Sabbath 2/13/16 Seventh Day Baptist of Daytona Pastor Wray sermon “Something’s Got a Hold of My Life” II Cor. 10:3-5
There is a song called “Something’s got a hold of me”. This is the experience of all of us Christians, as to where we were and where God has placed us now. In this country, when slavery was abolished and many people were emancipated, some slaves kept on living like they had not been set free. A war was fought, a document signed and slaves were legally set free. Many chose to remain slaves even though they were free. They kept serving their same slave masters throughout their lives. Many Christians today are the same way. They have been set free thru Jesus but many keep living their lives slaves to their old ways and old sins that they have been set free from.
Many of us must combat the hold that habits can have on our lives. These habits that harm us, hold and stop us are called Strongholds. There is a warfare in our minds and souls. Satan (dogface) is trying to destroy our witness of Christ in our lives. He tells us what matters most is what we do today so don’t worry about tomorrow. Satan (dogface) is laughing at us and we need to stop him from messing with our minds.
Strongholds are patterns in our lives that hurt our spiritual life. Sinful habits that we struggle with for more than six weeks are a stronghold. This is a longstanding evil in our life that persists in holding us in bondage. Stronghold means hard or entrenchment, a fortress, a hard place in our lives. A stronghold is any place in our lives that is an area of contention. Any place or person that hinders us, holds us from our spiritual growth. It impedes us of our full potential of what we could fully be in Christ. Fornication or adultery or other sins like this are a path to destruction. Strongholds come when we allow the devil a foothold in our lives. We get resentment over a hurt and we get a bitter spirit. This affects our relationships with others in our lives. This stronghold, this bitterness in our lives makes us lose all sense of what is important. Many strongholds start early in our youth. We may have wasted years because of this stronghold/habit we have in our life.
Satan (dogface) is persistent in controlling every aspect in our lives. Satan (dogface) wants us to worship him. Wherever there is a stronghold, Satan (dogface) is in control. It’s the tobacco, pornography and any other stronghold of sin. It is in our strongholds of sin that we think of the evil one and not Jesus Christ. When we are in this condition, where we worship Satan (dogface), he is laughing at us! In the book of Job, Satan (dogface) told God that he was walking up and down the earth, laughing at God’s creation because he had strongholds in the people. Wrong thinking leads to wrong attitudes. Wrong attitudes lead to wrong behavior and wrong actions.
To destroy strongholds, we need to do like Jesus did when Satan (dogface) tried to tempt Him. Jesus spoke scripture, the Word to Satan (dogface) and he backed off from the Truth. The Truth being the Word of God. Satan (dogface) uses our emotions against us so we need to use scriptures, the Word to defeat him. We need to know scripture to prepare ourselves for battle. Romans 13:12 .Put on the armor of light. Have a love for Jesus. I John 2:10-11. Come out of the darkness, love your brother and love Jesus. Your love for Jesus will drive strongholds from your life. We need to use scriptures as weapons against Satan (dogface).
In the book of Genesis, when Potiphar’s wife approached Joseph for sex, he said he couldn’t commit such a sin against his God and he fled. This righteous act at first led him to prison but then it led him to the throne of Egypt where he became the 2nd ruler of the land. We can resist Satan (dogface) thru the Word, prayer and unity in Christ. Be united with each other in church. Don’t let contention divide the church. When we are united, we are spiritually powerful and can defeat any stronghold in the church. We are called to attack these strongholds, these weapons that are against us. We have the weapon of the Word to break down Satan’s (dogface’s) hold on us and others. United in the body of Christ we stand! The strength of Jesus will make the love God has for mankind known to them. Something’s got a hold of me! We are motivated by Jesus Christ who loves us!!
AMEN
{The nickname put for Satan-(dogface) is what I‘ve been calling him for 20 years.
Pastor Wray didn’t use it in his sermon.}
There is a song called “Something’s got a hold of me”. This is the experience of all of us Christians, as to where we were and where God has placed us now. In this country, when slavery was abolished and many people were emancipated, some slaves kept on living like they had not been set free. A war was fought, a document signed and slaves were legally set free. Many chose to remain slaves even though they were free. They kept serving their same slave masters throughout their lives. Many Christians today are the same way. They have been set free thru Jesus but many keep living their lives slaves to their old ways and old sins that they have been set free from.
Many of us must combat the hold that habits can have on our lives. These habits that harm us, hold and stop us are called Strongholds. There is a warfare in our minds and souls. Satan (dogface) is trying to destroy our witness of Christ in our lives. He tells us what matters most is what we do today so don’t worry about tomorrow. Satan (dogface) is laughing at us and we need to stop him from messing with our minds.
Strongholds are patterns in our lives that hurt our spiritual life. Sinful habits that we struggle with for more than six weeks are a stronghold. This is a longstanding evil in our life that persists in holding us in bondage. Stronghold means hard or entrenchment, a fortress, a hard place in our lives. A stronghold is any place in our lives that is an area of contention. Any place or person that hinders us, holds us from our spiritual growth. It impedes us of our full potential of what we could fully be in Christ. Fornication or adultery or other sins like this are a path to destruction. Strongholds come when we allow the devil a foothold in our lives. We get resentment over a hurt and we get a bitter spirit. This affects our relationships with others in our lives. This stronghold, this bitterness in our lives makes us lose all sense of what is important. Many strongholds start early in our youth. We may have wasted years because of this stronghold/habit we have in our life.
Satan (dogface) is persistent in controlling every aspect in our lives. Satan (dogface) wants us to worship him. Wherever there is a stronghold, Satan (dogface) is in control. It’s the tobacco, pornography and any other stronghold of sin. It is in our strongholds of sin that we think of the evil one and not Jesus Christ. When we are in this condition, where we worship Satan (dogface), he is laughing at us! In the book of Job, Satan (dogface) told God that he was walking up and down the earth, laughing at God’s creation because he had strongholds in the people. Wrong thinking leads to wrong attitudes. Wrong attitudes lead to wrong behavior and wrong actions.
To destroy strongholds, we need to do like Jesus did when Satan (dogface) tried to tempt Him. Jesus spoke scripture, the Word to Satan (dogface) and he backed off from the Truth. The Truth being the Word of God. Satan (dogface) uses our emotions against us so we need to use scriptures, the Word to defeat him. We need to know scripture to prepare ourselves for battle. Romans 13:12 .Put on the armor of light. Have a love for Jesus. I John 2:10-11. Come out of the darkness, love your brother and love Jesus. Your love for Jesus will drive strongholds from your life. We need to use scriptures as weapons against Satan (dogface).
In the book of Genesis, when Potiphar’s wife approached Joseph for sex, he said he couldn’t commit such a sin against his God and he fled. This righteous act at first led him to prison but then it led him to the throne of Egypt where he became the 2nd ruler of the land. We can resist Satan (dogface) thru the Word, prayer and unity in Christ. Be united with each other in church. Don’t let contention divide the church. When we are united, we are spiritually powerful and can defeat any stronghold in the church. We are called to attack these strongholds, these weapons that are against us. We have the weapon of the Word to break down Satan’s (dogface’s) hold on us and others. United in the body of Christ we stand! The strength of Jesus will make the love God has for mankind known to them. Something’s got a hold of me! We are motivated by Jesus Christ who loves us!!
AMEN
{The nickname put for Satan-(dogface) is what I‘ve been calling him for 20 years.
Pastor Wray didn’t use it in his sermon.}