I want to begin really next session of teaching, I have been doing an it is really an introduction today but I am going to sum up a little bit of what we shared last week Mathew 10:1 Jesus summoned his 12 disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal every kind of disease and every kind sickness so that was the commission that Jesus gave his disciples we still have that commission today and he said in in verse seven as you go something that they went and did preach another words share and demonstrate the kingdom of heaven is at hand God’s kingdom is actually here and able to work and touch people’s lives and the demonstration of that the evidence of that was they were to heal the sick raise the dead cleanse lepers cast out Demons so that was just the demonstration of what God’s kingdom God’s rule was now its interesting finishes that verse with freely you received freely give so to be able to give any of those things they would had to have received so Jesus disciples would have had to receive healing and being raised from the dead says spiritually as well as physically being cleansed and having Demons cast out of them so they freely received the kingdom of God in their lives and then they were freely able to go and give the kingdom into others
So the kingdom of God is God’s will is God way it is who he is and the way he does things it’s God’s rule. a kingdom has a king over it and the king rules over the realm of his kingdom it says in Romans that the kingdom of God is righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Spirit we expect those things to be demonstrated as part of God’s kingdom righteousness peace and joy and peace means wholeness body soul and spirit so God’s kingdom was to impact us in bringing us into peace and wholeness body soul and spirit nothing missing and nothing broken. God purposes salvation is how we enter the kingdom of God we get born-again of the spirit of God we enter the word salvation literally means health protection security provision deliverance and whole it is not just that were saved from sort of something negative were saved to something really positive that’s God’s original intention for mankind that they would live in health protection security provision deliverance wholeness in relationship with him that’s our relationship with him brings those things into our lives now that’s where we see God’s kingdom God’s kingdom and his will is that it will fill the whole earth his intention that rule would be everywhere not just in a single place in a small group of people so in Genesis 228 he sent Adam and Eve and he bless them and God bless them spoke a blessing over them and that blessing is the empowerment to succeed the Bible word for blessing means to empower to succeed to prosper God intends us to succeed so when in Jeremiah know our plans for you says the Lord those plans are for us to prosper to bless us that’s God’s heart to do that they needed to be fruitful another words fulfill God’s purpose need to multiply they need to have children and see those children fill the earth and subdue it now that is really interesting because to subdue something means to overcome it so even at this point when God bless them and sent them out from the garden of Eden to take that garden of Eden out to the rest of the world there was something there they have to subdue and overcome and we will be looking at what that is and they were called to rule to actually demonstrate God’s kingdom authority and power and last week we looked to Isaiah 2:2 it says that it will come about in the last days and the last days are when Jesus came until he returns again the mountain of the house the Lord is talking about the mountain of authority church will be established as chief of the mountains and in Daniel 235 stone struck the statue became a great mountain filled the whole earth so God’s kingdom is designed to fill the whole earth not just bits of it and that’s God’s original intention it’s not changed God’s rule is to destroy the works of the devil one John 38 the devil has sinned from the beginning son of God appeared for this purpose to destroy the works the devil so when we see a work of the devil and were not talking about people but the things that go on in people sickness bondage addiction anything like that anything which is apart from God’s will for our lives we are supposed to actually destroy that were supposed to actually come and set people free from the things that hold them back not it is really interesting the very first that verse for the devil has sinned from the beginning now I want you to really sort of think about that sort of explain sort of what I think that means it is an interesting thing the devil sinned from the beginning and in Acts 1422 Paul talking about Paul strengthening the souls of the disciples encouraging them to continue in the faith saying through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God bottom line is we enter that kingdom we see that kingdom come through conflict actually we have to overcome things we have to defeat sickness, we have to see people healed we are to see people set free from the effects the world had on them whether that is hurt pain abuse disappointment from the past we have to see people set free and it’s a battle because there is opposition to that happening and in Matthew 1228 Jesus talking to the if I cast out Demons by the spirit of God then the kingdom of God is come upon you and last week we saw that when Jesus turned up in power things that were hidden away all of a sudden came to the surface they couldn’t be hidden anymore and when the presence of God comes it exposes darkness because it is the light it is the kingdom of light and so Jesus came in the power of the Holy Spirit and all the sum of things that have been in people operating robbing people destroying their lives suddenly could not hide anymore and the Bible describes those as Demons and this is what where looking to teach so if we’re going to see the kingdom of God fill the earth we have to see those demons defeated goes on in verse 29 how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his property unless he first bind the strong man then he will plunder his house and it’s like the world it says in the grip of the enemy were called to rescue people from that darkness and bring them into light but it’s a battle which we have to actually win the thief talking about the devil comes to steal kill and destroy but I talking about Jesus have come that they may have life and have it abundantly God wants us to have abundant life that means health wholeness provision protection blessing all those things that salvation means he wants us to have peace and to live in that and have joy and overflow in that, that is the heart God for us 2 Corinthians 211 says so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan for we are not ignorant of his schemes so the enemy has schemes to rob kill and destroy to mess up our lives and to keep us in darkness that’s his plan to keep people in darkness to rob them of a relationship with God and all that means so we must be aware of those schemes so the enemy does not take advantage and the word schemes I look this up this week because what does schemes really mean it says crafty designs for advancing self-interest sounds like the devil to me cleverness or trickiness plans to dodge or evade the truth so the enemy has schemes and we need to be aware of those schemes and sometimes it’s really difficult you don’t necessarily always see what the plans of the enemy are but God wants us to be more switched on he wants us to be more clear and have more insight into what God’s will and purpose is and when we see something contrary to that what that is and so we would not be taken advantage of wouldn’t be robbed we would not lose out on all the things God has called us to do now this is a prophetic sort of diagram that I had in one of our prophetic meetings quite long time ago and this area here there are three circles and their circles of influence and we have an influence in this area that God has called us to have we are occupant that area right now but there’s a wider influence that God calls to have and those are the areas where God is as a church specifically given us prophetic direction and that is in the area of healing deliverance miracles revelation another words understand the word of God salvation and in finances in helping people out of debt but also helping people live in prosperity now the circles of influence are areas where the enemy has a strategy to stop again we saw this picture that these areas here are areas where the enemy seeking to stop what God wants to do so he is trying to occupy our space and keep us out and those things would be classed as powers of the enemy trying to hinder us or restrict us or stop Us and we see those they’re probably others that God is gonna give us revelation of but we’ve been called to do something and that’s where things were now I believe we’ve pushed certain things out unworthy we dealt with in terms of identity and God with more seeing people come into our identity dealt with some areas in healing through the prayer and fasting we see many many testimonies now physical healing and emotional healing addiction we are seeing more and more people come free we Want to see many many more so these the areas enemies still try to stop us but ultimately this is what we Want to see happen these things are actually more and more pushed out and the eventually we would have full influence that an open heaven that we would see salvation healing deliverance and see the power the kingdom of God really occupying the space that we have and all God is called us to do but this is a challenge that we have to be aware there is a battle and we are in that battle
now what i want to introduce is the origin of spiritual warfare how did all this start a where did God is the King of the universe and made the universe how did there come to be opposition and this would be one way of looking at it and that there was eternity this end and there when God within eternity there was only one will only his will and eventually eternity there will be only one will again but in the middle there’s where we are now in time and I will over the next quite a number weeks explain that diagrams so you don’t have to take it all in and now and just suffice to say that there are different ways of looking at it when was their opposition to God and that’s one view that it happened some time after God created time and there’s also another view in terms that it happened in eternity and then God created time and will look at look at those to see which one fits in better with what the word of god actually says the key is in the beginning was God that’s what was in the beginning God nothing else only God now God is a spirit and God is infinite I was trying to think of an illustration to explain that and it’s really really hard as you can imagine to explain God but just as a sort thing how big and how great and our vast God is and what is infinity is like I picture of a scroll a big scroll but you can unroll forever and it would never unroll that’s like God then you take a pencil you put a dot on that scroll and that is the whole of our created universe and all the time one dot in an infinite scroll and that’s what will this is like God is so big and we are all contained within him so everything is been contained in God in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. now God created the heavens and sometimes we think of heaven well heavens in the sky the atmosphere and then further on into space and all that sort of stuff Which is true and we know in the Bible that Paul talked about the third heaven when he didn’t know whether he was in the body or out of the body but he was in the presence of God so there is a first heaven and a third heaven so we can probably assume that the second heaven between those and we think of them as being places will be far off – I believe when God created everything he actually created that to be one whole thing so it is not separate things but one whole area in the beginning God created the heavens and earth when he created the heavens it’s like he created dimensions how many dimensions we have in this room in terms of dimensions three. if god had creating one dimension it would be effectively a straight line that will be it but he obviously didn’t just create horizontal dimension otherwise we would all be flat and living in one line he actually created more than one dimensions so the second dimension up and down would create a square flat square actually there is more than two dimensions the third dimension is back and forward makes that square into a cube if you like so there’s space now God has created what we live in in time dimension in Doctor Who 11 understand the time and dimensions in space and I did sorry but basically he created those dimensions now if you are a scientist I was brought up to enjoy science and I became a biochemist so I have a scientific background and I like researching things like quantum mechanics and physics and relativity theory and actually most scientists say there’s many more dimensions than just three the fourth dimension is the epicurean space and the fifth dimension is a state of electromagnetism and gravity amazing so what I am getting at in this is God created the heavens and he created that in a dimension and if you think of the heavens as a place then it is somewhere you go you think of the heavens as a dimension it is actually all around us we just can’t necessarily see it so if this first heaven is what we can see then the second heaven and the third heaven are dimensions that we cannot see but they are around us and we interact with them so the second heaven where there are angels if you like or Demons basically we can’t see them very often I know people here see angels quite often and in when we worship and we got some pictures of some interesting things like that but actually there are also things in those dimensions which are invisible to our natural eye but you will be able to see them at times when God makes them available now how did god create this by faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God so that what is seen was made out of things which aren’t visible which are not visible so another words everything we see came out of invisible because God is invisible so God created it out of himself by speaking it into being and he spoke those dimensions into being and I want to give you a verve which shows you that you can see into a different dimension around us 2 kings 6 a story of an army which was attacking God’s people and attacking the prophet Elisha and elisha says this do not fear for those who are with us are more than those who are with them and his servant was there all he could see was this massive army coming to attack them he was really frightened but the prophet who could see into something more of the realms of God actually said he prayed and said I pray open his eyes that he may see and the lord open the servant eyes and he saw and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of Fire all around Elisha. so all around Elisha in that spiritual realm that spiritual heavenly dimension were beings and things which you could not see with the natural eye but there still there so all around us is a spiritual realm which we cain’t necessary see with our natural eyes but we do interact with and it’s God’s intention that we should understand how all these things work in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth so he created that spiritual realm and then he created a physical realm for us to see 1 John 11 in the beginning was the word that word was talking about Jesus the word was with God and the Word was God so the very creation and everything using a word that he spoke into being was all about who God was Colossians 116 for by him talking about Jesus all things were created both in the heavens and on the earth visible and invisible so on the earth we see visible thing but in the heavens which are around us in that different dimension there are things which are invisible but equally were created so there created things but we can’t necessarily see them whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things have been created through him and for him so the intention of the whole of creation was that it was for Jesus and in relationship with him versae 17 he is before all things and in him all things hold together so in the word of God everything in the universe holds together and again that says in Hebrews 1 verse 2 through whom also Jesus made the world and Jesus is the radiance of his glory of God’s glory the exact representation of his nature and upholds all things by the word of his power the whole universe is upheld by the word of his power now if you know anything about quantum physics and mechanics you will know that string theory and string theory is the theory of everything thing, the thing hawkens and Einstein desperately sought what is a theory which brings this whole universe into clarity and the more and more science delves into the origins of the universe and how it all worked the more they actually confirm what the Bible teaches and who God is and I said a while ago that there is an equation now quantum mechanics equation which actually proves the existence of God scientifically and it’s caused the scientific community all sorts of problems because those who are atheists are really struggling with it because actually the logic of this mathematical formula actually indicates that there has to be a God and so they are really really struggling of course the Christian science among them are really happy but their actually saying we told you all along so the more science looks into the nature of things and the deeper it goes into looking at how things work you know actually people thought that things were just atoms and molecules and actually the thing all sorts of things going on beyond that graviton particles all sorts of things which are really interesting if you are like me probablly totally boring if you not but the reality is there is a lot that we can see that God has created and string theory says that the whole world is held together by little strings of vibrating material and which sounds very much like what the words of God are and how holding all things by the word of his power string theory says there has to be at least 10 dimensions for that to work so in that sense there may be many more dimensions that we can see heaven earth are dimensions but also as I said there may be spiritual dimensions actually we cannot see but here in our midst and we need to be open to that possibility that there are the spiritual realm now Ephesians 46 actually says and there’s one God and Father who of all who was overall and through all and in all so God is actually in and through everything that we see and don’t see because everything we are created is in God as creator now the great thing Ephesians 1:4 is in all his creation everything that God has created the whole purpose of that creation is us which actually means that we are incredibly valuable to God every single one that is in this room is absolutely valuable and important to God God loves every single person because he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we would be holy and blameless before him in love so God’s desire is that we would have a relationship with him for all time that always been his desire even before he made created everything God desire that we would have a relationship with him everything actually centred around God’s desire for that relationship and when that relationship got spoiled and they’re basically this conflict started where God’s will and there was another will everything was designed to actually bring us back into a relationship with him God original intention would be outworked Nehemiah 9:6 you alone are the Lord you have made the heavens and the heaven of heavens with all their host so when God made these invisible realms of the heavens he populated them with spiritual beings we would call them angels is what the Bible describes them as spiritual beings the host of heaven were all made when he made those supernatural realms so there all there even though we can’t see them psalms 1:48 says praise him all his angels let them praise the name of the Lord for he commands and they were created so we’re looking at the origin of the spiritual realm so God created angels to fill that spiritual realm Job 38:4 where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth tell me if you have understanding when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy sons of God is a biblical description angels in the old Testament so angels were actually shouting for joy when the foundations the earth were made so they were created before the foundations of the earth so the spiritual realm was created before the physical one which is were looking into this because we Wanna see where did this spiritual warfare start it started actually before God founded the earth because he created a spiritual realm in which there were angels now in Genesis 1:2 we looked at Genesis 11 in in the in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth Genesis 12 so the earth was or actually the better translation of the word was in Hebrew and most times its became formless and void and darkness was over the surface of the deep so is there a difference between what God did in Genesis 11 when he created the heavens and the earth and at this point in Genesis 12 the earth was became formless and void and darkness was over the surface what I am saying is theres a big gap between Genesis 1112 and that is where the origin of spiritual warfare came from so if you look at this picture again here you got eternity and God creates the heavens and all the spiritual realms and they were all there and then something happens which actually causes all that realm to become formless and void and then we get this point where there is darkness and then Genesis 13 would be a re- creation week rather than a creation week because God was recreating something that already happened now can I prove that from the Bible I think I can and Isaiah 45 verse 18 for thus says the Lord who created the heavens he is the God who formed the earth and made it he establish it and did not create it a waste place but formed it to be habited I am the Lord and there is none else so God didn’t create the original heavens and earth to be a waste place they weren’t formless and void they were created to be inhabited something changed that this is what changed it Ezekiel 28 and this is talking about an angel a cherub and most theologians would agree that this was talking about the Devil you were in Eden the garden of God now was that a little garden or was it the whole planet at that point don’t know but he is talking about the God of God where every precious stone which your covering the Ruby the topaz diamond the barrel your next the Jasper lapis lazuli any idea what that is I haven’t turquoise and the emerald and the gold this is within you and the day you are created they were prepared and you were anointed the anointed cherub who covers and I placed you there you were on the holy mountain of God and you walk in the midst of the stones of fire so at that time there was a holy mountain of God in Eden and it was describing the garden of God and there was this holy cherub o.k. you were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you so God created this spiritual being righteous there was nothing wrong no sin no rebellion that was how he was created and he had a role to play in the earth that God had created and then unrighteous was founded in him you were internally filled with violence you sinned therefore I cast you as profane from the mountain of God and destroyed you oh covering cherub from the midst of the stones of fire another words he was cast out of this situation your heart was lifted up because of your beauty you corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor I cast you to the ground now look at that this is an indication that God created something perfect and because of sin of the devil and his fall that perfection was actually destroyed and in Peter it says by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water by water through which the world at that time was destroyed being flooded with water now you could think that was talking about the flood of Moses but the illustration of it is actually saying that it’s probably long go that this world was destroyed so now if you look at this picture and you think actually God created everything ready for man and yet there was disruption there and so the earth was there basically when time started because if you think the devil sinned from the beginning and we seen that the devil hadn’t sinned there has to be something which before our time whether it was because time hadn’t been formed yet because time is also a dimension amongst us we have to see that this died a long time ago and now we are all part of this situation where we are called to actually restore what God actually desire to happen Isaiah 14 how you fallen from heaven oh Lucifer star the morning sun of the Dawn you been cut down to earth because you said in your heart I will ascend to heaven I will rise my throne above the stars of God I will ascend above the heights of the clouds I will make myself like the most high nevertheless you will be thrust down to sheol to that recess of the pit this is the origin of spiritual warfare now why am I going into this is if we don’t know our enemy we don’t know how spiritual warfare started then we won’t understand how the schemes of the enemy work I want to do it really consistently so everyone of us will have a real understanding of what actually happened so in John 844 it says you are of your father the devil and you do want to do the desires of your father he was a murderer from the beginning so again from the beginning of time it is already saying that the devil already fallen there was obviously time before that revelation 12 this is what actually happened there was war in heaven in those heavenly realms Michael and his angels waging war with the Dragon Michael is an Archangel Dragon is described as Satan Dragon in his angels waged war it says that a third of those angels in heaven actually sided with the devil against God this is conflict and this happened before actually we were made so this was already in place a great dragon was thrown down the serpent of old was called the devil deceives the whole earth was thrown down to earth and his angels were thrown down with him Matthew 2541 then he will also say to those on his left depart from me accursed ones into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels so when we are looking today spiritual warfare we are actually fighting with the devil and his angels and in Matthew 12 says this if Satan casts out Satan he is divided against himself how then will his kingdom stand the enemy has a kingdom if by Beelzebub or another name of them I cast out Demons by whom do your sons so those fallen angels are the origin of the demonic that is what Demons are they are fallen angels if I cast out Demons by the spirit of God then the kingdom of God is come upon you so our role is to deal with and fight with and destroy and cast out those Demons fallen angels which is the enemy’s ploy to rob us Ephesians 611 I will finish with this put on the full armor of God knowing who we are as God’s children the authority the power that he is given us stand firm against the schemes of the devil for our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers powers against the world forces of this darkness against spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places those are effectively a hierarchical kingdom of the enemies power different structures of angels but wicked and seeking to rob kill and destroy are seeking to bring sickness bondage into every area of our lives so we have got to fight putting on the armour of God actually fight so we have Lucifer’s rebellion over here before God created the earth so when God created man sin was already present gods will and satan’s rebellion were already there, that is indicated by the fact that there was two trees in the garden there couldn’t have been a Tree of Knowledge of good and evil if there was no evil that he evil had to be already in opposition and there were two kingdoms the kingdom of light the kingdom of darkness that means the enemies always trying to divide things up so there is good and evil blessing and cursing life-and-death light and darkness heaven and earth all these things us are trying be separated out where God only wanted everything to be one so that’s what are confrontation is so when God said to Adam and Eve bless them send them out be fruitful multiply fill the earth subdue it what they were subduing was the angels that were fallen and satan outside of the garden of Eden in the rest of the world the rest of the world was in the grip of the evil one they were called to go and subdue it and next week will actually look at what happened when the enemy came into the garden and tried to destroy again God’s work but our mission this is what our mission is is to rescue people from the domain of darkness that domain where the enemy has blinded their eyes where they cannot see the truth where their being robbed of God’s blessing of peace and joy and life in abundance that we can see people transferred into the kingdom of his beloved son where there is security salvation healing wholeness deliverance peace and everything else that is our mission today when we see people come from darkness into light we are fulfilling that cosmic battle we are part of to see the enemies works defeated to see people set free to see people blessed amen now we will leave it there and will pick up again next week if anyone does want specific prayer today for healing and anything to be baptized in the spirit to actually feel presence of God then we will be only too pleased to pray with you we want to see more testimonies of God healing people seeing the works of the devil destroyed seeing the kingdom of God come in our midst if you have been blessed by this teaching from mike parsons come and visit our website freedom trust.org.uk/upper case A upper case R where you’ll find a whole range of resources God has given us a mandate to raise up a Joshua generation who will enter into the promises of God and encourage others to do the same are you a part of that Joshua generation is God calling you to partner with us we like to invite you to connect with us on social media you’ll find us on Face book twitter and Google plus and on our sons of Issachar blog freedom apostolic resource center we are here to help you and others find and fulfill your destiny