The Enemy of the Soul: The World

welcome everyone to another wednesday evening bible study here at cornerstone apostolic church so thrilled that you have decided to join with us i trust the blessing of the lord continues in your life and the miracles and the power of the holy ghost is still working in you and in your family so honored that you've come tonight online join with us as we look into the word of the lord draw a little closer to him understand a bit more about him it's always a great honor and privilege to just to be able to read the word call on the name of the lord jesus so tonight we're going to continue with our study that we started last week get your bibles out notepads and we're going to look into the word of the lord uh pray with me first we'll get started in the name of jesus lord i love you today thankful lord for another opportunity to gather online lord to study the word thank you for the power of the word the joy of the lord that is strength to us the power of the spirit of god that speaks to us through your word bless our time together lord we honor you with and we ask you to help us to understand you give us the wisdom knowledge and understanding needed for this hour let us grow closer to you god and know more about you i pray a blessing upon every heart every individual every home every family in jesus name i believe you tonight for great things in your name we pray jesus amen amen all right if you'll recall last week we started this series the enemy of the soul enemy of the soul of man uh last week we talked about part one was the flesh and how that as individuals we battle with flesh we we have to learn how to allow the spirit of god to help us deal with overcome put into its proper place the flesh that we've been given all right it's that flesh man carnal man that's got the divine living in it there's this constant battle so uh the first enemy of the soul that we talked about was the flesh i want to encourage you if you've not watched that go back get your bible out and look into that one uh tonight though we're going to continue with part two and that is the enemy of the soul that is the world okay the world that's that's fights against us pretty constant fights against families and individuals and dreams and hopes and whatnot so tonight we're going to look at that if you have your bible we'll read in second peter chapter number two verse number 20 21-22 second peter 2 uh verse 20. the bible says this for if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the lord and savior jesus christ they are again entangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse with them than the beginning notice here verse 21 for it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness then after they had known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them but it is happened unto them according to the true proverb this is the proverb the dog is turned to his own vomit again and this to confuse to conflict to destroy the things that the spirit of god is trying to do within us all right we understand that it's that conflict let's look at a couple of definitions here uh as we start this uh one definition there are some scriptural terms that we have to understand when we're talking about the world w-o-r-l-d world first of all it's cosmos kosmos that the greek word meaning to that is the orderly arrangement of the world including its inhabitants it is the sum total of what god has created all right so when we scripturally look at the world there's one way that the scripture reveals it to us and that is through cosmos okay uh an example here's an example john 1 and 10. he was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not okay that's one way that that cosmos is understood okay let's explained to us the second one that i want to talk about when we talk again about scriptural meanings of the word world aeon a-i-o-n it's the greek has a meaning of a space or a period of time especially a lifetime it is used of one's time of life and age okay aeon now uh it's it's a space that a person is alive it's a space of that how a person deals with their life day in and day out scripturally there are references in the greek to cosmos and there are references to aeon when it comes to world it's everything god created and then there's the space of time for humanity okay uh there's a third one though that i want to mention tonight as well and it is it's a little challenging but it's oikumene this is one of those words you're going to ask somebody tomorrow or what it means o-i-k-q-u-m-e-n-e and and that greek meaning is basically the land the globe of the earth the world as a physical part okay knowing that we have the cosmos in some translation some meaning of the translation of the word world that's everything that god put together man's in it this is all things created and then there are times when there's a reference to the world as individuals see it as as a community sees it as a a time if you will timeline like the world we live in today that is our time frame it's not the same as the world if you will 200 years ago we weren't there that was their world this is now our world get it and then there's the uh what would be the physical earthly touchy dirt so forth of the world because there are references in old testament new testament that talk about the world in its condition and so forth and we understand that okay so as as we're beginning this study tonight on the enemy of the soul part number two the world it those meanings those words we have to understand them because they're all applied to us where we live in the time in which we are alive here on planet earth now the enemy for an example is not the physical dirt the dirt doesn't just come up and smack somebody can i say it that way although dirt can be thrown or there can be explanations of how that's done the scriptural meaning of that is not for that it is for us to understand how it applies to us physically and spiritually okay uh every aeon every world every moment of time there are different allurements there are different enticements and trappings there are different um atmospheric things going on there's different spiritual battles happening in case in point um 500 years ago uh this country of the united states of america was wide open it had indians and whatnot the natives if you will living on it and then all of a sudden a few years later a group of settlers from another part of the world come okay and they bring their ideas and say well now they're dealing in their world with diseases and sicknesses and how to get along and so forth things change well here we are 2021 our world is now in an envelope of time to where you and i live and we have to understand how you and i can live in today's society in our world and still be a believer of christ a follower of him okay there's a constant state of ever-changing moving fluctuations things of of the world of our time of where we live that's trying to devour and stop the move of the spirit okay problems 50 years ago for an example in their world uh today aren't so bad if you will but 50 years from now there'll be another series of things that will have come along that will be their world and they'll have to learn to deal with this now understand what i'm trying to tell you tonight okay in this lesson um every generation every every culture every society every world if you will that's come and and come along and gone uh they've had to learn how to be spiritual in their world now stay with me a moment the importance of the bible the scriptures the word of god for you and i is the same importance that the bible the scriptures the word of god had for our great great great grandparents it is the same importance that the word of god is going to have with our great great great grandchildren okay from here to there the word of god is the stabilizing factor that's why in our culture today there's so much question and confusion because uh people have if you will in our world begun to deny the power of god's word and therefore they're out seeking and they're fulfilling their worldly carnal fleshly desires and lust that being said if you don't include the word of god in your daily life and in your daily walk how will you ever have a foundation in our world of spiritual things are you simply going to wait for sunday to come and hopefully the preacher hopefully the sunday school teacher or somebody in the church or somebody that you know and your family can just simply tell you know this is how you need to do life or this is how you have a solution that problem all the while you've missed the entire spiritual impact of it because your foundation is built on the things of the world okay now there's three things that that we have to learn how to how to war how to understand how to keep in a perspective in our world our culture today three things first john tells us these things let me find that scripture so we can read it first john chapter number two first john chapter number 2 verse number 15. listen to what the bible says love not the world okay love not the world the bible says neither the things that are in the world okay this is the aeon this is where we are in our time frame okay love not the world neither things that are in the world if any man love the world the love of the father is not in him for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the father but is of the world and the world passeth away in the lust thereof and he that doeth the will of god abideth forever what the scripture here in first john in in this particular writing talks about is your world your time your space here on planet earth has has its limits has its has its regulations has the lines that you have to stay within if you will because it's the way the world works uh it's how taxes work it's how society works it's our world it's how people interact it's how uh how you can travel from one country to another and within hours being a whole different part of the world if you will the cosmos but understanding that there's three things that every generation has had to deal with that every world if you will in their world their time has had to deal with and that's the lust of the eyes lust of the flesh and the pride of life those things are what drive a person it's what pushes people into making decisions an example is a somebody who is sinning they are contrary to god's plan they are selfish they're working out their their their desires through the flesh and through the workings of conniving and and trying to overcome people and trying to push someone aside so they can advance their own cause selfish and self-centered they're not they're not concerned about family or friends they're just simply living life and getting all of it that they can whatever the cost their world is wrapped around that environment and they haven't allowed the spiritual things of god to come in i want to explain something to those who are faced with this question because i know all of us are faced with it if there was really a god then why is there suffering why is there pain why do children hurt why are there starvation in the world on and on these these i things that we see that should happen if there was really a god and the fact of the matter is our world has pushed cultures and people and individuals into these places to where they're running after the flesh instead of allowing the spirit of god to come in and leaving guide them people hurt because people hurt people people people are starving because they haven't dealt with their situation in their country and they have others that are better able to override them and push them down and oppress them and and enslave them into ways to where they've just left with nothing it's a it's a mindset of a culture of their world now i say all of that because you and i have seen all over the globe if you will all over the earth if you will the spirit of god move in all parts of culture an example in the united pentecostal church we have missionaries in 200 plus countries that means they're preaching and teaching and and they're instructing people in the word of god in languages that you and i will never hear but it is their world and the spirit and the word of god is being taught and preached in those places because they need to understand how to apply the supernatural things of god into their world now stay with me a little bit there there's a lot of things that we understand through um aeon the our generation for example the second peter tells us that the world has pollutions uh ii peter also tells us that there's corruption there uh the worldly cares matthew talks about that second corinthians talks about the world has its god or gods as its course has its lust has its fashion has its evil has its wisdom has its spirit okay you you find this through the letters to corinthian church to to titus to the ephesus church to uh you know how that in the gospels this was talked about jesus himself speaking about these things all of those references to those things that our world contains that applies to every world notice that these all reference come out of the new testament their letters of instruction to churches to try to help people overcome the situation in their world in their culture in their environment now old testament very interesting they simply obey the law of god and if god's law said thou shalt or thou shalt not that was how you were held accountable but through the power of grace in the new testament a new birth now we're forced pushed into given the opportunity to make choices according to the spirit of god that can work within us it's what the old testament people did not have the importance of this my friend in 2021 is the enemy of the soul the world is doing all that it's can all that it can to try to stop you try to put the brakes on your growth and maturity in god there's something though that if you'll stay in the word you'll stay connected to the scripture there's something very very vitally important here notice this we can become overcomers of the world our time and space here okay you can overcome basically the the definition the meaning of to overcome is to get the better of in a competition or to master or to suppress or to prevail over or to overwhelm you are overcomers through the word of your testimony of the world in which you live god blessed my family that's my testimony god healed my body there's my testimony god made a way there's my testimony and in this world this span of time you and i have in our generation and in this culture we can testify and witness of the goodness and the mercies and the grace of the word of god and the spirit of god working in our lives okay something important here to understand as i i'm coming to a close here for in just a moment is that god will never take us out of our world to protect us once we have been repented of our sins baptized in the name of jesus and been filled with the holy ghost he's not going to pull us out what he is going to do is through many of the scriptures that i read many of the scriptural references you can find concerning the world in the world in which we live he is going to give us the power to be overcomers in this life all right that's why it's vitally important that we follow him we we look to the word we fellowship with other believers other christians other followers of christ we rub shoulders with we do what we do because we understand that the power of god can change everything in a situation if that's the case then one of the enemies of the soul we talked about last week is the flesh we have to learn how to let the spirit override the flesh today we're talking about the world our time here on earth and we can overcome all of the negative all the bad all the things that this present world is trying to push you'll find direction and guidance in the scriptures spend time looking at the word of god and how it helps you in our world let me close with this okay matthew chapter 5 says this now this is the words of jesus matthew chapter 5 in the gospel verse number 16 notices let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven this is instruction from the master to the church his followers your light needs to shine and when you make right choices and you allow the spirit of god to work in you you can overcome flesh and you can overcome the present world in which you live when you are allowing the biblical standards of of lit life and living and how you raise your family and how you interact with people and how you deal with co-workers and you deal with bosses and and how you deal with government you deal with crazies and smarts and intellectuals and not so smart whatever that is all biblically based but you have to allow your light to shine so that others can see in this present world our space we can be overcomers now there's coming a day when the trumpet will sound biblical there's coming a day when the dead in christ will rise that's biblical there's coming a day when the those that are alive and remain will be caught up together to meet them in the air that's biblical we call it in our vernacular the rapture you may or may not comprehend that you may even understand you may even think that that's false but if you believe anything in the world word of god you have to believe that as well because it's in there so what you and i are looking for today 2021 is to overcome the things of this world so that we may be made overcomers victorious through the word of our testimony what god has done in us i love you tonight i'm thankful that you've joined with us please take time to study the scriptures last week overcome the flesh this week the the world and what it's trying to do next week we're going to touch another part of of the enemy of the soul but i want to pray with you as we close this out lord i love you tonight i'm thankful for our time that we've had together for the word of god that changes us in our world i love you lord and i'm thankful for that promise and for the possibilities lord every day of what we can do through the blood of jesus i pray for every heart every home every family lord i pray god your glory would rest upon the church as we move let our light shine so that people can see what you're doing god even in this dark world i love you lord i plead your blood over us keep us and protect us in jesus name amen i love all of you and i believe in you don't forget come see us 4295 cromwell road suite 412 sundays at 11 sunday school 12 worship then wednesday nights bible studies love you guys until next time have a great week