Storm Chasers PT2
Pastor Tony Ashmore
Sunday, September 9, 2012
www.mylifegatechurch.com
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Sermon Notes:
Hurricane Hunters: Finding Storms Before Storms Find Us
John 16:33 “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” Peace ‘in me’ vs. storms ‘on earth’. Note the location of trials, sorrows, storms = on earth, in this world. The Big Idea of this message is for us to find the storms before the storms find us—be Hurricane Hunters. There are storms that we chase, but there are also storms that are we all will face because we have an enemy. Don’t wait until those storms are ‘on earth’—in the flesh and blood realm which is where satan is best equipped—find them and offensively disarm them in the spiritual realms.
2 Timothy 4:7 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
Note Paul’s wording: a fight (indicating opposition), a race (indicating competition), kept the faith (indicating temptation). We have an enemy and we will face ‘storms’ that are not of our own choosing or making, but simply because satan hates Jesus and anyone who belongs to Jesus. Those who don’t belong to Jesus don’t escape because they have the ‘potential’ to follow Him. “Rains on the just and unjust”. Both houses (sand and rock) face the storms.
But we can have an ‘early warning system’ that will help us stop the storms before they become Category 5 hurricanes.
2 Corinthians 10:3-4 “We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.”
Ephesians 6:12 “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
In Ephesians 6:12 Paul gives us a ‘hierarchical view’ of spiritual warfare. From ‘highest to lowest’ it is as follows:
Highest: Spiritual Hosts of Wickedness in the Heavenly Places
Rulers of the Darkness of This Age
Powers
Principalities
Lowest: Flesh and Blood
The way these ‘storms’ of demonic opposition manifest in our lives could be categorized the same way hurricanes are: Category 1 to Category 5. The Category rises as we allow the ‘storm’ to descend through the ranks of opposition. In other words, if we engage the ‘storm’ with God’s mighty weapons at the ‘Spiritual Hosts’ level it will be a Category 1 storm—the easiest to withstand without damage. But if we allow it to progress without opposition, each level increase the likelihood of damage from the storm. When it manifests at the ‘flesh and blood’ level it is a full-blown Category 5 storm and we are forced to engage it on our enemy’s battleground (note 2 Corinthians 10:3-4). In other words the more we allow the storm to descend through the spiritual ranks, the lower it goes, the more equipped our enemy becomes. Our equipment is meant for the ‘high places’. If we learn to sense the ‘storm’ with ‘early warning devices’ then we engage our enemy on Heaven’s terms instead of hell’s terms.
Too many of us don’t even know a storm is approaching until it shows up in our lives, then we are forced into ‘survival mode’—just trying to minimize the damage and survive the storm. Had we confronted and addressed the ‘storm’ in the higher realms with God’s weapons we would have sustained less physical, emotional, mental, financial, relational damage.
So how do we do that? It’s back to the ‘agenda’ thing—do we have a Kingdom agenda or are we pursuing our own agendas—chasing “wealth, satisfaction/fulfillment, happiness/pleasure, and popularity”. Yes, there are ‘costs’ to being Kingdom-minded, but there are huge rewards. One of those rewards is being sensitive to what God sees and hears. Seeing ‘what cannot be seen’. Jesus: “Blessed are those who believe and do not see.” Blessed life!
Practically, here are the things that move us ‘up’ in the heavenly realms, empowering us to engage the storms before they appear:
1. Connections: local church, connect groups, GROW. Is your ‘inner circle’ standing with you in the heavenly places or are they simply ‘flesh and blood’ comrades?
2. The Word: our ‘sword’—our offensive weapon is the Word. The more skilled we are with our sword, the less we will find ourselves in a ‘defensive posture’.
3. Prayer, Fasting, Giving: moving beyond convenient or emergency prayer and comfortable fasting to the kind of ‘training’ great athletes do to prepare. Jesus won his greatest battle (Calvary) at Gethsemane. Before it ever got to the ‘flesh and blood’ realm, he had won. Note how he did it: connections (he had his inner circle with him), the Word (he prayed according to the Scripture), submitting his agenda (not my will but yours), intense prayer and fasting. A person who will fast consistently will always know the mind of the Lord accurately and will always grow. Become ‘prayer-mandated’ instead of ‘schedule driven’. Jesus moved from place of prayer to place of prayer and never let His schedule compromise His prayer. Generosity as a lifestyle—to honor God’s gifts to us and to keep ourselves dependent on His provision.
4. Embracing the Holy Spirit. (“The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”)
5. Submission to Authority (Jesus—“not my will, but yours.)
The more of these we activate in our lives, the higher we ascend into the heavenlies and the sooner we are able to sense and confront ‘storms’ of opposition.
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