to me there there's something there's something about the joy that i get the joy of the lord that comes over me when i intentionally walk into somebody's path and make them acknowledge that i'm walking by them you know i'm talking about i mean i refuse to get an attitude about it i i can't help that they don't have joy i mean of all people that should have joy filled with the holy ghost baptized in the name of jesus covered in the blood of the lamb have his name applied to our life heaven's spirit within us sins remains sins forgiven oh my goodness come on somebody you ought to have a smile why in the world listen if anybody ought to have joy in their life it's somebody that's been redeemed let the redeemed of the lord say so and i'll tell you how look this is not my notes you may be seen i'll tell you how you say so you let your face know about it talk to people you wave at people hey how hell how are you doing good great how's your family how's that you're friendly to people listen i'm not an extrovert i'm not i'm a force i'm i've been diagnosed as a forced extrovert i've got to force myself to be an extrovert i'm not natural pastor pastor carpenter he's natural he can have a conversation with a squirrel i mean he doesn't he's natural he's going to bless it he's going to pray it's going to be okay but something inside of me even though i'm not a natural extrovert something inside of me says there ought to be something about me that people notice more than what i'm wearing somebody say joy of the lord it ought to be your strength so i'll take a step further i've enjoyed my limited time on social media because i haven't missed reading about everyone's issues i mean are you seriously ready to give up i see that on facebook i'm like what does that mean like give up on a test question or given up on your job or you've given up on your spouse you're giving up on your children what does that mean giving up on life come on i don't want to be a broken record but do you have the holy ghost we can't live in a state i'm already up on my soul box i'm just going to stay right here song writers that they're always writing about leaving this whole world behind listen i don't like the culture any any more than anybody else does i know we're pilgrims i i understand i understand that we're not of this world but dear heavenly father i got to believe that there has to be some insult to a creator whose creation is only thinking about if i could just get off this world come on what you think i don't want to cross sores with anybody's theology some of y'all like my god he wants to stay here he don't want to go to heaven i didn't say that i just simply i'm simply saying i'm living the life right now i love my life i love this apostolic way of life i want to trade this life for anything there's no amount of money there's no amount of fame nashville hollywood kong dubai i don't they don't mean a thing to me i am living exactly how i want to live and i'm living a good life i'm living a blessed life you may see that i i hope i'm not i hope i'm not offended nobody listen i like songs i love songs about ready to go go home and see my daddy or see my granddaddy i love songs like that don't get me wrong i love songs uh what a day that will be when my jesus i shall say i brother sheila i want to see jesus okay i want to see the one that i've had faith in without seeing for the last 44 years but at the same time we got to get out of our minds that we're so ready to go that we're of no earthly good while we're here i mean come on i i just want to slow down this for a minute and i want everybody to really get on the same page with me i don't believe god put us in this world of all the billions of people who are alive today in the in the trillion jillions that never got a chance to live i don't believe for a second that god put us here in what i call the garden of eden here in east tennessee i don't believe that god put us here looking at the sky waiting to get out he came as a second adam to give us the joy that we lost with the first adam he came as a second adam to give us the joy and the peace and the hope that the first adam lost through sin and he gave us a way to be saved so we could actually enjoy life here on earth so before i bring to you where i'd like to take us this morning i i got to make sure that we understand that god's for us god wants to see us live abundantly not just in heaven right now the very same elements listen the very same elements i began to study this the very same elements that were created on day one are still here the same elements that were created on day two are still here day three day four day five day six every day those same great my god we live in the mountains the oceans everything they've got the birds in the sky we live my god help us to understand the blessings we have i'm not talking about the car you drive i'm not talking about how nice your house is or what you own what possessions you have we without any of that we are living right here in a creation that god has created for us so moving on because i first thing is to understand but there was in genesis one of the creeping things matter of fact look with me in genesis 3 and 1. the serpent because everything that was and hasn't changed the devil hasn't changed either the same devil that spoke to eve in the garden is the same devil that talks to you and i genesis 3 1 says now the serpent was subtle he was sly sneaking he was more subtle than any beast of the field which the lord god had made and he said unto the woman yea hath god said ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden go back go back to the first part of that verse right there so we gotta see it so while i'm talking look study that listen to me but look at the verse because it's not what satan said that jumped out at me it's what he didn't say he left out one word that revealed his hand this very first verse where satan gets to speak he gives away his biggest play you see the opposing football coach never wants to give his plays away matter of fact there's sometimes contracts that players in the higher leagues will sign stating that they will not share the team's plays if they get traded or or you know if get paid to do it i guess i don't know they get sued you in the professional leagues you will get sued if you start taking your plays and selling them somewhere else but right here the devil lucifer satan this serpent he shows his his greatest play he has against mankind he leaves off one word the one word that he leaves off is the word lord he should have said yea hath the lord god said ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden but see lord refers to relationship god god is all about power god the word god is is all about power elohim is power but lord describes the relationship with god matter of fact if you go down through the rest of this chapter every time it refers to god it calls him lord god because he created it's his he's the lord the relationship is this is mine but lucifer was very sly because he got into eve's head it's not lord god it's just god he's powerful but there's no need for a relationship because if you don't have a relationship with somebody you're a whole lot less likely to obey what they've told you to do so what's the very first thing that the world lost when sin entered into society in genesis 3 8 it says adam and eve heard the voice of the lord god walking in the garden in the cool of the day and adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the lord god amongst the trees of the garden and the lord god what did he say he said where are you satan doesn't care that god is present as long as there is no relationship satan doesn't mind that god is walking through the garden and that adam and eve are there as long as adam and eve are ashamed and are hiding from the very presence of god where once there was this this this communion between god between the father and his children adam and eve his creation where once there was a communion there in the cool of the evening when the sun began to set and in this beautiful garden with lush trees and lush rivers when once there was a communion in such a beautiful relationship the first thing we understand that sin did was break the relationship between god and man lied to eve same devil lied to religious rulers think about in jesus day in the new testament oh my goodness same thing these were men of god can you see them in their robes see them with their ephods and their their their great hats and helmets and showing off that they were either the high priest or a sadducee or a pharisee or or a scribe of some sort can you imagine the devil didn't have a problem with them hanging out in the synagogue the devil didn't care that they could quote the old testament from from the front to the back he didn't care about that all he cared about was that there was no relationship between god and religious leader jesus man it bothered jesus so bad his favor his favorite statement to them was whoa unto you like who do you think you are he would openly call them hypocrites to their faces you hypocrites man they didn't like that see again the devil didn't have it satan didn't have an issue with religion listen satan's never had an issue with religion he doesn't he doesn't mind ceremonies he doesn't mind rituals he doesn't mind when people come together on a sunday morning or a saturday night or whenever they come to worship he doesn't mind if people come together to worship if there's no relationship involved within the worship god being among the people is not the problem he just can't stand relationship between god and people the devil doesn't mind us coming to church this is what we got to understand we push church attendance because we just believe if you're here long enough there's going to be relationships started and if you're not at church if if you're not faithful to the house of god that's when relationship ends but but the devil doesn't mind us coming to church the devil doesn't mind listen he he doesn't mind our god talk he doesn't mind us speaking christianese hey listen the devil loves tbn i mean you're not gonna you're not gonna hear more christianese than you watch on christian television telling you what you want to hear and my god has a way for you come on i'm going to send you some holy water and i'm going to anoint this handkerchief and ship and send it to your house and you descend in oh the devil loves all that he doesn't mind he doesn't mind people talking about god i'll go a step further he doesn't even mind if we dance and shout with the choir as long as there's no relationship because he can get us into a sunday way of thinking and then a monday way of thinking if he can get us into well we have god thoughts on sunday but on monday god ain't nowhere near our thoughts the devil doesn't mind sunday's being filled with your time of worship because he understands that makes you feel better that makes us you know we can check off all this that we've come to worship our god and we've we've gone through you know we did the deal you know we we went to church and pastor be happy because i was sitting on my pew and i did my did my duty you know he doesn't mind that but when people come to church and when worship turns into a relationship then all of a sudden we start having problems we start we all of a sudden we all of a sudden start having a little rumbling going on in satan's kingdom because the people of god are no longer just going through emotions but they're forming a relationship with their god but i want to move forward because my foundation is set and i want to move into my subject because this is what i come to preach but you can't really understand strongholds until you understand why we're here today what the point of our existence is and what the devil has up his sleeve to the people but in second corinthians chapter 10 verse 3 and 4. i want to read this to you this is paul speaking he says for though we walk in the flesh ready for a text we do not war after the flesh it's not fleshly for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal they're not fleshy but mighty through god to the pulling down of strongholds and i want to clearly define what a stronghold is it's the spiritual nature of addiction strongholds whenever you read the word stronghold in the word of god it's speaking of the nature of the addiction and it's usually talking about within the church within the people of god not in the world we're not talking about the aaa class going on down the road we're not talking about it's talking about strongholds are what the people of god have to fight against and it usually happens or usually it always happens within the mind the core issue behind addiction is spiritual you see you can manage the symptoms all you want but removing the symptoms does not fix the underlying issues drugs alcohol pornography adultery gluttony lying cheating back body fornication of any kind profanity lashing out in anger lust these are all strongholds that keep people bound and held hostage and the world refers to these these sin issues as addictions but the bible always talks about pulling down strongholds you see going to church may not have solved your problem because there may not be a relationship between you and god going to a christian school may not have solved your problem even occasional prayer and bible reading may not have solved your problem maybe today you're stuck with an addiction you've got a stronghold that is ruling your life you don't want to be stuck but you don't know how to get out of it you found yourself in a deadly cycle that gets a hold of you that's what a stronghold is and some people learn to settle and pretend that their stronghold is not there and that's one thing about being an apostolic pentecostal sometimes listen sometimes we we gotta protect our image we gotta protect our reputation in a way that we push these strongholds down and we press them down and it's kind of like a trash compactor it doesn't remove the trash it does allow space for more trash and people are fighting good people faithful people people who love their wives people who love their children love their husbands love their church love their pastor like i said they're faithful to the church but the relationship between them and god has faltered in a way that they're in this struggle they're in this cycle they're in this addiction and they can't find their way out of it they pray on sunday night in the altar they cry out to god and say god forgive me god please help me but what they don't comprehend is it without a relationship with god you cannot overcome strongholds because the devil has a hold of your mind that's what's called pain management and this is when pharmaceutical it's a pharmaceutical term for keeping your medical issue what they're trying to do is they're trying to keep your symptoms in control but they don't do anything about the underlying problems but in order to face our issues oh my god there's got to be stronghold management there's got to be something where we get inside of our minds and and we begin to pray to a god who is a god who's a chain breaker and we begin to say god more than ever before i've got to know you in a way i've got to hide your word in my heart that i will not sin against god i believe there may not be every person in this room that i'm preaching to but i would venture to say there's a vast majority who whether you would admit it or not you fight with strongholds in your mind and i don't i listen i wasn't expecting anybody standing clap i wasn't expecting any kind of response and that's okay because even even the apostle paul had a stronghold that he was struggling against romans 7. i want to read it because a lot of people look at you know he wrote he wrote over half the new testament surely brother lawler surely he didn't have any strongholds surely he didn't have any any type of addictions or any type of spirits behind addictions that were trying to rattle his mind surely not he was a brilliant man of god he was he he was a man of faith he he was a faith healer he he was a missionary surely he didn't have any struggles but i bear i bear to disagree because in romans 7 and 18 it says for i know this is paul saying that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing for to will is present with me but how to perform that which is good i find not for the good that i would do not but the evil which i would not that i do now if i do that i would not it is no more that i do it but sin that dwelleth in me i find then a law that when i would do good evil is present with me for i delight in the law of god after the inward man but i see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity the law of sin which is in my members o wretched man that i am who shall deliver me from the body of this death i thank god through jesus christ our lord so then with the mind i myself serve the law of god but with the flesh the law of sin i'll give you a good example of what paul's talking about when lazarus came out of the grave he had life but he was still bound his flesh was still bound jesus had to tell his family lose him and let him go take the grave clothes off of him come on now you know the story it's a beautiful story after four days he's dead jesus comes to town he's as lazarus he calls out loud lazarus come forth uh i don't know if he'd come hopping up i don't know what he did because i don't think he could hardly walk because he was bound with great clothes but he comes up hopping up out of his grave i don't know but jesus said listen he's alive but he's still bound and although you get the holy ghost in the altar and you get baptized in jesus name oh your spirit is now alive but you still got to control your flesh your flesh is still bound by this world now now all your sins have been remitted and thank god through jesus christ we know that takes place but every day of your life paul said it simply he said i die daily every day i've got to die out to this flesh every day i've got to tell the devil in my mind you do not have rule over me you can't tell me what to do you can't control me what paul is saying is simply this spiritually i have to overcome the flesh the holy ghost is a fix for the spirit but the flesh must be loosed let me tell you something if you've been born again in this place listen it's time to pull down every stronghold oh my god i can't even imagine what the church would become if all the strongholds in every life represented in this place today were pulled down i can't even imagine what we would do for the kingdom of god i don't know what kind of revival would take place in this city in this community in this world if we can pull down these strongholds that have our minds bound god set us free second corinthians 10 and 4. i'm going to read it again i want to read i want to read verse 5. look at verse 5. we know weapons of warfare are not carnal mighty through god through the pulling down of strongholds here we go verse 5 casting down imaginations in every high or or lofty thing that exalteth itself or that is raised up against the knowledge of god and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of christ that word lofty thing another translation says we destroy arguments of every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of god and take every thought captive to obey christ you see the problem with addictions or strongholds which is a sin that masters us okay the problem with strongholds is they produce a lofty thing the english synonym to the greek word for lofty is what we say a partition y'all thought i was crazy bringing this partition up here it's a partition partition we divide a room through a lofty thing through a partition that raises up to block our view from one room into another room all right follow me matter of fact um i got this out of one of our locker rooms brother hammond if there's footprints in the i don't know who did that if there's footprints in the new varnish it felt dry but obviously in our locker rooms we have this so people who are changing and people who are just coming in to do their hair whatever they do i don't know what they do in the bathroom whatever they do that they can't see into the other side of their area so so we're trying to make sure and there's large petitions event centers have great walls that come across and they're so soundproof you can't even hear what's being said in the other room so it could be for sound it could be for visual but this word here this lofty thing is talking about a partition that is raised up in our minds and paul paul tells us in verse 5. let me put verse 5 back up on the screen he says the reason we're staying defeated and enslaved is because of this partition in our mind speculations and thoughts are raised up or partitioned up against the knowledge of god and the enemy sets up a partition in our mind so that the truth of god can't get through and it happens during temptation because everything inside of you i don't want to do it again i don't want to feel what i feel when it's over whether it's smoking a joint or whether it's taking a hit of something or whether it's pornography whatever it is i i i don't want to feel that feeling i feel that that dirty feeling that i feel when it's over and so the devil raises up a partition of the mind so that the knowledge of god and the knowledge of consequences cannot be realized by the side of your mind that's being tempted you guys and girls that are in a dating relationship when you're in a place you know you shouldn't be dark street back seat of a car and everything inside of you you've told the lord god i'm not going to do it again god i refuse to get myself in that place again and somehow you find yourself there and the devil in your mind will raise up a partition a stronghold in your mind that will not allow you to realize the consequences until it's too late you go through the temptation and the truth that ought to be lighten up in your mind and every sensor in your mind ought to be going off everything in your brain there should be something hitting your brain and saying right here don't do it you don't like to do this you don't like what you feel when you do this you you don't like what you feel the next day the next week you don't like coming to church on sunday and feeling that way you hate you hate you hate to feel you hate to feel you hate to feel but something rises up this partition rises up in the brain and you commit the stronghold as you you commit the sin and it then don't you know the partition disappears and all the sudden five minutes later maybe the next day you wake up and you're like i'm a filthy sinner i'm trying to get over it i'm trying to overcome it but i just can't get through it again i've prayed and i prayed and i've told god i'm sorry i've cried i've wept but here i am back in the very same place again because there's a wall that's built and paul said we've got to tear down those lofty opinions the the bible word for lofty thinking is double-mindedness you've heard this word double-mindedness a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways double-mining is having the opposite or opposing views at different times one minute it's okay the next minute you know it's not okay the next minute it's okay and the next one you know it's not okay and a double-minded person will go through life and will continually fight the same fight over and over and over again it's a vicious cycle brother hammond is trying to help us he's trying to warn us as parents watch out for these certain apps watch out for these certain websites these are traps these are places that young people or middle-aged people or senior people could go down and find themselves in a cycle that they can't get themselves out of the devil again doesn't mind your thoughts on sunday if he can keep you in an unstable state of mind jesus said no man can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other you cannot serve god and mammon so how do we cast down the petition i'll tell you how we've got to get the knowledge of god flowing and flooding into our minds john 8 32 says and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free young person you got to know the truth bible quizzing is a whole lot more than just buzzers and winning trophies and winning medals you gotta understand truth because unless you understand truth unless you hide this word in your heart you're going to end up sinning against god but if we can get truth embedded in our minds and embedded in our hearts oh i want to help somebody today read your bible as much as you can as often as you can it's not just a good book it's not just a paperweight on your desk my god read it it'll pull you through things it's not just a bunch of bible stories and poems it's not just the songs of solomon it's not just good god it is truth and truth is a road map that's going to lead us into eternity what is truth somebody might say what what what is truth there's there's so many different truths is truth what makes the most sense no it's truth what culture feels is right no is truth with our president or our favorite uh a media source or news source is is that what truth is whatever they say if it is you're in trouble because that changes we got fake news and we got other news and other news who knows what to even believe anymore there's no truth outside the bible says my word god said my word is truth turn off our televisions and turn off our talk radio shows and turn off our internets oh my god close every app on our phones and our devices the only place you can find perfect truth is the word of god let me tell you something if you have a stronghold that you're fighting to pull down every day of this coming week i want to give you a homework assignment i want you to read these three chapters romans 6 romans 7 and romans 8. romans 6 romans 7 in romans eight read those three chapters every day make it your morning every morning if you're fighting against something in your life that you just cannot combat i want you to read those three chapters and listen the more you read them the more you're going to understand them the more they're going to filter into your soul and into your life let me tell you something truth will make you free but i want to end where i started because i want to bring it all together so we understand why i started with where i started because the revelation of truth requires a relationship this bible is being read all across this country right now the people that have no relationship with god don't understand god don't even understand there's only one god they don't know who they worship they're doing the best they can they're doing what they've been taught how they're raised we've got to bring in the light but just the word of god by itself is not enough there's got to be a relationship that brings revelation look with me in 1st john 1 and 6. if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth but if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship see that right there that's relationship fellowship one with another this is defining our relationship with god in the blood of jesus christ his son cleanseth from our sins that's the plan of salvation followed verse 8 says if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness so i began my message by asking what is our purpose on earth i said we were created for two things to enjoy this world that god created for us and to have relationship with our creator you see we are under attack by the devil himself to try to steal both of those things from mankind he's doing his very best if he could get us oh my god if he can get us to hate life come on i want you to think about this if he can get us to feel like life is not worth living everything's gone wrong can't stand where i'm living can't stand where i'm working can't stand my spouse can't stand my kids can't stand this can't stand that can't stand where i'm going where i'm going next week i can't can't can't can't if he can get us into a perpetual negative attitude about life itself he takes away the joy and i don't care how much holy ghost you have if you let the devil have your joy i've already said you can wear whatever you want to wear you can wear a skirt that drags the ground your hair can follow that it doesn't matter what you look like what you wear what kind of standard you have if the joy of the lord is not inside of you the devil has a stronghold on you and the second thing is if he can enslave us in sin if he can have a stronghold that keeps us from doing anything productive for the kingdom of god holds us back god only knows the preachers singers sunday school teachers oh my i could go school teachers daycare i could go on and on god only knows how many people in this room right here have been called into those ministries but you've allowed strongholds to make you feel like you're not worth it make you feel like you're not worthy bring stuff up in your past that was buried in baptism but those strongholds just hold you back god help us here we are here we are supposed to be submitted to our man of god holy ghost i want you to speak right now here we are supposed to be submitted to our man of god but we couldn't even sign the ministry handbook if we wanted to because of decisions we make that we won't want to be submitted in certain areas and that's where the devil gets a hold of our mind and you want to do right you want to live right you want to be right you want to do great things for god but inside of your mind rises up a partition that doesn't allow you to see around it or see over it and it's holding you back from the knowledge of god and the knowledge of truth in god's word it is keeping you from understanding the consequences that if you don't submit to your pastor your children aren't going to submit to you i feel the holy ghost here i i know this is heavy i know this is heavy but listen to me church family god has been pricking my heart god has been speaking into my mind and i've been saying god i've been saying god i don't know if it's time and he said it's time he said you got to speak to my people let them know if they would break down strongholds in their life if they would allow truth to infiltrate their being if they would grow a relationship with me if they would enjoy life to the fullest and allow it to overflow out of their being if they would take these things into account i would do great and mighty things through them and through the ministries that i have called them into but if we don't do what god has called us to do if we don't do what god has created us to become if we allow strongholds to take over our life and to control the very thought processes in our mind we will never be what god has called us to be oh my god stay with me the israelites in the old testament they yearned to be free from egypt because they wanted to go and worship their god they wanted to go and have a relationship with their god and nothing has changed because the people of today it's not physical weapons of a warfare not carnal it's it's not about it's not about being enslaved to a country anymore but now it's all spiritual because the same devil that was laughing at them when they were enslaved in the old testament by egypt is the same devil that says ha ha i've got a stronghold in your mind and you're no more free spiritually than they were physically and you can't go worship your god spiritually any more than they could go worship their god physically because he said i've got to hold i've got a stronghold and that stronghold is creating no it's creating a place in our minds that will not allow us to have the relationship with god that we need to have i want you to close your eyes in this place today because i want you to envision in your mind's eye what this church would look like if we as individuals would collectively come together and pull down every stronghold that's holding us back from our callings how how can a church you say how can a church assist humanity with joy in worship will it's quite simple really we preach the great commission we preach salvation message we preach about water baptism we preach about the forgiveness of sins and the remission of sins we preach about the infilling of the holy ghost of power that's from on high that enters into the body and will help us to control these strongholds we help people to pull down strongly that's what sunday service is all about the church is all about helping people to pull down strongholds we create a place of worship we try to create the best flow of worship the choir sings to the best of their ability the worship team sings to the best of their ability we're trying to create an atmosphere a place where you can come and freely worship your god and then the fourth thing is we improve the lifestyles so that people can have lives of joy keep your eyes closed keep your head bowed because i want you to think about your life before you came to god i want you to think about the lifestyle you lived before you got into the church before you were part of the kingdom of god listen i know it's not about things it's not about stuff it's not about possessions it's not about money in the bank but i look at people out here that i know where you were financially before you came to god i know where you were financially before you started bringing a tenth of your of your increase into the house of the lord i i saw blessings start to be piled upon your heads and upon your wife and upon your children upon your family i i watched as you started driving in here you you drove a car that would hardly get from point a to point b and the next thing you know you're driving here in a car that you're proud to own and it's not about greed it's just about the blessings of god it's not about the feeling of wealth or the feeling of have to have toys or possessions but it's about understanding that the more that you give to god the more that he gives into you it's these four things if you don't catch on to these four things you're not gonna last in this church and i'm not talking about this local assembly i'm talking about the kingdom of god people that leave the church do one or more of these four things either they don't follow the plan of salvation they refuse to be free of strongholds they refuse to have a freedom of worship or they refuse to allow god to bless them and prosper them instead of letting god bless them instead of instead of coming into the house of god and bringing our very best into the house of god instead they would rather look around and say well did you see what he's driving well did you see what house they're building well we'll just see this and see that while the whole time they never allow god to bring them up and to bring them out of their lifestyles but if we are a people and i believe we are in this place today if we're a people that are willing to pull down every stronghold and stop trying to manage our strongholds but i'm talking about pulling them down i believe every high thing will come down every stronghold will be broken i wish we could just lift our hands in this place i believe there's people here today that you don't want to live where you're living i i'm not condemning you you might just have an issue with your attitude or or your motives may not be as pure as they should be i i'm not saying we have drug dealers in the house although we might i'm not saying we have fornicators and adulterers in this place i'm just saying if you are not in the place where you would like to be because you feel like there's a stronghold in your life i'm praying right now that you would allow that stronghold to be torn down you allow that stronghold to be pulled down because when the stronghold is pulled down then god can freely speak into your mind he can freely direct you he can freely advise you you can listen to the power and the word of god and you can live and respond to him i want to wait just a moment because i want to open these alters and i want to see if people are really serious because if you are really in a continual if you're in a fight in a stronghold if you're in a cycle that you don't enjoy being in i want to make a place for you in this altar to say god i want a relationship with you like i've never had before i want to know you like i've never known you before i want to be like david how david said i'm a deer that pantheth after the water brooks oh god i want to be the soul that says if i don't have you in my life i can't face another day i don't want to try to go on without you i don't want to try to do life without you lord i want you in total control come on somebody if that's you come on right now right now in jesus name i want to make a call we're going to start singing but thank you for coming i i want to make a call come on church family come on strongholds are about the church i'm not talking about just i'm not talking about addictions of the world i'm talking about strongholds that are keeping you from who you know you ought to be i want to hear you begin to cry out to god right now and say god help me oh god help me god i know you have more in store for me god i know your plans i know your plans for me i know i've got an expected end but oh god if i could pull down this stronghold if i can pull down every high thing that's lifted against me oh every stronghold must come down every stronghold must come down every stronghold oh yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes in jesus name in jesus name come on cry out to cry listen this is not a cry of a poor me or pitiful me this is a cry of a champion saying i'm gonna pull down the stronghold every high thing must come down every stronghold it's going to be broken in my life i'm a victor i'm a victor i'm a victor come on tell him i know god shall be broken shall be broken give us let truth break through lord let my relationship with you let it become a revelation oh god of truth in my life come on somebody i'm not just talking about the revelation of oneness i'm not let's talk about the revelation of salvation i talk about the revelation that god is your provider that god is your fighter he's your warrior the battle is not yours the battle is the lord is you are the reason keys hallelujah hallelujah victory in jesus name is oh they're making a decision making a decision to live with everything inside to break through every spirit that they face i will not give i will not give in to carnality i will not get into my flesh my spirit will overcome my flesh rise up rise of spirit rise up spirit rise of holy ghost rise up inside of me my flesh must die my flesh must be crucified every day hallelujah hallelujah are oh reasons for me you are you are halloween lord hallow with me your day you are above all this place if you desire to be free i believe you're free in jesus name if you desire to be set free be set free in jesus name be free i want every hand to be lifted everybody stand to your feet i just want you to lift up hands because i believe at the end of a prayer that we just prayed i believe it's okay for us to say lord i receive victory in my life lord i receive victory i will not let condemnation control me there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are filled with the holy ghost if you've been baptized in the name of jesus christ condemnation comes from the devil and we rebuke that condemnation in your life i pray for a conviction but i cast down condemnation i believe conviction is of the lord but i cast down condemnation of the devil come on show me to give victory get your victory get your victory get your victory shut up on court over how the holy ghost is moving so powerful right here come on if you want to be free i want you to say lord i want you more than i've ever wanted you i'm going to follow after you more than i've ever followed after you i'm going to obey you more than ever it'll made you i'm going to submit to your authority in my life oh god let your word be strong within me let your word of truth be strong within me continue let the praise continue let the praise continue oh shall be broken giving praise come on overcomers gives yes hallelujah oh thank you lord i just feel i feel a beautiful spirit of victory in this place today i don't apologize that i preached a little bit heavy today but i feel a spirit of victory in this place and i believe sometimes we just got to hear preaching where we're living because the fight is never going to be easy you can't sugarcoat the fight paul didn't say there wasn't weapons he said that it's not carnal they're not flesh anymore they're still weapons still have to fight fight fight fight every day the moment you give up fighting you start backsliding fight fight fight but i feel victory in this place i do i do i do one more time lift up hands to heaven as we dismiss father we love you lord take this word with us oh god tomorrow on monday lord god i want god thoughts like i do have today on tuesday i want god thoughts like i have today on wednesday thursday friday saturday god i want to live in you lord god i i just want the joy of the lord just to overflow throughout my day and throughout my community and throughout my life oh god let my lifestyle be pleasing to you lord let our relationship grow together lord these are our prayers oh god and i just believe we're going to be victorious because of it in jesus name clap your hands one more time give god praise hallelujah oh thank you lord