Possessed — Bob Phillips

It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing to World Challenge P .O. Box 260, Lindale, Texas 75771 or calling 214 -963 -8626.

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Elisha and the Unseen Spiritual Realm

Possessed. Turn with me to 2 Kings 6. 2 Kings 6. 2 Kings 6. I'm going to start reading with verse 8. 2 Kings 6. Verse 8. Now the king of Aram was warring against Israel, and he counseled with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp.

And the man of God sent word to the king of Israel, saying, Beware that you do not pass this place, for the Arameans are coming down there. The king of Israel sent to the place about which the man of God had told him.

Thus he warned him, so that he guarded himself there more than once or twice. Now the heart of the king of Aram was enraged over this thing, and he called his servants and said to them, Will you tell me which of us is for the king of Israel?

You see, the king is upset. He's saying, which one of you is telling where I'm going to set up an ambush for the king of Israel? Which one of you is leaking the information? And his servants reply and say, verse 12, No, my lord, O king, but Elisha the prophet, who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.

You know, he says, God, it's not us, but this prophet Elisha has a pipeline to God, and when you talk about something in your bedroom, it gets out. God's releasing the information. So he said, Go and see where he is, that I may send and take him.

And it was told him, saying, Behold, he's in Dothan. And he sent horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city, all to get one man. They're going to go after the prophet Elisha, and so he sends a great army to Dothan, where Elijah is, and he says, basically, or Elisha, rather, he says that we're going to capture him, and then we won't have to worry about it anymore.

But there's something taking place here that the king of the Arameans never anticipated, nor did his army. Verse 14, he sent horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city.

Now, when the attendant of the man of God had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was circling the city. And his servant said to him, Alas, my master, what shall we do? The servant walks outside.

All of a sudden, he looks up and hears this chariots and horses, this army, mighty army, completely surrounding the city, and they're not prepared to fight. They have no army for their cause. But Elisha answers his servant and says in verse 16, Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.

Now, that servant had to look at him and think, where are they? You've got to be kidding. I mean, here we are. Where are they? Where is this army? Now, remember, he's looking at an army with horses and chariots.

Scripture says a great army, which means a large, well-equipped, fortified army. And Elisha says, No, you don't understand. We got more on our side than they have on their side. But obviously the servant, he doesn't understand this.

And so Elisha prayed and said, Oh, Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the servant's eyes and he saw. My, what a sight. Behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

The Reality of Invisible Things

Now, there's something going on here. The scriptures teach us that there are forces behind physical events in our universe. You and I live in a material world. We live in a world that's physical. We can see it.

But the scripture says that there's something just as real that we cannot see as what we see as real. Just as real. As a matter of fact, the scripture goes ahead and indicates in the New Testament in 2 Corinthians 4 .18.

While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal. But the things which are not seen are eternal. It says that the things that we can see are not going to last as long as the things we can't see.

That there's more reality to what we don't see than there is to what we do see. Now, obviously, as I said, there's something visible going on here. There's an army, a physical army surrounding Elisha and his servant.

But there's also something invisible taking place here. The Bible speaks very clearly of an invisible order of beings that break off actually into two categories. Only one category is mentioned here. We refer to them as demons and angels.

One category of beings, but two, I mean, one species of spiritual forces, invisible beings, but two categories. Now, throughout America, there are spiritual forces that are unseen that are massively at work.

Now, it's not just America, but that's what I'm concentrating on right now. And these unseen forces are especially at work in our time to spread an interest in supernaturalism. There is a deep interest in supernaturalism.

I was, Saturday, I was in a barber shop with my wife and children. The children were, it's a place for children's haircuts. And they were getting their hair cut and one parent was talking about the children loving Ghostbusters.

The movie Ghostbusters. And apparently there's a cartoon that's on every Saturday morning about Ghostbusters because this child had not gotten to see it that morning, was very upset and was talking about it.

And the parent looks at the attendant that's cutting the child's hair and says, you know, I don't know why I allow my children to watch that stuff. He said, it was a husband. And he said, you know, that's not for kids.

Well, I know why. He may not know why, but I know why. You see, there's an interest that unseen forces begin to play upon young children to be interested in this supernaturalism. And there is an interest on the part of these unseen forces to work in adults that they may not be so diligent to watch what their children are watching.

And there is at work, massively at work, these unseen forces. Now, this father was not aware of the fact that he knew he should make a stand. He was saying, I know I shouldn't allow them to watch that.

But he was not aware of the fact that there was a pulling and a drawing, something at work on his mind to blind him that he may not understand why he was doing it. Now, as a matter of fact, the scripture speaks of something here.

It says, first of all, that our eyes have to be opened. You couldn't see and the servant could not see these unseen forces that were angelic of chariots and horses of fire, chariots of fire, these angelic beings.

They could not have been noticed or seen except that Elisha prayed and the Lord supernaturally opened the servant's eyes and he was able to see. Verse 18 says, when they came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and he said, strike this people with blindness, I pray.

So he struck them with blindness, according to the word of Elisha. Well, there is an incredible blindness in our world about this unseen forces. Don made a statement Tuesday night that I think it was either the governor or it was one of the senators had made a statement when the issue came up about Governor Cuomo believing in or pressing this issue of abortion.

One of the local religious leaders in New York City had made the statement that that could send him to hell or was going to send him to hell. And apparently one of the senators, I think, wasn't it, Don Moynihan, said that, well, nobody believes in hell anyway.

And recently that same religious leader had made a statement in the papers about an exorcism and a statement was made by one of our political leaders that he was embarrassed because he said, don't aren't we sophisticated enough to no longer believe that there is a Satan in this world?

Well, I don't know how sophisticated that is, but the biblical revelation is very clear that there is a Satan in this world. Now, the Bible clearly says that God has an adversary and you and I have an accuser.

I want you to notice the difference. Satan is not our adversary. Did you hear me? Satan is not your adversary. He's your accuser. He's God's adversary. You and I are not told to fight him hand to hand.

He's an accuser. He's a liar. The scripture says in relationship to believers, he accuses them day and night. He's God's adversary. God's the one that handles the battle in relationship to Satan. Now, first of all, this being called Satan apparently used to be a bright, shining being, according to scripture, an angelic prince, if you would.

Satan’s Pride and Fall

According to Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, he had these descriptive names. Daystar, anointed cherub or guardian cherub. He's also called the son of the morning or Lucifer. And the word Lucifer, the name means light bearer.

Now, the words of the prophet Ezekiel in chapter 28 apparently refer not just to the king of Tyre, but to a power behind the king of Tyre that is much more powerful. This does not describe an earthly king.

It describes a type. This earthly king was a type. Now, I'm not having you turn there in Ezekiel 28 because I just want to read it to you. But it describes this personage that we know of as Satan. And it says, you were the perfection of wisdom and beauty.

Now, I want you to grasp this. This is what Satan was at one time. This is God speaking and describing what he was. You were the perfection of wisdom and beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. Your clothing was bejeweled with every precious stone.

The ruby, topaz, diamond, crystallite, onyx, jasper, sapphire, carbuncle and emerald. All in beautiful settings of finest gold. They were given to you on the day you were created. And by the way, that's an important point.

Satan is not omnipresent. He cannot be everywhere at one time. Neither is he a creature that can create. He's a created being. He's not like God. He's not on an equal par with God. God is the creator.

He was uncreated, has been from the beginning and always was. The alpha and the omega. The beginning and the end. Satan is not that. He is a created being. They were given to you on the day you were created.

Now, God says this. I appointed you to be the anointed guardian cherub. You had access to the holy mountain of God. You walked among the stones of fire. You were perfect in all you did, in all your ways, from the day you were created until the time when unrighteousness was found in you.

Now, the description of Satan here is almost beyond imagination. Apparently, as the light bearer of God, in some way, he manifested and reflected at one time before unrighteousness was found in him. He manifested and reflected the divine glory of God.

He would have been endowed with the greatest of authority next to God. He held the highest throne of the angels. The prophet Isaiah records what happened to him in Isaiah 14. This being, this invisible being, Satan, said, I will ascend to heaven.

I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the most high. Now, he's been trying to do that ever since. But then Ezekiel again describes how God responded to that sort of pride and arrogance.

Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I cast you to the ground. I put you before kings that they may see you. By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your trade, you profaned your sanctuaries.

Therefore, I have brought fire from the midst of you. It has consumed you and I have turned you to ashes on the earth in the eyes of all who see you. Now, I want you to realize that God is making a statement about what he's already done.

He's not declaring what he's going to do at the end of the age to Satan. Are you with me? He is not saying one of these days I'm going to deal with that rascal. He's not saying that. I want to read it to you again because I want you to grasp it.

By the multitude of... Excuse me, I want to start up a little bit. You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I cast you to the ground. I put you before kings that they may see you. By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your trade, you profaned your sanctuary.

Now, listen carefully. Therefore, I, God, have brought fire from the midst of you. It has consumed you. And I, God, have turned you to ashes on the earth. And then he says, in the eyes of all who see you.

You see, Satan is not visible. But what he's saying is if we that are visible, physical flesh, really see him, really see him in the position where he is now, through the eyes of God, he's like ashes.

He's like ashes. He's been cast down. Whatever glory and fire was in the midst of him, it says, I have taken the fire from the midst of you. I've taken it from you. Second Corinthians 2 .11 says that we're to keep Satan from gaining the advantage over us for we're not ignorant of his devices.

Three Kinds of Possession

Now, the title of my message is Possessed. I want to talk to you about three kinds of possession. Possessed by the devil. Possessed by the flesh. And possessed by God. First of all, I want us to not be ignorant of his devices.

What are Satan's devices? I see three of them. Three devices that Satan uses against individuals. First of all, he comes to deceive your mind. Secondly, his devices are designed to attack your body. But ultimately, his goal is to control your will.

Now, those are his devices. Whatever form they may take, they come in one of those three avenues of attack. Satan has from the beginning targeted the mind. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 11. 2 Corinthians 11.

He targets the mind. 2 Corinthians 11. He has done this from the beginning. 2 Corinthians 11. Verse 2. For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. This is Paul speaking to the Corinthians. He says, I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy.

For I betrothed you to one husband that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. That means you and I are to be married to one person. Christ. We're to be united body, soul, spirit to one person.

Jesus Christ. And then he says, but I am afraid. Now, I'm reading from the New American Standard. It's just a little bit different in the King James. But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve.

That takes us back to the beginning. By his craftiness, your minds. I said he targets the mind to deceive it. Your minds should be led astray. And what does he lead you astray from? The simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.

Satan targets the mind to lead astray from the simplicity. I want to say it again. Simplicity. Don't make it complicated. From the simplicity. When you start finding your walk with God getting so complicated.

You're trying to figure out how do I do this and how do I do that? And all you can think about is what do I do? It's so complicated. What do I do next? How do I do this? How do I do that? How do I walk in holiness?

How do I pray? How do I read the word? How do I do all of these things? How do I witness? You're being led astray from simplicity. He's at work. He's targeted your mind. But he also targets your purity.

Mental purity. Lest Satan deceive you. By craftiness that your mind should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. In other words, the way he attacks your purity is to attack your devotion.

I'm not talking about your devotional life, your devotional reading, but your devotion to Christ. How does a man commit adultery? He said I betrothed you to one person. How does a man or a woman commit physical adultery?

At some point. It doesn't just happen. I want you to understand. It doesn't just happen. I don't care how it appears to be. A man or a woman is not enticed into physical adultery simply because they happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

And all of a sudden, just out of the blue, there it was. It doesn't happen that way. At some point. At some point, there has to be a weaning or a leaking away of devotion to that individual. You're no longer devoted to that individual.

Maybe that individual, maybe the husband or the wife doesn't recognize it. Maybe nobody else sees it. You appear to be the model husband, the model wife, whatever you are. But at some point down deep in the recesses of the heart, you're no longer devoted to that individual.

And so you become a target of Satan's devices. Now, the same thing is what happens in the spiritual realm. Satan works, first of all, on your devotion. And when you get slack in your devotion to him, then that's when you are vulnerable to his attack against your mind.

Now, he goes on and he says in fact, I'm going to have you go to Ephesians first. Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4. Why would Satan be interested in attacking your mind? Why? Just to give you a hard time?

Why is he interested in attacking you mentally? Think about it. Why? Why is it? What good is the mind to him? Say, well, the mind controls everything else. It's deeper than that. The reason Satan targets the mind is because that's where your image of God is framed.

That's where you store the image you have of God. So Satan's purpose in attacking the mind is to somehow distort, to put in a false picture, an image, or somehow lie about the image of God that's presented in his word and leave you with an image that's not the right image.

So he attacks the mind because he wants the image of God in your mind distorted and perverted. Now, he does that with some people by making them feel like they're so unworthy and they're so lost and they're so far away that God could never receive them back.

Even though the word of God is very clear in its application. Whoever wants me can have me. That's what he says. Whosoever will may. The Bible doesn't say anything about you getting to a place where God won't receive you.

It speaks of you getting to a place where you won't want him. That's where the danger is. And some of you wrestle and wrestle, not many, but there are a few that wrestle. Ever since I've been in the ministry, there's always been somebody around that's wrestling tremendously with this idea of the unforgivable sin.

Have I committed it? Have I committed it? Did I do it? Was that the unforgivable sin? You know what Satan's doing with you? I don't know of any preacher that can pull you out of it. I don't know of any preacher.

But you are wrestling with the complications of Satan's attack on your mind. It's no longer simple. No longer simple. His grace is no longer simple. The question is, do you want him? Do you want him? It's not a matter, does he want you?

Do you want him? Because if you want him, you have not committed the unpardonable sin. Nobody, whoever commits the unpardonable sin, wants Jesus. They don't want him. So you can wrestle with it and make it complicated.

The only hope for you is that one day you'll finally say, wait a minute, this is not the way God talks. This is not the language of his word. This is becoming too complicated. I'm going to go back to the simple part.

And if you go back to the simple part, God will supernaturally start working you through it until all the complicated part falls off. And you just see this pathway to Jesus. That's the way he works on our spirits, our minds, and our bodies.

Now, it says here in Ephesians 4, verse 17, This I say, therefore, and affirm together with the Lord, Ephesians 4, verse 17, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind.

Satan will do everything he can to make you futile in your mind, discouraged in your mind, a futility. What happens when you get frustrated and discouraged in the mind? Futile. And by the way, the word futile there means even more than that.

Actually, what it means is that you go after things that are of no profit. And Satan will get you to go after things that are of absolutely no profit. Why? Because he has a goal. He wants to affect the image of God in that mind.

Now, see what he does? Being darkened, verse 18, in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that's in them. That word ignorance is not a hard word, a word that we would use to speak derogatorily to somebody.

It's a word that describes there's a missing of the image of God. They're ignorant of God's image. And he says, because of the hardness of their heart, that's what he eventually works with. See, if he can get the mind complicated and going after futile things, eventually your heart will get hard.

And they having become callous, and here's what happens next, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. Leads to possession. That's what he's talking about here.

It leads to possession. That eventually what Satan wants to do is to possess you. Now, there is an idea almost as if that Satan can possess anybody he wants to, except for certain people. That's not what the...

Do you know everybody that walks the streets is not possessed? I think there's far too much emphasis upon what demons can do today. Now, in the world, there is an absolute denial that Satan exists. And that's understandable.

He's blinded them. I mean, it's foolish. You believe in Satan? I thought you went to college. Don't you know that's myth? I always looked at you as smarter than that. But in the Christian community, that exists also.

In the Christian community, there are those who... I don't think they're Christians if they don't believe in... Well, I'm not going to say that. You don't have to believe in Satan to be a Christian. But I question a person who can read the Bible and not believe there's a reality of the Bible and be genuinely saved.

But there's far too much emphasis upon what Satan can do. And there's another type of possession that's absolutely forgotten about. Fleshly possession. Did you know your flesh can possess you? And it doesn't have to be a demon behind it either.

Your flesh can possess you. Now, we see the evidences in New York City. You don't have to walk very many blocks before you can see the evidences of demonic possession. You find people just talking to themselves.

And I don't think everybody that talks to themselves is possessed with the devil. But you can tell. You can see. You can see the madness in the eyes. Satan has possessed them. Everybody that appears to be crazy, though, those are not the only possessed people.

Jesus went into the synagogues among normal people. Nobody ever thought of them being possessed before. Just among normal people. And his presence all of a sudden started something to rise up on the inside of those normal people.

And they begin to cry out. Listen, when it says the demons were crying out, it does not... And he cast them out of somebody. Doesn't mean they were bouncing off the wall. They were in somebody. And everything up to that point, they could have been your neighbor.

They could have been the person you worked with. They could have been... But there they were. They appeared to be perfectly normal. And everything seemed to be fine. Until the presence of God began to stir up the demonic spirit on the inside.

And all of a sudden, you set back aghast. Here's the guy you're sitting in the pew with. Jesus is preaching the word. Standing there with his presence. And this man begins to go into all kinds of fits.

I've had more than one person, a wife, tell me, I don't understand. We've had them call the office. Pastor, something's happening with my husband. I don't understand. I mean, he's gone into this fit. He's gone into this rage.

And his eyes are glazed. And he's somebody else. I don't know him. I don't understand. He's never done this before. I don't know him. Now, the way Satan possesses a person is always tied to sin of some form.

It's always tied to sin. To the place where he's able to work with them and manipulate them and draw them to seek after their own pleasures until finally they've practiced it and practiced it and practiced it until all of a sudden they're possessed.

He owns that part of them. There is a real satanic possession, not just among those who walk the streets, but among those who sometimes sit in church. But that doesn't mean every weird behavior and every desire that seems to control you is a possession of Satan.

Your flesh can possess you. I want you to look with me at Ephesians 2. And you were dead, verse 1, in your trespasses and sins. Now, this is describing someone before they came to Christ. And you were dead in your trespasses and sins.

In which you formally walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Now, I want to clarify something about this scripture.

This verse does not say that every person that's lost, that does not know Jesus Christ, has a demonic spirit on the inside of them. That's not what it's teaching. The Bible frequently refers to a disposition that an individual has by the word spirit.

For example, he has a spirit of meekness. Does that mean he's got a spirit called meekness on the inside of him? No, it simply means that he has a disposition toward meekness. Are you following me? And that's what this verse means.

Don't try to make it mean that everybody that it's describing here has a demonic spirit. That's not what it means. Actually, what it's talking about is a tendency to a particular form of conduct. You have a bent toward a particular form of conduct.

Before you got saved, you had a disposition to please yourself. Before you got saved, you had a bent to indulging your own fleshly pleasures, desires, and mind. That's what it says. Among them two, verse 3, we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

But, folks, beware. That indulging of the flesh can eventually become a possession. And I'm not talking about a demonic possession now. I'm talking about a fleshly possession. Your flesh can possess you.

You can indulge in a practice of sin, whether it be a thought pattern. Let me give you an example. Fear can possess you. Now, there is a demonic spirit of fear. There is a demonic spirit of fear. But I know many people that have tried their best.

They've been through deliverances, and they've gotten freedom. They've been through all the types of things that they can possibly go through to cast out a demon, and the fear remains, and yet they have a desire to walk on with the Lord.

Listen to me. Your flesh can possess you. And, yes, demons work on the flesh, but there is a possession of the flesh where you have trained your mind to fear. You've trained your mind to fear. You say, well, what do I do?

It has to be broken. It's not broken by casting out a spirit. And I want to say again, yes, there is a casting out of a spirit of fear. But some of you, and I'm speaking maybe to a small group of people that have tried everything you possibly can try to get rid of a particular habit.

You've been through deliverance. You've been through counseling. You've been through this. You've been through that. My friends, listen. Have you ever considered that Satan has so attacked your mind that he's caused you to forget the simplicity of devotion to Jesus Christ?

And you have made it so terribly complicated, and you have learned to think in the habit pattern, Satan has targeted your mind because he wants to possess your flesh. Not necessarily possessing it with a demonic spirit, but possessing your flesh.

How? By causing you to have a disposition, a bent toward reacting the same way every time you're stimulated by circumstance. Oh, that's such a binding thing. How does he do that? Well, he always brings a counterfeit.

Counterfeits and Satan’s Deception

And the Bible describes a whole host and list of counterfeits that Satan brings. For example, here's the way it starts. It says in this 2 Corinthians that we read earlier, I'm fearful for you, Paul said, lest you be deceived the same way Eve was deceived.

How was Eve deceived? I want you to, in your minds, go back to Genesis chapter 3. I want you to think about it for a minute. How was she deceived? The first way that Satan deceived Eve was, first of all, to question God's Word.

Now, what we're being told in 2 Corinthians 11 is that Satan would always work the same pattern. He says, I am concerned that you be led astray from the simplicity of devotion to Jesus and purity of devotion to Jesus.

How? The way Eve was led astray. The first thing was that Satan began to speak to the mind. He always comes in a subtle form. He came as a serpent then. He comes in a subtle form. And he questioned God's Word.

When you start having this incredible pressure to question God's Word or the subtle device at work to question the Word of God, Satan's targeted your mind. Now, how did he do it? Well, he says things like, has God really said?

Did God really say it that way? Is that what God really means? Perhaps you misunderstood what he's saying. Perhaps you should go back and rethink it. And see, when you go back and rethink it, that's when you get in trouble.

Because you've already made a decision that it's really saying something different than that. So you actually begin, first of all, to question God's Word. Secondly, you literally begin to deny God's integrity.

That's what he did with Eve. Satan said, the reason God doesn't want you to partake of the fruit of that particular tree is because God knows that when you do, your eyes are going to be opened. And you're going to be able to discern good and evil.

You're going to be able to see. Now, Satan may not say that to you. But first of all, he gets you to question God's Word. And secondly, he begins to question God's integrity. In other words, it's almost as if God's withholding something from you.

God's doing something that actually he's mistreating you some way. He's holding something back from you. Now, to deny God's integrity is just a simple step from questioning God's Word. And then comes the third stage.

That's when Satan said to Eve, actually, he substituted his own lie. He said, when you do, you're going to be like God. Now, again, I'm not saying that Satan is saying those things to everybody he attacks in their mind.

But the idea is that, first of all, he gets you to question the Word. And if he can get you to question the Word, he begins to get you to question God's integrity. You say, well, Pastor Bob, I have never questioned God's integrity.

Oh, really? What about that time when you said, God, I guess maybe it works for them, but it doesn't work for me. Well, how's that in questioning his integrity? It's saying he's a partial God. He's working over here, but he won't work over here.

Or the time you felt like it was just too hard and too tough, and God was just requiring too much of you. What do you expect from me, Lord? That's questioning his integrity. Or how about when you said, it's not you, God.

It's really not you. It's I'm the one that's totally at fault. When I get to a place where I'm worthy for you to be able to do that for me, then, God, I will have reached the stage that you can love me enough to bless me.

See, is that questioning his integrity? Yes, because it's putting his love on a purely selfish, earthly human realm that says, I'll respond to you when you respond to me. God's love responds. And he's never put you in a place where, well, you're just so unworthy.

You got to listen. If that were the case, you wouldn't have gotten saved. How did you get worthy enough to get saved? How did you ever get worthy enough to take the first step? How did you how did you do that?

It's because God's love lifted you up and put you where you couldn't be yourself. Now, all of a sudden, you start looking at God as if his whole character changed. He doesn't deal with people like that anymore.

Now you have to earn it all. Now, I'm not saying there's not a responsibility. But I am saying you'll never be able to perform the responsibility until everything surrendered to God's grace and his mercy to perform it in you.

As long as you keep doubting his integrity and the integrity of his love, you'll never know what it's like to walk in victory.

This is the end of side one. You may now turn the tape over to side two.

Counterfeit Christianity and Bodily Affliction

We have in the Bible counterfeits. The Bible speaks of counterfeit Christians. The Bible speaks of counterfeit ministers. The Bible speaks of a counterfeit gospel. It speaks of a counterfeit righteousness.

It speaks of a counterfeit church. Why all these counterfeits? Because what Satan wants to do is to keep you from pressing on into God and get you to say, well, I'll just rest right here in one of these counterfeits for a while.

Instead of pressing on, I'll just wait right here. This gospel's fine for me. I'll just take this gospel. Or this church is fine for me. I'll just take this church. Or I see other Christians doing the same thing I'm doing.