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This is section 204 of Living at Dot Community. Recorded at our YCTA Church Camp held in Connecticut, Malaysia. Our speaker is Pastor Benny Coe, former senior pastor and current leadership mentor of Faith Community Church in Perth, Australia.

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So I'm going to now bring you to this topic of what hinders spiritual maturity. Over the last two sessions, we have explored what spiritual maturity is not in the first session, and then in our last session, we talk a little bit about what spiritual maturity is. And if you remember, it is always exhibited by a pure love towards others, towards God, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. And now we're gonna, I want to share with you two critical things that can hinder our progress towards spiritual maturity. Remember earlier on I talked to you about how Christ is the gold standard, and all of us on this spectrum, we are growing, becoming more and more like him. Every now and then we get pushed back. It's because uh sin and Satan is still around to oppose us. Okay, and what are these things that actually how does he oppose us? And these are the two things I want to talk about. Number one is satanic opposition. Satan is still around and he's opposing us. We still have an enemy we have to reckon with. The second is soulish orientation. These are the two things that really hinder our walk with God. One is Satan, the other is our own flesh, our fleshless, our carnality, our soulish orientation. So, what we're gonna do in this session, we're gonna unpack them one at a time, okay, so that we can then uh have an understanding of how we can cope with satanic opposition and also with soulish orientation. So, number one, let's look at satanic opposition. The year was 1986, I remember. It was 1986. I was preaching in a Baptist church right here in Penang, in this city of Penang. I think it's called First Baptist or something like that. Or that was it was in that preaching in that Baptist church, I met my first demon face to face. It was my first time. After I finished preaching, because it was a traditional church, they don't have altar calls. And so the pastor then invited people who need prayer to go into a room, a separate room, like a counseling room. And by the time I got there with the pastor, there was a queue already waiting for prayer. So we took time to pray for people and all of that. The last person I prayed for, I still remember, was an Indian brother. I remembered him because when one looked at him, I knew that something was amiss because his eyes looked very glazed. It's like he's looking at me, but not really looking at me. I could see that he was in some kind of bondage, and because he was the last person, he confessed openly to me and the pastor that he was addicted to masturbation. So much so that he had to do it a few times every single day. And the moment he said that, I knew it was obviously compulsive, it was out of control, it was clearly abnormal and not simply biological. And so I decided that we will pray for him. So as I began to pray for him, you need to understand at that point I've never yet been exposed to deliverance, I've never met a demon face to face. But at that at that time, I happened to be reading a book written by a guy called Alexander White, and the book was entitled The Power of the Blood. And in the book, we were he talked about pleading the blood of Jesus in prayer. So I decided that okay, since this guy needs prayer, I just plead the blood of Jesus on him. So the moment I declare, I plead the blood of Jesus upon you, his eyes rolled up, he fell to the ground, started rolling around. Next thing I see, he was slittering on the floor, you know, like a snake. Actually, he can move, you know. So I was shocked. The pastor was shocked. You know, both of us were shocked, but of course I'm the guest speaker, I must appear cool, you know. And so I tried to be cool, and I did the only thing I know how, I started screaming at the demon and asking the demon, get out, get out, get out. In the next 20 minutes, I was screaming at the top of my voice. Thankfully, at the end of 20 minutes, the demon left and I got invited back to the church again. But that was all I know. And and ever since then, after that incident, what happened was this that was my introduction to the realm of the demonic. And after that incident, over the next two to two and a half years, every corner I turned, I will meet a demon. I don't know why. Every church I go to, demons will manifest. And I had to do so much deliverance and inner healing during that season of two to two and a half years. I ended up so exhausted, you know. I hardly had time to prepare my sermons. And in the end, I prayed to the Lord and said, Lord, enough. I believe you have caught me to be a teacher, a preacher of the word. Can I stop doing this? Then after that, it started to slow down. But I tell you all this to tell you one thing. Everything I know about deliverance, I learned mostly through that two to two and a half years. It was like a crash course in this. So I want to just share with you some of my learnings uh from those few years of dealing with the demonic realm. So just some of the basic things I've learned. Here's the thing: the day when you and I became a Christian, you were enlisted into an army. You already got enlisted into an army. You are not just a servant of God, you are a soldier of the cross. You didn't just join a new family, you actually joined a new army. You don't just have a Christian walk, we actually have a Christian warfare. Whether you like it or not, whether you recognize it or not, we are at war. Every one of us are at war. You know, there are two extremes when it comes to the demonic. Okay, and one, and the extreme goes like this on one end of the spectrum, there are people who simply ignore the ignor the demonic. We kind of like treat the Satan like as if he's somewhere and he's not involved, and we just treat him as nothing, and we just ignore it. Like as if he doesn't exist. But I want you to know he is at battle with us, and we need to recognize it. But the other end of the pendulum is when we become so fixated on the demonic that we end up blaming the devil for things he didn't do. The poor fella S. That guy got blamed for many things he did actually didn't do. Actually, it's all our own fleshly behavior, it's our own ungodly decisions that give rise to it. Are you following me? So the pendulum swings from ignoring him to a point that we get too fixated at him. But I think the answer is somewhere in the middle. We need to recognize that Satan is real and we are at war. You see, in this, we need to recognize both the elements of satanic opposition as well as our own soulish orientation. We can then apply the biblical remedies to them so that we may move on to maturity. So let's deal with the satanic opposition. Who are we fighting against? Who is warring against us? 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 8. The apostle Peter says, Be alert and sober-minded, because your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a lion, roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. I want you to know the devil is out to steal, to kill, and to destroy. And he is not working alone. He has an army of fallen angels that we call demons that Satan deploys to work against the people of God. And all of us are at war. Ephesians 6, verse 10 to 12, the apostle Paul described this warfare that all of us are involved in. He says, Finally be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. We fight this battle not in our own strength, but it's the strength of the Lord and in his power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's scheme. For our struggle, our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm. And this word struggle, our struggle, is not against flesh and blood. The word struggle actually is hand-to-hand combat. It's that close. It's MMA, man. And we are engaged at that war. And we are not fighting, however, against flesh and blood, but against rulers, authorities, powers, spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm. And I tell you, brothers and sisters, the unseen realm is more real than we think. And we must be aware of the devil's scheme. So put on the full armor of God, take a stand against him in Jesus' name. Now, one way we can defeat the enemy is to know what the enemy is up to. Isn't that right? The Chinese have a saying, know yourself, know your enemy. A hundred battles, a hundred victory. And that's what it is. We got to know what the devil is up to. So, what are demons up to? Here are two main tasks that all demons are assigned. And here they are. Number one, their number one priority is to stop you and I from becoming a Christian. That's the first thing. He wants to stop our unsafe loved ones, our friends, and all that, stop them from becoming a Christian. Before one becomes a believer, I tell you, the demons will do anything. If you are willing, they will do anything and everything to stop you from becoming one. They would even grant supernatural powers to gain wealth. You know, like, you know, if you we we live in Asia, we all understand this. There's a demonic world. And with the younger generation now, not so much because we are now caught in a different world, the cyber world. But in our old days, we are very caught in the spiritual world. You know, like you eat in coffee shops. Sometimes you see old people, you know, they would take some, they were eating their rice, they took some rice, they threw it over their shoulders, and you wonder what they're doing. They were feeding little demons. Like people who are involved in content, you know, you know those uh 12 numbers things that young uh older people understand what I'm saying, right? They they they have a way of uh how how would they know what number to choose that will give them maximum profit? They use a demonic realm to help them do that. How else can they do it? You know, they don't have AI during those days. You know, they they actually use little demons who pick the numbers for them to get maximum profit. And who feeds them? The people feed them and then they they make money, and the demonic give them the power to make money. Uh, there are people who use charms to get men, get woman, right? All these things. What are these? The devil will do anything to keep you in darkness. If he has to give you something to satisfy you, to keep you in the in in captivity, he will. But the moment one chooses to be a Christian, that's when the trouble begins. Now, I I know a late a doctor in CTR1, uh, Malaysia. She went, she before she became a Christian, she went to get herself an advanced diploma in psychic healing. You know, and she wanted, she started to incorporate psychic powers into her medical practice. She thought that she was helping her patients. Everything was going until she wanted to become a Christian. And then she started having nightmares and insomnia, could no longer sleep. And this went on for a long time until an evangelist came to town and through a word of knowledge called out a demon of mind control. And that's when she was set free. And I want you to know the devil would do anything to stop a person from becoming a Christian. But the choice ultimately is ours because man has been given a free will. We have volition. And when men choose then to give their life to Jesus, the devil cannot do anything about it. And that is when we get rescued, right? Out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. Then that's when the priority is shifts. Since they cannot stop you from becoming a Christian, priority number two will kick in, which is to hinder your walk with God. Now that all of us are believers, there is nothing Satan and the devil can do to prevent that. But from here on, their aim is to hinder your ongoing walk with the Lord. They want to stop you from serving God effectively. They will send temptations to try and trip us up in our walk with God. The devil has thrown all kinds of spiritual banana skin all over so that you step on one, you will slip and fall. That's what he's trying to do, put temptations everywhere. He seeks to keep you under bondage in areas of your life where you are not fully surrendered to the Lord. Okay, and people often ask me, how can a Christian be have have have demons? Because the Holy Spirit is in us. How do we understand that? Can I give you a perspective on this one? We could actually still be in bondage and don't realize it. Okay, let me draw you a picture here. Um can you see from there? Okay. Now, let me draw you a picture. How I understand uh people, as a Christian, we can still be under the influence of demons. Here's what happened. Think of this as a person, right? In every person that is born, there is a wall of protection that is that surrounds this person. It's called the war of our will. This is an area that Satan cannot touch because we are given free will, volition. And this is an area that God has chosen not to touch. He has given us freedom to choose, free will. Okay. But now you change. This is true for everybody. Okay, all of us, we are born with this free will. Now turn this person now into a Christian. Okay, so now I'm a Christian. I also have this wall of protection, of the volition of my will, right? But there are Christians, how many of you agree, huh? Who knows that it is not right to commit adultery. But they willfully go on sinning in this area. Are you with me? Therefore, in that area of my will, the wall of my will, there is a hole there. I lack down this area. So, in the area of my sexual life, there is a hole because I want to willfully go on in an illegitimate relationship. Then don't be surprised if a demon of last were to come in and take a hold of that area of your life. Are you with me? There are people who have uncontrolled anger. They know it's not right to have uncontrolled anger, but they allow that to happen. They willfully go on sinning. They just fly into a rage and become violent and all of that. Don't be surprised if a spirit of anger were to come in and then lay a hold of that area of your life. So, in that area of your emotion, there is a hole in the wall. Are you following me? Okay, there are people who know I shouldn't be involved in the occult. But I like to play with Vija Bot, I like to play with all these games and all that. Then don't be surprised if an occultic spirit were to come in, take a hold of your life. Sometimes it's not things that we do that is wrong. Sometimes it's things that other people do to us that create this trauma. For example, a guy has gone, a person is involved in a very huge traffic accident or something like that. And in that moment of trauma, when that thing happens, the wall of our will is let down. And there could be a spirit of fear that will come in and take a hold of that area of your emotion because the wall has come down in that area. Are you following me? Because in that moment of weakness, your will comes down and fear takes over because of a trauma that can happen. So, are you following me in all this? So, but in other areas of your life, it is still intact, you are still in control. But when it comes to the because of that willful sin, in the area of your sexual life, you are under the influence of a demon. Are you with me? I don't believe a Christian can be possessed by demons. They cannot be possessed unless they reach the point where they have totally, you know, turned away and they don't care. But if not, in other areas you should you could still be well and and above it, but in those areas where you have allowed the will to come down, in that area you are under the influence of a demon. So you are demonized, but not possessed. Is that okay? We are demonized, under the influence of the demon. Then what do you do if that's the case? Then what we need to do is a demon is someone that has he's an illegal tenant of this of this space of you. See, and the only way that you will get him out is to evict him, get rid of him. He's an illegal tenant, kick him out. And the only way to do that is we need to repent of the that open door. You need to repent of it, close it up, and then you tell the devil to get lost. And then you make you free yourself up once again. That's the only way to deal with the demonic, that we get rid of him so that we break ourselves out of that and be free in Jesus' name. The good news I have for you, brothers and sisters of YCCA, is this God has given us authority over every power of the enemy. And we have the power to bind the works of the devil, and we can lose God's will on earth as it is in heaven, and we can set people free in Jesus' name. Tell the devil to get lost. Luke 10, verse 17 to 19. You know, but of course, we must be willing to repent. If you don't close up this wall, you can get the devil out and he will come back with seven more. Because the hole is still there. You got to repent so that the hole can be closed. Luke 7 chapter Luke 10, 17 to 19. The 72 return with joy, and then they said, Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name. Hallelujah. The demons can will submit to you. You close up every door, the demons submit to you. And then he replied, Jesus said, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I've given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions, overcome all the power of the enemy, and nothing will harm you. Jesus sent his disciples out two by two. They went out and then they discovered that wow, they have the power to do what Jesus did. And then they came back so excited and they said, Wow, even demons submit to us. And then Jesus said, I saw Satan fell like lightning from heaven. This is the first time Jesus publicly declared that Satan has fallen. You know why? Because now it's no longer just Jesus doing, it is the church doing. The day when the church recognizes our spiritual authority and we stand up and begin to exercise our authority on earth as it is in heaven. That's the day when Satan will fall over Singapore. That's a great place to shout amen. That's a great place to shout amen. Because the day when you realize that, I tell you, the devil will be defeated. When we recognize who we are in Christ and church, I think it is time for us to rise, take the authority that God has given to us, and we take back from the devil everything he has stolen in Jesus' name. We take back from him. We fight for our family, we fight for our children, we fight for our marriages, we fight for the things that God has given to us. And we take back from the devil everything he has stolen. You know, when it comes to satanic opposition, I think we know what to do. Take our authority and we bind and we lose. I know we can do that. In fact, I think it's easier to deal with the demonic than to deal with the second one. The second one is really tough. And this is where we deal with soulish orientation. Here's number two. Soulish orientation. This one is hard. Because with the devil, with demons, I know what to do. Just cast them out. You repent, you cast them out, we can be free. But with soulish orientation, we cannot. We cannot cast out the flesh. You know, we cannot one shot deal with it. It is much deeper than that. Now, with the soulish orientation, what are we dealing with? What is the soul? Basically, the soul consists of three things the mind, the will, and the emotion. Right? The mind, the will, and the emotion. If we live to the power of the soul, then we will live our life based on what we think, what we want, how we feel. It's all mind, will, emotion. How many of you agree? You think about all your unsafe friends and loved ones. On what basis do they live their life? Where did they take reference from? Ultimately, it comes back to these three things, right? This is what I think, this is what I want, this is how I feel. You ask them anything, their response to you will be one of those. Oh, this is what I think, this is what I want, this is how I feel. In other words, they are living by the power of the soul. That's what the people of the world is living on. They live by the power of the soul. You see? Then we end up depending on the self, depending on the flesh rather than God. Okay, but the sad thing is sometimes, um, even though we have become Christians, we still live by the power of the soul rather than the power of the spirit. We now have the spirit in us. But the spirit doesn't always have us, you know. So we still live by the power of the soul sometimes. So the key is this, we gotta break out our soulish living and begin to live by the spirit. Now, how does all this work? You know, how do we understand this? I think we must begin. You're following me so far? Now stay with me, huh? I think we must begin by examining the biblical view of man. Now, I'm aware that scholars have different views on this topic, but fundamentally, we all believe that there is the material and there's an immaterial part of man, right? There's a material part that you can touch, you can feel, and all that. But there's also an inmaterial part of man, which is in the realm of the spirit, right? And some believe that man is two parts, body and soul. But others believe that it's three parts, spirit, soul, and body. Um, different scholars hold different views to it, but personally, I have found that viewing man as tripartite, that means as spirit, soul, and body, it's a very helpful framework. It's a helpful framework. I'll give you an example. Hebrews 4 12 says, for the word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword. It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. So there is a distinction between the soul and the spirit here. Right? It can divide between soul and spirit. 1 Thessalonians 5, 23, Paul prayed this: May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and true, and may your spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. So in the mind of the apostle, he seems to see it in these three parts spirit, soul, and body. Now, if you look, use that as a framework, then take a look at this chart. Okay? The spirit, soul, and body, right? Through the spirit, we contact the spiritual realm. Deep calls unto deep. Okay, God speaks to man through the spirit. So we contact the spiritual realm through through our spirit. The soul contacts the emotional, intellectual realm because it is the mind, the will, the emotion. Okay, then we have the body, it contacts the physical realm. Through that, you feel whether you are cold or hot, you know, you can touch whether something is rough or all that. It is our five senses. Okay, what we see, hear, touch, feel, smell. Okay, all this. Uh, then we have um through the spirit, we have God consciousness. We are conscious of what God is doing. Okay, we sense his presence. You know, it's through the spirit. The soul, we have self-consciousness. I know what I'm thinking, what I'm feeling, and how I'm how how I'm feeling. Okay, the body touches the world so that we we have sense knowledge. Whereas the soul gives us intellectual, emotional knowledge, and then the spirit is what gives us revelation knowledge. That is through the spirit that we understand spiritual things. Okay, it's revelation knowledge. So, all three parts, however, even though it's a nice framework to see in three parts, but all three parts are integrated. Okay, and all of it is integral to who we are. All three parts are integrated. What happens to one part affects the other. For example, if I'm physically sick, does it affect how I feel, what I think, what I what I want? Of course it does. And if I'm really down emotionally, physically, you know, and all that, will it affect my spiritual life? I think it will. Okay, it's all integrated. Okay, so now the question is how do the spirit, soul, and body interact? Now, here's where I bring you now to some very basic fundamental things. Okay, here we go. Can you follow along with me so far? What time is it now? I lost my watch. Um 37. So I still have a good heart stop, huh? I still have 20 minutes. So watch me on this one, huh? This is so important. This is how it is. When God first now we see man in three parts, right? You have our body on the outside, then we have the soul. This is who we are, our personality, what I think, what I want, how I feel. And then we have the spirit, where the Holy Spirit dwells. Okay? This is how God first created us. When God first created man, his intention was that the spirit will be the control center of man. This is the control center. Are you with me? Because why? Because this is where the Holy Spirit dwells. Whatever the Lord wants, the Holy Spirit whispers to our spirit. This is the control center. Okay, and then whatever the Lord wants, he reveals it to our spirit. The spirit informs the soul. Okay, the soul is like the house master. Okay, he's the housemaster, the chief servant. Okay, and this the soul then will get the body to do whatever the spirit wants. Get me? The body is like the servants of the house. They are neutral. Our hand, our feet, it's all neutral. Whatever the spirit wants, whispers to the soul. Housemaster tells the servant, servants carry it out. That was the intention. This was what man was made to do. But unfortunately, what happened was sin came into the world. Remember that? And because of sin, the spirit of man died. When I say die, it doesn't mean that the spirit no longer exists, but it is now separated from God. Because why sin separates us from God? Are you with me? So it has it is no longer the control center. Okay, now if the spirit is no longer in charge, then who took over? The soul has taken over, and that is why mankind lives now based on what? What my will, my mind, and my emotion. It's all based on soulish power. It's all based on what I want, what I think, how I feel. And this is how people live their life. And so now instead of being driven by what God wants, it is now driven by what I want. The whole thing becomes fleshly. And then whatever I want, my body just does it. I like this girl, I fall, I will sleep with her, and that's it. The body just does it. Why? Because now it is done through the power of the soul. Okay, but the good news I have for you is the day when Jesus came and he died on the cross, because you and I surrender to Christ, then what happened? That was the day when the Holy Spirit now comes back into our spirit, which is separated from God, rekindle it. He indwells it, rekindle it, and bring it back to life. We call it the born-again experience. My soul, my spirit is now born again. Are you with me? And it's a doctrine of justification. This is a doctrine of justification. The word justified means like a Ziv. You never sinned. So Jesus comes into our life, Holy Spirit comes in, rekindle our spirit, now we are alive again. We are reconnected to God. Then guess what? This has once again become the control center of our life. We should now live by the spirit rather than live by the power of the soul. Are you with me? Okay, and that is when we now is going through this. We have now, Christ has come back, Holy Spirit is here, it has become restored back to the control center. But how many of you know we have got so used to living by the power of the soul that we sometimes struggle between the two. And we are right now undergoing this process where we are handing control back to the spirit. We are handing control back to the spirit bit by bit, bit by bit. We call it the doctrine of sanctification. We are going through this process of sanctification where I'm returning control in different areas of my life back to the spirit. And then the Bible says if you live by the spirit, then you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. And I'm handing control slowly back to the spirit. This process we are going through is called sanctification. The best way I can illustrate sanctification would be something like this. Imagine there's a couple, very lazy couple, okay, and they live in this house, but very lazy. There are those that never clean the house. You know, after they eat, they just leave the dishes in the sink and then it piles up after a few weeks. And that's the way they live. Until one day, the wife went to the market to do shopping, and then she came across a beautiful pot of sunflowers, and she liked it so much she bought it and then they took it home. That night the couple sat there, ate their dinner, and then with this beautiful pot of sunflower, and they both appreciate it so much. And then after a while, the husband said, You know, the sunflower is so beautiful, but our tablecloth hasn't been clean for six years. Maybe it's time to clean the tablecloth. It spoils the look of the sunflower, so they clean up the tablecloth. Next morning, next evening, they again eat their dinner. This time, beautiful pot of flowers, clean tablecloth. And then they're enjoying it, and then the husband's daughter said, You know, this is all very nice, but behind I can see our curtains haven't been washed for 15 years. Maybe it's time we better wash the curtain because it's poised to look. Then they decide to clean the curtain. Third night, now they eat nice sunflower, beautiful tablecloth, nice clean curtain, and then they notice at the side, Alama, the sink piled up with six weeks of dishes never washed. Maybe we should clean the dishes also. And that's what they did. And this process just keeps going on, day after day after day. At the end of six months, the entire house was cleaned up. But when did it begin? It is the entrance of that pot of flour that started the whole thing. The day when Jesus Christ came into our life, the Holy Spirit began to put his finger on different areas of our life. Isn't that right? The day when Christ comes in, he begins to tell us things like, hey, now that you're a Christian, why are you still smoking? You know, the temple is a body of the Holy Spirit. I shouldn't smoke. So you stop smoking. And then, hey, now that you're Christian, why do you cheat on your income tax? I think you should render to Caesar what belonged to Caesar. Now that you're Christian, how come you still cheat on your kapa coupon? Just pay. You know, and he slowly cleaned out all the different areas of our life. What is this process? It's sanctification. And right now, God is still putting his finger here, there, everywhere, and cleaning us up. That's the soul. It is undergoing sanctification. Then what about the body? When it comes to the body, unfortunately, I don't have many good news, not much good news for you, because the truth is this now. Our body is not getting better. In fact, it's getting worse now day by day. You know, if not, you don't believe me, just do this. A few thousand cells just died. It's called the law of entropy.

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You know.

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Paul put it this way the outward man is wasting away. The inner man is being renewed day by day. This body is not getting any better, it's getting worse. But the good news I have for you is this the day will come when Jesus comes back again. And then in an instant, we'll be giving a brand new body. No wrinkle, no pimpers, nothing. It'll be a perfect body, an immortal body, in a flash of an eye, mortality will take on immortality. We will be given a glorified body, one that can walk through doors, no one that is perfect, no more sickness, no more illness, no more wrinkles, no more pimpers. I am waiting for that day. No cholesterol, no high sugar level, no more, you know, no more fatty liver. I'm waiting for that day, and that day will come, and we are looking forward to that. What is that? That's the doctrine of glorification. I'm waiting for the day when he will return again. Hallelujah. Are you with me on this? Let me ask you. If someone asks you, then are you safe? What is your answer? Are you safe? If you ask me, Baniel, are you safe? My answer to you will be this I am safe. I am being safe, and I will be safe. My spirit is already safe. My soul is being safe right now. I'm instantly justified. My spirit is already safe. I'm right before God already. If I die today, I'm gonna be with Jesus in heaven because my spirit is already safe. But my soul is being safe. How many of you agree? Not all of our mind is fully renewed, not all of your emotions are fully sanctified, not all of your will is surrendered yet. I'm in the process of handing control back to the spirit. My body will one day be safe when Jesus comes back again. This, then when Jesus comes back again, that's when we are totally safe. Spirit, soul, and body. If you want, you can take a look at this chart, right? My spirit already safe. That is salvation past, right? My soul is being safe. That is salvation present, but my body will be safe. That is salvation future. Amen. And this is the process all of us are going through. And the biggest struggle we have is learning to break out of soulish living. Break out of always making every decision, deciding every action based on what I think, what I want, how I feel. And learning to say, God, what do you want? How do you feel? If I were to marry this person, how would you feel, Lord? It's not just how I feel, it's what God feels. Before I buy this investment and say, God, how do you feel if I were to own this shares? It's not just what I think, what I want, how I feel. It's what does God think? What does he want? What does he feel? And then we are learning to live by the power of the Spirit and not by the power of the soul. Amen. So in now that we understand this, we are in this process of wanting to break out of this, what then should we do? How do all this, what is all this informing me? What what then should we do? Once we understand the interplay between the spirit, soul, and body, how then should we live? And this is where can I just um show you this three things, okay? This is the spirit. The soul. The body. This is what I find challenging, you know. This is where we are, this is who we are, right? And we have the spirit, we have the body. Most times I find that when we live our life, we tend to take reference from the body. We tend to take reference from uh the circumstances of life. You know, so you almost could see that this is a three-person, okay, and this is a like spirit, then and we tend to take reference from here. What is happening in our life? Take for example, you know, when the stock market goes up, wow, God is good all the time. All the time, God is good. When the market crashes, and then we now feel, wow, I want to quit already. I don't want to be a cell leader anymore. I got all my problems, you know. Uh you are chasing after this girl in the church, and the girl responds to you well. You say, Hallelujah, praise the Lord. I want to go and serve more. But then the moment you get rejected, you say, I think I don't want to, I don't want to I want to step down from the worship team because I want to leave and go to another church. Why? Because a girl got rejected. You got rejected. You know, we and we are living our life taking reference from circumstances and situations in our life. When what we really need is not just a change of circumstance. What we really need is take reference from the spirit. Take reference from God. What does God want? What does God say? How should I respond when all these things of life happen? I take reference from God, I give deference to God. If you live your life that way, it will be a breakthrough for us. Sometimes think the breakthrough must be, there must be a massive change of our circumstance. But eventually, what we need is a slight turn to take reference from the spirit rather than just what is happening to us on the outside. Because if we live based on circumstances, then it will be high, high, dry, dry, high, high, dry, dry all the time. Come to a camp like this, great time, high, high. Go back, face the problem, dry, dry. And then we go up and down, up and down all the time. Then we live our life depending on what other people do. How others respond to us determines our thoughts, our decisions, and our feelings. Our decisions are not based on who God is and what God says, but what happens to us circumstantially. See, I think then we become a soulish Christian. We live by the power of the soul more than the power of the spirit. We need to break out of soulish living. I think the soulish Christian needs to learn from King David in Psalms 42. And we let our spirit man rise up and govern the situation rather than the other way around. Now, let's take a look at Psalms 42, verse 5 to 7. Listen to what happened here. He says, Why are you downcast, oh my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my savior and my God. My soul is downcast within me, therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon, from Mount Mitzah, deep coast to deep in the row of your waterfalls, all your waves and breakers has swept over me. This is King David writing Psalms 42. Now, in this psalm, King David is talking. Who is he talking to? He's talking to himself. Am I right? He's talking to himself. He's saying, No, why are you downcast? Oh my soul. He's talking to his own soul. He said, Why are you downcast? Oh my soul, why are you so disturbed within me? You should put your hope in God. Praise him, my savior, my God. My soul is downcast. In other words, he's confessing. I'm feeling very depressed. I'm so down. Therefore, I will remember you. But if he's talking to his own soul, which part of him is talking? To his own soul. Must be the spirit. Right? He's allowing the spirit to rise up, to dominate his soul, tell the soul what to do in the midst of all this situation. That's what he's doing. He's not allowing the soul to dominate, he's allowing the spirit man to dominate his soul. See, and he's telling his own depressed soul, snap out of it, put your hope in God. That's what it means to allow the spirit to dominate over the soul. Rather than let the circumstance dominate over us. Are you following me? That's the key. So we learn to say, you know, I am a spiritual man. I'm not a soulish creature. I walk in the spirit, not in the flesh. I'm spirit-led, not soul-driven. I'm a spiritual man. Amen. You are a spiritual woman. You are a spiritual man. Why don't we say this together, shall we? And let's talk to ourselves. Talk to ourselves. I am a spiritual man, not a soulish creature. I walk in the spirit, not the flesh. I'm spirit-led, I'm not soul-driven. I am a spiritual man. That's who you are. Let the spirit dominate the soul. Amen. Break out soulish living and live that spirit-filled life. What then is the answer? How much time do I have left, Pastor? Five minutes. Five minutes, okay. Let me end with this. In the light of these two hindrances of satanic opposition and soulish orientation, what then should we do? We know that with satanic opposition, we just have to take authority and we fight the battle. Okay, and we tell the devil to get lost. But we repent first, close up the door, tell the devil to get lost. With soulish orientation, we let the spirit dominate rather than just living by the power of the soul. What I think, what I want, how I feel, but it's what the spirit wants. Okay, and if you walk in the spirit, then you need not gratify the desires of the flesh. But how do all these interplay together? Because they all actually work together. Okay, then we first need to understand how it actually works in the unseen realm. So this is where I take you to James chapter 1. We look at verse 13 to 15. We have all read this before, you know what it is. When tempted, no one should say, God is tempting me. God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. And when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And sin when it is full grown, it gives birth to death. Here the apostle James pained for us how all this interplay together: man, Satan, and sin. All this, how does it interplay together? And he tells us this God will test us, but God will not tempt us. Now you may say, what's the difference? The difference is this God tests us to bring out the best in us to cause us to grow. Isn't that right? God allows us to go to trials, tribulations, and testings to bring out the best in us, call out our best virtue so that we can grow. But Satan tempts us to bring out the worst in us to cause us to sin. Okay, and how does he do that? How does he tempt us? James, describe it for us. Okay, so here you are. This is the Christian, all right, and then you have the devil down here. Okay. I'm very good at drawing, you know. Don't play Pictionary, you mean shell loose. So this is this is the devil, and he's tempting the Christian. How does he do that? He says he appeals to the flesh. The sin nature that is in us, he appeals to the flesh that is here, the sin nature. So Satan will always appeal, entice the sin nature. And then when we are lured by it, we get enticed, it will give rise to sin. Sin, when it has done its job in us, will lead us to death. That's how it all works. Satan will always appeal to the flesh, the soulish part of us, what we want, what we think, how we feel. And then when we get enticed, lured, and then we fall into it, we act on it, it becomes sin. And sin, when it has done its job, it will lead to death. See, and that's how so satanic opposition and the flesh are linked together. Okay, but the thing is this the moment the appeal is always to the flesh. If we crucify the flesh, if the flesh is not there, how many of you agree Satan got nothing to work on? If he don't have if the flesh is not there, Satan has nothing to work on. And this is what it's all about. See, the truth is this if the flesh is not there, Satan has nothing to work on. So the key to live that victorious Christian life really rests in this we die to ourselves, we reckon our flesh crucified with Christ. Then we can break our soulish living and greater yielding to the Holy Spirit. The day when you were born again, the day when I'm born again, we already received the Holy Spirit. So all of us here who call Jesus Lord, we all have the Holy Spirit, don't we? But the question now I have for you is this does the Holy Spirit have you? We all have the Spirit, but does the Holy Spirit have you? That is the question. Are we men and women mastered by the Spirit? Are we yielded to the Holy Spirit? Because if we are, Galatians 5.25 will come to pass. Since we live by the Spirit, then let's keep in step with the Spirit. This is the key to that victorious Christian life. You break out of soulish living and you take the authority that is ours, we can live that victorious Christian life. Amen. We can. And we should. And tomorrow night, when we come back, I will give you that final session that give us what we need to actually live that victorious Christian life. Amen. Hallelujah. Stand with me, please. We don't have time this afternoon beyond a corporate response, but I want to encourage you to allow this truth to just sink in for a while. Okay, just allow these things to sink in. There's so much that we talked about, but we need to let it sink in. Hallelujah. Two things that hinder us satanic opposition. If you have been feeling that you have things that have bound you, things where you feel like you don't have control over. I want you to know you need not continue in bondage, but we can be free. Take the authority that God has given to us, but first we need to turn away from those things that give the devil a foothold in our life. We turn away from those things. If you have been if you have been hurt and you're not forgiving people, then forgive them. Okay, do what is right and close the door. Repent from all this, close the door. Turn away from that. And we close the door. And then we can tell the devil you get lost. But most importantly, we break out of soulish living. I don't just want to live by what I think, what I want, how I feel all the time. I want to live by what God wants, how God feels and what God says. I live my life with this compass. I give deference to God, the will of God, and I take reference from his word. And that's how we live that victorious Christian life. And we take all this and we surrender it to the Lord. Let Him seal these things into our spirit.