Religion or Relationship — Phil Beach Jr.

Lord, there is nobody who is higher than another. Lord, we acknowledge that you are simply saying to us, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the church. Father, we pray that you will open up the ears of our heart and enable us to hear what the Spirit of the living God is saying to the churches.

Lord, we pray that you will enable us to hear what you are saying to us, what you have said to us, and what you will continue to say to us. Father, open up the ears of our heart. Unplug our ears from the things that have clogged them.

Lord, deliver us from the noise of our own thoughts and from the noise of this world. Deliver us, Lord, from the things that we're listening to that are keeping us from hearing the Spirit of God speak to us.

Hearing the Spirit of God

Father, we stand against, together with the power of the Holy Spirit, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, every devil and demon in hell that is currently working to plug our ears from hearing the voice of God through the Holy Spirit.

And in the name of Jesus, we bind the powers of darkness in our homes. Saints, join together with me. Join together with me in the name of Jesus. Our homes are filled with things that keep us from hearing the voice of God.

We bind the devils that live in our homes. We gather together oftentimes and we are able to hear. And as soon as we leave and go into our homes, we are caught and we are brought into an environment that won't let us hear God anymore.

Because our homes are filled with many strongholds. Father, brothers and sisters, stand together with me now. In the name of Jesus, in your home, in your bedroom, in your TV room, everywhere in your home, stand against the strongholds of hell that keep you from hearing God, that keep you from hearing His voice.

Lord, we pull down in the name of Jesus, according to the word of God. We pull down every stronghold and every imagination and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. 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. Lord, we are exercising by the power of the Holy Spirit this morning, the weapons of our warfare, which are not carnal. They are not soulical.

They do not originate out from our own power, but they come from God. They are through God. And they pull down strongholds. Lord, every stronghold, the Greek word there is logic. Every reasoning, every stronghold in our mind, every form of logic that exalts itself against the knowledge of God's word, we pull it down in the name of Jesus Christ.

Hallelujah. Brothers and sisters, stand together against all the evil that's working in your home. All the evil that's working in your home, stand against it. Because there is an open heaven right now.

There's an open heaven here. You know why? Because we've gathered together in the authority of Jesus Christ. Every devil has been bound here because we're coming in the name of Jesus. But what happens when you leave here and you go into your own home and your own world?

If you don't stand in the authority of Jesus that is present here, then you're going to find that the devil who was bound here will come into your home. You see, you've got to maintain this authority.

You've got to maintain this position of Jesus Christ being Lord of all and King of all. You've got to maintain it. You've got to stand together. Let me say by the Spirit of God. Let me speak by the Spirit of God.

Maintaining Christ's Authority Beyond the Church

Do you know why many times you are experiencing defeat in your home and in your car? Because when you get in your car, you're not getting in the authority of Jesus Christ. You're getting in your car and you're following the desires of your flesh.

That's why you're getting in trouble. Somebody in here gets in trouble when you get in your car and you're all alone. The reason why is because, ha ha, devil, you're a liar. The reason why is because you get in your car and you're not praying, I'm in the authority of Jesus Christ now and I'm here to do the will of God and I'm here to follow the Spirit of God, but you get in your car and you get in that place of darkness that Sister Colette spoke about where you all of a sudden are in your own world and you're not in the authority of Jesus.

And you find that you're driving not under the authority of Jesus, but you're driving, ha, you're letting the devil turn your steering wheel. You're letting the devil drive you to the houses of iniquity, to the houses of sin.

You're letting your mind be filled with thoughts that are contrary to the knowledge of God. That's why it's happening. Come on. Is God touching on something this morning? For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God.

Mighty through God. Let me tell you, there is an open heaven right here. We are gathered together. The power of Jesus is present, isn't He? The glory of Jesus is present right now. The authority of Jesus Christ is present.

The ministry of the Holy Spirit is working and we're sensing the knowledge of God. How many people are feeling the power of God's Spirit working in you? Imparting faith into your spirit. Imparting faith into your hearts.

Why? It is because we have gathered together in the authority and in the name of Jesus Christ. We have taken a stand. We have acknowledged before God. We have come in the authority of Christ. Unless you come and unless you are living your life in the authority of Jesus Christ, you are going to fall prey to the powers of this world.

We've gathered here and brothers and sisters, there's no question about it. We've not gathered here to wander our thoughts. We've not gathered here to engage in thinking of the imaginations of our mind.

But we have gathered here in the authority. Oh, I love to say that. Don't you love it? The authority of Jesus Christ who is Lord of all. The King of kings. The Lord of lords. The almighty God. The bread of life.

The river of life. He is King. Every knee is subject to Him. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And that's why when we gather in the authority of Jesus Christ, we experience the power of God to heal. The power of God to free us from torment and fear.

That's why you experience when we gather in the name of Jesus, the faith to overcome doubts and fears. Now what we must learn to do as the church, is we must come in the authority of Jesus Christ when you walk into your homes.

Listen, by the Spirit of God, our homes have become places where the authority of Jesus Christ is not ruling and reigning. Because we have given place to the works of darkness in our home. That's why many times, I'm telling you by the Spirit of God, some Christians dread the thought of going back home after we gather together.

Because they know it's almost inevitable. They go home and all of a sudden fighting starts. And yelling starts. And arguing starts. And division. And feelings of hostility start. Why? Why? Why? But yet you come to church and you feel you're free, right?

The reason why is because we're not giving the devil a place in our gathering this morning for those things. Why? Because we've come in the authority of Jesus Christ. We have come casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.

And bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. 2 Corinthians 5. It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you. I want to explain to you through the Word of God what it is to come in the authority of Jesus Christ.

Listen. The reason why God is manifesting Himself to us as we gather together like He is, is He's wanting us to realize that His holy presence is something available to us not just when we come and gather together, but it's available to us when we're in the car.

It's available to us when we're in our bedrooms. It's available to us when we're going down the street in the car and we're in the shopping center. When we're going on vacation. God wants us to live in the presence of Jesus Christ.

And when we live in the presence of Jesus, the devil might tempt us but he doesn't overcome us because we can draw from his power. Have you consecrated your home to Jesus Christ? Have you walked through your home and said, I come against every lying spirit.

I come against every angry spirit. I come against divisive spirits. This home of mine is not going to be a place where the devil lives and brings havoc to my family. But this home is going to be a place where the glory of God is honored.

Where the Word of God is exalted. How about your car? Have you dedicated it to God? Or does the devil live in your front seat? And every time you get in the car alone, it's the same pattern. It's the same pattern in your life.

You find the devil starts steering your wheel. Leading you into places you shouldn't be going. Why is that happening? It's because you need to take authority. You need to come in the authority of Jesus Christ.

Don't listen. Don't let any area of your life be out from under the authority of Jesus. Listen. Right now, you consider every area of your life that's bringing trouble, and havoc, and confusion, and turmoil to you and your family.

And is it not true that the reason why is because it's not under the authority of Jesus? Yes. Yes. Isn't it true? It's not under the authority of Jesus. That's why. That's why Christians can go to church, and they can worship God, and then they go home and file for divorce.

Doesn't make sense, does it? It does make sense. Because when they come into the presence of God corporately, and there is spiritual authority in the midst, and the spiritual authority has invoked the presence and power of Jesus Christ, the devil's bound.

He's bound. The power of God is present. But oftentimes, when the gathering is over, and the saints get in their car, even as soon as getting into the parking lot, and getting into the car, before you get home, you're arguing.

Why? Why? Because the authority of Jesus is not manifest in your car. You've got to take it with you. You can't just have it here. You've got to bring it into your home. You've got to get together as a couple and say, let's join hands.

Let's cast the devil out of our home. Let's cast the devil out of our dinners. You know, many times, dinners aren't a place where God is praised, but people argue and fight. Why? Because the devil's got a foothold.

Who's taking authority over it? Come on, husbands. Wake up. It's time to stand in our home as the priest. It's time to stand in our homes as the priest of God and say, devil, this home belongs to Jesus Christ.

The works of darkness will not be welcome in my home. The works of darkness will not be welcome in my car. The works of darkness will not be welcome in my children. And I pray and I continue to pray. That's what it means to take authority.

The Body as the Temple of the Holy Spirit

Watch what Paul did here. 1 Corinthians chapter 5. It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you. Now, remember, Paul is writing to the temple of God. The church is the temple. Listen carefully, all right?

1 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 19. What? Don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own? You don't belong to yourself.

Listen, stop saying my life. We live in a generation that is worshiping self-identity. We live in a generation that is worshiping my feelings. Did you ever hear the teenagers? And don't just blame it on the teenagers, because it's in our generation too.

Did you ever hear this? It's my life, and I'll do with it what I want. Oh, us holy, pious Christians, we don't acknowledge that that's what we say, but we live our lives like that, especially when God tries touching something in our life.

Or maybe God will raise up somebody who you don't think has the right to speak into your life like that. What's your reaction? Who do they think they are? Leave me alone. Who do they think they are? See, what you're saying is basically, it's my life, and I'll do with it what I want.

That devil needs to be cast out of the church. That devil needs to be cast out of the church. It's not my life. It's not your life to do with it what you want. Pride is connected to that confession. Arrogance and rebellion is connected.

And you know what else is connected? Murder. You know where murder comes from? Murder comes from a heart that absolutely refuses to surrender to the lordship of Jesus Christ and considers itself to be its own property.

God help us if we are still claiming our rights. It's my life. Leave me alone, woman. Did you ever say that, men, to your wives when they're trying to help you? Leave me alone, woman. Watch out. You're setting yourself up for a fall.

Teenagers, young people, listen to me. By the spirit of God, pray that God will deliver you from this idea, it's my life and I'll do with it what I want. Listen to brother Phil. It is not your life. You've been bought with a price.

God has redeemed you by his blood. You belong to him. If we don't have this kind of audacious faith in this day that we're living in, we're going to be overcome by the wicked one. He's going to come in to our homes.

He's going to come in to our families and into our churches and he's going to bring havoc. Isn't he? Come on. You are not your own. Verse 20. You are bought with a price. You don't belong to yourself.

You belong to Jesus Christ. When was the last time in holy communion with God did you weep quietly before him and acknowledge in his presence, God, I acknowledge that I belong to you. My eyes belong to you.

I don't have the right to look upon that which is unclean. My ears belong to you. I don't have the right to listen in to what is perverted. My tongue belongs to you. I don't have the right to speak that which is not truth.

When was the last time you dedicated your whole being, spirit, soul and body to God and gave God back the thing that belongs to him? You're not doing him a favor when you give him your life. You're just simply giving to him what he already owns.

Come on. If I gave you $100 and it was mine and I said in seven days come back and give me my money and you came back in seven days and you handed me that money and you got a sort of arrogant attitude in your heart as if you were doing me a favor by giving me back that money, where would you be?

I'd look at you and say, hey, hey, hey, hey. Whose money was it? Yeah, yeah, it was yours. All right then. You're just giving me back what's mine. It was, listen, it was never yours to begin with. You were created by God and for God.

What are we doing living for ourself? What are we doing living for ourself? We don't belong to ourself. Come on. Are you hearing? He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit of God is saying to the churches.

Sin in the Temple and the Call to Judgment

There is fornication among you and such fornication is not so much as named among the Gentiles that one should have his father's wife and you are puffed up. One of the signs of forgetting that we are the temple of God.

Now let me ask a question. Paul is writing to the temple. What do you think should be in the temple of God? What should be in the temple of God? Now listen, don't think this way. The temple of God, this isn't the temple.

If you build a building and call it a church, that's not the temple of God. God doesn't dwell in temples made with man's hands, but he dwells in living stones. You're the temple. You're the temple. Listen, God's not interested in a cute looking sanctuary.

He's interested in living stones who are holy and who love him and who are filled with his glory and who walk in light. That's what God is interested in. He's not interested in beautifying outward. He's interested in beautifying us with Jesus Christ.

Now ask yourself a question. What is fornication doing in the temple of God? Does it belong there? No. What belongs in the temple? All of the virtues and beauties and qualities of Jesus Christ. That's what belongs in the temple of God.

You see? What belongs in your life? What belongs in my life? What belongs in the church? The manifest presence and glory of Jesus Christ. Does arrogance belong in the house of God? Does a self-determined will that creates division and strife in the family belong in the temple of God?

Does this idea, it's my life, leave me alone, belong in the temple of God? Ye are puffed up. One of the first signs that we have forgotten that we're the temple is when sin is going on in the house of God and we're not mourning, we're not weeping, but we're puffed up.

It doesn't affect us the way it should. Paul said, and ye are puffed up and have not rather mourned. That word means deep, intense grief. When was the last time you experienced deep, intense grief over your own personal sin or over the sin that you know is in the church all over?

Ye are puffed up and have not rather mourned that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. Now Paul, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, introduces to you and I the course of action that needs to be taken when we discover that there's sin in the temple of God and that there is arrogance and that there is a puffed up attitude instead of a mourning, heart-grieved attitude.

This is what he says. For verily, as absent in the body, but present in the spirit, have judged already. I have judged already. What we need to do regarding sin in our life is when God exposes it, we need to judge it.

We need to decide right at that moment, this is wrong. This is sin. My house has areas in it where the devil has a stronghold. Stop passively letting it happen. Listen, stop going week after week after month after month, year after year and letting the devil control you in your home.

Stop it. Men, rise up in the name of Jesus and take authority over the works of the devil in your home. If you don't, the devil will take your home. I have judged already as though I were present concerning him that has done this deed.

Now watch this. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. You see what he's doing? He's establishing the authority of God. Listen, he's addressing the sin and then he's coming to that sin. Though he's absent in body, he's not even in Corinth.

He's writing from, I believe it's Rome. But he was so one with Jesus that if he knew Jesus was somewhere dealing with something, then he knew that he could deal with it in the spirit of Jesus Christ. Identify the sin and then bring the authority of Jesus Christ on the situation.

Men, identify the sin in your home and then with your mouth, don't do it in some quiet secluded way, with your mouth in the presence of your family, in the presence of your wife, in the presence of your children.

Say, I identify this sin but I come to that sin, hallelujah to God, by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I exert the authority of God over and against that sin. When you are gathered together in my spirit with the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, you see there's power with the Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Your glorying is not good. In other words, your passive attitude towards sin is not good. The fact that you are not grieved and troubled and exerting the authority of Jesus over that sin is not good. Don't you know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

Don't you know that when you begin to have a passive attitude toward a little bit of sin, just a little bit, that that eventually will cause your whole life and your whole family to be infested with sin?

Just a little bit. It only takes one match to set a whole forest on fire. And it only takes one wrong attitude toward sin to destroy a whole family, a whole body, purge out therefore the old leaven. It's time to purge out the old leaven.

Purging Sin Through Christ Our Passover

As God visits His people in this late hour, before His appearing in the heavens, while the world is in tumultuous, catastrophic dangers, God's Spirit is going to visit you and I. But one of the qualities that are going to be present is there's going to be a call from the Spirit of God to purge out of our lives the leaven of sin.

There is going to be a great move of the Spirit of God that's going to come to all the church, to all who are hearing what the Spirit is saying. And if we are going to become recipients of the glory of God, if we're going to become living stones filled with the presence of Jesus, we're going to have to cooperate with the Spirit and purge out of our life the leaven, the iniquity, the sin of rebellion, the sin of pride, the sin of living in darkness.

We're going to have to allow ourselves to become subject to the light of God's searchlight and let Him purge us. A new lump as you are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast.

The feast meaning the celebration of Christ as our Passover. Christ as our Passover lamb. Christ as our life. Keep that feast. Not with old leaven. That is, don't try and enjoy a relationship with Jesus and at the same time sin.

Not with old leaven. Neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 1 John chapter 1. We're going to close. 1 John chapter 1 beginning in verse number 5.

Listen carefully to the Spirit of God. He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying unto the churches. This then is the message which we have heard of Him and declare unto you. God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.

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 one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

Walking in the Light and Invoking Christ's Authority

Brothers and sisters, God's manifest presence in our lives as it comes and fills the church is going to require that we cease from walking in darkness. If we say we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie.

To walk in darkness, now this is going to bring us right back to the very beginning of this message. To walk in darkness is to fail to invoke the authority of Jesus Christ in every area of our life. To walk in darkness simply means that we have not invoked His authority in a certain area of our life.

Because to invoke His authority and to stand on His authority means darkness must flee. Do you want to be free? This morning, listen carefully, God's Spirit is here and God is moving. Do you want to be free from darkness?

Do you want to be free from darkness? Then right now, invoke, confess the authority and power of the Lord Jesus Christ in every area of your life. There are some areas that you have taken into your own hands and you're running your own life.

Right now in the presence of God. Right now in the presence of Jesus Christ. Repent. Submit that area of your life to the authority of Jesus Christ. And the devil will let you go. The devil will let you go if you will invoke the name of Jesus in that area of your life.

There's a pattern of sin in your life. You've struggled with it. Now is the day of your deliverance. Now is the day of your breakthrough. Now is the day of your release. Invoke the name of Jesus Christ into that area of your life right now.

Invoke the name of Jesus into that area of your life and you will be free in Jesus' name. Everybody here who wants the authority of Jesus invoked in your name, we don't do this often, but I feel the Spirit of God stirring us.

Stand to your feet together and let's cry out to Him. Stand to your feet. If you want to invoke the authority and name of Jesus Christ into every area of your life, let's begin to cry out to Him now in Jesus' name.

Let's lift our voices up to Him. Have mercy, Lord Jesus. Have mercy, Lord Jesus. Have mercy, Lord Jesus. If you want special prayer this morning, you believe God wants to free you, come forward. I want to lay my hands on you in the name of Jesus and see God bring freedom.

Listen, listen. It is not by power, it's not by might, but it's by the Spirit of God. Now let's call upon Him now in Jesus' name as we sing this song and let's let God free us in Jesus' name. Hallelujah.

Father, we invoke the name and authority of Jesus Christ into every area of our life and we bind the powers of the devil through the name of Jesus Christ. Now let's just stand in His presence and call on Him now as we sing.

You want special prayer, come forward. The Holy Ghost is stirring. Special prayer. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord Jesus.

Hallelujah. The Holy Ghost is still moving.

Thank you, Lord. Lord, we thank you for this authority of Jesus Christ. Anybody else? Anybody else want special prayer? Come on. We're going to pray. We're going to believe God. We're invoking the authority of Jesus Christ.

Invoking the authority of Jesus Christ. In Jesus' name, brothers and sisters. Claim it. In Jesus' name. As we're in the presence of God, listen, beloved. If you want to testify of what Jesus Christ has done in your life, now's the time.

Many times if we speak and declare what God has done, it seals it. It solidifies it. It makes it strong. So I want to encourage anyone as we're just worshiping the Lord, to come forward and stand and declare boldly, Jesus Christ has set me free.

Jesus Christ has done this or that. And praise God. You'll know then. You'll experience something of God's fullness as you declare before the saints and before heaven and before hell what Jesus has done.

Amen.