Taking Authority Over Our Enemies, Part 1

Do you know why God is calling us to take authority in our lives if we're going to move forward into the things He has for us? It's because there are forces gathering against us. If you are serious about doing the will of God in your life, there are forces that are gathering against you as we speak. Pastor Paul Shepherd, Senior Pastor at Destiny Christian Fellowship in Fremont, California.

Well, our enemies come in many forms. For you it may be temptation, spiritual attacks from unseen forces who want to destroy your fellowship with God. For Gideon, it was a literal army of Midianites, an overwhelming number of enemy forces. God had already given Gideon the victory and he's done the same for you, but as you'll see today, you still have to join the battle and claim your authority in Christ. Stop by pastorpaul.net to hear any recent Destined for Victory message on demand.

That's pastorpaul.net or listen and download the podcast at Stitcher or wherever you go to get your podcasts. Now, here is Pastor Paul, today's Destined for Victory message, taking authority over our enemies. So if you're one of those people who has always thought that the best things God has to offer, the most exciting adventures in the will of God belong to the up and coming folks, the outstanding folks, the people who were most likely to succeed. Then you need to take a good hard look at the life of Gideon because this guy was someone who when the Lord met him in Judges 6 and he called him the angel that the Lord sent to him, called him a mighty warrior. Gideon looked around and said, who are you talking to? I know you're not talking about me. I'm standing here right now in a wine press trying to thresh wheat. And if you don't know about that culture and what that was like, just take it from me.

You don't thresh wheat in a wine press. But he and all of Israel were so afraid of the Midianites because the Lord had put them in the Midianites hands to cause them to understand you will never prosper outside of God's will. You got to remember when God lets you get in certain jams, it's just so he can remind you that without me, you are nothing. And so they were being beat up by the Midianites and the Lord heard their cries and he was ready to rescue them. And he decided in the counsel of his own will to choose Gideon. I love how God does things.

God doesn't talk to you and get your opinion on who he can use. I'm so glad about that. I'm glad that when God calls a meeting, he calls a meeting and the Father, Son and Holy Spirit show up and he says, here's what we're going to do. And they agree with one. The three are one.

And the meeting is adjourned and is over. And all of this, by the way, happened in eternity past. God decided everything that needed to be decided in eternity past before he said, let there be. He already knew what he wanted out of your life. So your opinion, I know you want to believe that it matters in all of the universe, but it might matter in your family.

It might matter among a few of your friends. But when you talk about being called according to God's purpose, what you and I think about, it really doesn't matter at all. So he was called, Gideon was called and God said, I'm going to use you in a great and mighty way. And I'm going to take you on a journey from being the warrior you are now standing in this wine press, scared of the Midianites. I'm going to take you from a warrior to a warrior.

I'm going to move you into some things. God is trying to move you into some things right now. And so he's going to take you on the same journey. Before you get to this text, there were a few steps that Gideon took on his journey.

The first step was to take to heart his calling. And if you're going to become all that God has ordained you to be, you're going to have to take to heart your calling. Gideon was called a mighty warrior when he was acting like a pitiful wimp. And what that tells you is God never calls you according to what you're looking like and what you're acting like.

Aren't you glad about that? God doesn't call you a wimp, even though you're acting like one. God doesn't call you faithless, even though right now you're not exercising faith. God doesn't call you full of despair, even though you are full of despair.

God calls those things that are not as though they were. He says, let there be. And then he takes you on a journey so that you finally realize you are who he said you are. Somebody has got to make up in your mind, I am who God said I am. I can do what God said I can do. And I have no business having a second opinion over that of Almighty God.

Take to heart your calling like Gideon. Second step he took on his journey is he took away his excuses. And if you're going to make the journey and move forward in the will of God, you got to take away your excuses. When you read the earlier part of Judges six, you see that this boy had a bucket full of excuses as to why God couldn't use him. And what you got to understand is God doesn't care about your excuses. Look throughout redemptive history.

He has never cared about anybody's excuses. Moses, I can't go back to Egypt. I was raised there, but I can't go back and tell Pharaoh that that you said, let my people go.

Are you kidding? And he said, Furthermore, I can't even talk. Talk. You know me, God, I have I have a stuttering problem. Right in your Bible, he was a stutterer and he thought God would say, OK, that's right, I forgot. Let me go find somebody articulate, somebody who excels in speech.

Silver spooned orator. No, God said, I know you got a stutter and I know you got that stick in your hand. But when Bishop Clark preached for us, he told you what God can do with what's in your hand. And God, you got to understand something about God. God loves picking people who think they can't do anything.

Because when he finishes using them, he won't have to worry about them thinking they did anything. They will know this had to be God. When you see stuck up folk who think their giftedness is what God is excited about, pray for them because they don't get it. God loves to take the least likely and do great things through them. And he loves to take away our excuses that way. Gideon took steps toward his destiny. He took the hardest calling.

He took away his excuses. Then God told him, now you got to take down your idols. Israelites, the reason why God was punishing them through the Midianites was because they had gotten off into idol worship. These are the people of the most high God. God himself has made a covenant with Israel. And he said, I am your God and I'm a jealous God.

I will have no other gods before me. Other folk can act like that but you can't. And here they were trying to be like other people. There are some of you right now trying to be like worldly people you know.

Because you think if you can be like them then you'll make the money that they're making or you'll live in the kind of house they're living in or you will have a better quality life. Let me tell you something. When you are a covenant man or woman you can't get away with what worldly folks seem to be getting away with. And you got to understand that it only seems that way. That's why David said fret not yourself. Don't look at people who are worldly who are out of God's will and envy them. Fret not yourself because of evil doers.

They will soon be cut off. And before it's all over you're going to see who God's people really are. And you got to take down your idols. Now for us idols are anything that opposes the will of God in your life. It's any practice, any passion, any priority, any partnership that you submit to even though it's contrary to God's will. Because you know none of us have to worry about practicing literal idolatry as Israel did in this time. But many of us practice idolatry nonetheless.

You're an idolater listening to this message right now. If you have a practice, something you're doing. A passion, something you're excited about. A priority, something that's important to you.

Or a partnership, somebody that's in your life. And you're submitting to what your flesh wants you to do in those areas even though you know it's contrary to God's will. If you're doing something and you know God is not pleased and you're doing it anyway, that's your idol. That's your idol. And if God is going to bless you to get out of what you're in right now, He said I won't do it until you take down your idol.

Israel at this point was worried about the Midianites but all the Midianites were, were a disciplined tool. See the Lord disciplines who He loves. We still don't understand that, that God will love you and He'll get you. We don't get that because we live in a world now that tries to separate that. Don't get them.

Just love them. No. Some of us were raised, we were loved and we got got. Come on somebody. I'm sorry, I'm the last holdout. Sometimes I feel like the last holdout. Y'all are not going to sell me this new junk no matter how hard you try.

Now I'm on the record. I don't believe corporal punishment is a must. If you don't have to do it, don't. But you ought to have some things in your arsenal that you can pull out if need be. That's all I'm saying. If your kids and grandkids are so well behaved, you don't have to get them.

Then by all means, go with it. Stay with us. The second half of Pastor Paul Shepherd's message is coming right up. We want to thank you for your support of Destined for Victory with your prayers and financial support. Gifts that help Pastor Paul share the good news of salvation with a growing audience. Destined for Victory is a listener supportive ministry. And as we find ourselves still walking through a season of uncertainty, your support is even more critical today. Because in times of crisis, people are looking for a reason to have hope.

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Again, the number is 855-339-5500. Now, for more insights from the life of Gideon, here's Pastor Paul with the rest of today's message. Taking authority over our enemies. I had to give my daughter one spanking. Personally, she got more for my mama, but I had to give her. I had to give her one, exactly one.

I can picture it to this day. She was a young child, probably not yet three years old, or maybe had just turned three, right around that age. And I was telling her what not to do, and she was just excited and preoccupied and doing what she was doing. And I gave her a warning. I said, sweetie, I told you don't do that. Next time you do that, I'm going to have to do something. She was just in her own world.

You know, come on, when we live our lives, sometimes God is speaking to you and you just in your own world. And she did it again. And I spanked her. I never had to do it again. She's smart. Never had to do it again.

Her brother heard about that. He said, I'm cool. I'm cool. We good. Never had to spank him. He got a few from his momma again, but now. And the Midianites were just a tool God used to get his people's attention.

Tell them, I told you, you can't act like the other nations and get away with it. And they kept fooling around, so God let the Midianites get them. And now as he is preparing to deliver them because love is always redemptive. If you have a love that is through, you don't understand the nature of love. Love only disciplines until it gets the true repentance it's looking for.

And then it wants to redeem. And God said, you're my people. I'm not going to make you not my people because of what you're acting like. But I will discipline you until you get this straight. And so now he's demanding that they take down idols.

Why? Because the Midianites make war against them. But they don't understand that the war against the Midianites will not go away until the war against God.

Through rebellion and through idolatry is settled. And I want somebody who's listening to this message to know that the war in your life, the trouble in your life is not going away until you make peace with God through obedience. Don't even bother asking God to deliver you from what you're going through.

He loves you too much to do that. He's saying, deal with the idol. If it's a person, get rid of them. Get rid of them. Don't have a nice talk. Let's just kind of change our dealings. You can't negotiate with an idol. God said, Gideon, tear them down.

Tear them down. And so Gideon did it. He didn't do it during the daytime. He's still becoming a warrior. He's in process.

He's still becoming a warrior. And so he said, well, you know, God didn't say when to tear them down. So at night, right there in Judges 6, at night, everybody sleep. And he went out there, tore them down. But thank God he obeyed.

And God doesn't care about some of those little minute details, but he does care that you obey, that you deal with your idols and get them torn down. Not change your dealings with them. Get them torn down. Some things have to go in your life.

They got to go. This isn't God's plan. This isn't God's will. You've got to get rid of anything in your life, any practice, any passion, any priority, any partnership that you're submitting to, even though it's contrary to God's will.

Time to get rid of it. Gideon obeyed. Now he's positioned now to move into his destiny. What's his destiny? God has called him to be the one who leads Israel in victory over their enemies. Gideon, who has never had leadership training. Gideon, who never went to ROTC. Gideon, who's never been through boot camp the first.

Gideon, who knows nothing about being a warrior, much less a general. Gideon is called to lead God's people. And having taken those previous three steps, he's now ready to take the fourth step. And the fourth step is taking authority.

Taking authority. Look at verse three of Judges six and you will see that now things are getting serious. God has prepped him, had him take these first three steps. And now look at verse 33. It tells you that there is a gathering force and notice now that the Midianites decided we want to crush Israel. So we're not just going to come ourselves. We're going to make alliances with some other folk. They joined forces with the Amalekites and other eastern peoples and crossed the Jordan and camped in the valley of Jezreel, getting ready to make war with Israel.

They wanted to wipe Israel off the map. So they gathered forces together. Do you know why God is calling us to take authority in our lives if we're going to move forward into the things he has for us? It's because there are forces gathering against us, too.

I want somebody to understand in no uncertain terms that if you are serious about doing the will of God in your life, there are forces that are gathering against you as we speak. You need to understand something. I know we're educated. Thank God that many of us are educated far more than our parents, grandparents, great grandparents and all of that.

That's a wonderful thing. Education can serve the purposes of God well when you submit it to his will. There need not be any irreconcilable difference between you being a person of faith and you being a person well educated. There need not be that dichotomy because the fact of the matter is many of the wonderful institutions of higher learning in our country were founded by godly people.

They didn't see a contradiction between faith and learning because all truth ultimately is going to point us to the one source of truth. And so the fact of the matter is I praise God that many of us are educated. But you better understand you better not get so educated that you think everything can be explained in natural terms. We have a spiritual conglomerate of enemies to deal with just like you see these forces gathering together in your life. There are forces gathering together just as sure as you determine to move into God's will. Sometimes you haven't been educated yet in the word, but some of you who don't know the word yet, you already know something's coming against me. You can't explain it yet. You haven't been in the word enough yet, but you know I mean ever since I got saved or ever since I got serious about walking with the Lord.

If it's not one thing it's another. It just feels like something is coming against you ever been there? Something's coming against me.

I mean you feel it pulling trying to pull you out of the will of God. You feel you get up on Sunday morning and something is saying don't go to church. Don't go to church. You're too tired to go to church. Just chill out. Just watch somebody on TV.

That'll be your church. How come that same thing didn't say don't go to work? Don't go to work.

Just go to the bank and grab some money and run. Don't go. The only thing pulling you away from work is laziness.

That's all. There's no spiritual force trying to keep you from your job. In fact, some of the spiritual forces that are trying to really get you out of God's will send you to work because they know all them devils that are going to be on your job are going to work your last. Oh, somebody's not hearing me. You're encouraged to go. Yeah, go ahead.

Go ahead. Because they're saying I got something for you when you show up. Oh, yeah, I got something for you. But when you go to do the will of God, you'll find that pulling. Some of you have been discouraged and you don't know why.

Why am I feeling so low? Just something just trying to just weigh down on you. Bible calls it the spirit of heaviness.

Remember when Isaiah said put on the garment of praise in exchange for what? The spirit of heaviness. There's a spirit of heaviness that will come on you. You just I don't know why I'm so discouraged. I don't know why it's hard to be optimistic.

I don't know why I'm wondering if things going to work out. I know God is going to see me through but what is this that's just jumped on my shoulder and just trying to hold me down. Spirit of heaviness. Some of you are dealing with an agitating. You don't even know this just always agitating always trying to keep you in strife with somebody always trying to keep some mess going on in your life. Always trying to there's interference in the atmosphere. You say something and by the time you hear it again it's nothing like what you say.

Oh come on somebody better listen to me. We're dealing with spiritual forces. There's just interference in the atmosphere when you're trying to do the will of God.

Just interference just all kinds of stuff. But I heard that you said I said no such thing. But what happened demons took it and tried to and some of you all had better learn that if you're going to get where God is moving you you're going to have to realize that spiritual warfare is real. Well Satan will do everything in his power to rob you of the blessing and favor you have in Christ. But as Pastor Paul said today you have authority over him.

You also have God's promise that no weapon formed against you shall prosper. Thanks so much for being here for today's Destined for Victory message taking authority over our enemies. You know our highest calling as believers in Christ is to share our faith with others and we can do that through personal relationships through conversations at work or on an airplane. Another great way to help fulfill the Great Commission is by becoming one of our Destined for Victory partners.

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The address is Destined for Victory post office box 1767 Fremont California 94538. You can also partner with us from our website pastorpaul.net. Now if you can't become a Destined for Victory partner but would like to make a generous donation today. We'd love to send you Pastor Paul Shepherd's booklet little is much when God is in it. A great resource that reminds all of us that God can do great things in our lives and through our lives despite what we lack. That's little is much when God is in it our gift to you by request for your generous donation to Destined for Victory. You got to break through and take authority over that worldliness and say I will not walk according to the systems this is where I don't care how unpopular it makes me.

I won't do it. I will not dishonor God as I live in this world. He has called me to be in this world but not of this world. That's tomorrow in Pastor Paul Shepherd's message taking authority over our enemies. Until then remember he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ you are Destined for Victory.