The Guelph Vineyard Love God. Love People. Lives Transformed. Our Vision To fulfill our role in Guelph and the world. To have each person fully engaged and being used by God to fulfill their unique calling. To raise up successive generations who hunger to give their lives to Jesus and see the Kingdom come. Love God. Love People. Lives Transformed.

The Guelph Vineyard Love God. Love People. Lives Transformed. Spiritual Warfare – The Larger Context Gospel of Mark 1:14&15 …Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the Good News of God. “The time has come,” He said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the Good News.” Kingdom of God = The rule and reign of God on earth Proclamation and Demonstration of this reality

The Guelph Vineyard Love God. Love People. Lives Transformed. Spiritual Warfare – The Larger Context Matthew 5:13 “You are the salt of the of the Earth. But if the salt loses it saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is not longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.” We, the followers of Jesus, are called to revolutionize the cultures we touch through the proclamation and demonstration of the Good News of Jesus Christ.

The Guelph Vineyard Love God. Love People. Lives Transformed. Spiritual Warfare – The Larger Context Sadly… 1.Divorce Rates within the Church equal that of the world 2.Sexual and Physical abuse within the church is at a crisis point 3.Addiction and pornography within the church are significantly on the rise

The Guelph Vineyard Love God. Love People. Lives Transformed. Spiritual Warfare – The Larger Context My Intention is… 1.Call us back to Biblical truth about the supernatural realities of spiritual Warfare 2.Call us forward to personally experience the realities of the “Good News.” That the Kingdom of God (the rule and reign) will come into our lives and bring freedom from oppression and captivity. 3.Call us forward into deeper relationship with Jesus Christ (John 15:5)

The Guelph Vineyard Love God. Love People. Lives Transformed. Spiritual Warfare – The Larger Context Central Premise The Spiritual History of the world is one of Conflict and Love. Therefore, our lives are and will inevitably be intertwined with that spiritual warfare. God’s intention is to call us out of bondage and into a love relationship so that we may participate with him in the restoration of His beloved to Him, His Kingdom rule and the ongoing rescue that will mark that release.

The Guelph Vineyard Love God. Love People. Lives Transformed. Spiritual Warfare – The Larger Context Spiritual History Was a Cosmic Conflict Conflict has always existed Rebellion Took place at some point God allowed the rebellion Satan is the leader of that rebellion God allowed Satan to usurp the authority given to man God allowed Satan to bring the whole world under the bondage At some point “when the fullness of time had come” God sent his Son God created his beloved in His own image Evil Slave Master deceived the beloved to destroy the Love relationship God continued to pursue His beloved – Made a Love Covenant Relationship with Abraham Restored Love Relationship –Law Establishes a Kingdom of His beloved Covenant people Continually pursues & Reconciles His beloved despite a History of Rejection Pivotal point in God’s plan -Jesus comes to earth, defeats the evil slave Master and, in love, frees, redeems and establishes His Kingdom people through His life Death and resurrection and makes a way back to God’s protection and Authority

The Guelph Vineyard Love God. Love People. Lives Transformed. Spiritual Warfare – The Larger Context Spiritual History Spiritual Conflict/Warfare and Love Relationship Embrace and believe it with all of our Heart and Mind But there is often a practical denial of that which we “believe” in the daily actions and behaviors in which we live out our lives day to day. We fail to be the salt and light that revolutionizes the culture in which we live – Deny the power of the “Good News” of the Gospel

The Guelph Vineyard Love God. Love People. Lives Transformed. Spiritual Warfare – The Larger Context Why does this happen? World View We are influenced by our Western World Philosophy Enlightenment Embrace “The Lie” You are God – Man is the center of the universe Chaff that we must play a subordinate role to any King

The Guelph Vineyard Love God. Love People. Lives Transformed. Spiritual Warfare – The Larger Context We are also Influenced in the Church We believe the Conflict/Warfare/Love Story in our belief system We believe in Satan, Demons, Angels and Healing We believe in God We have Accepted Jesus as Our Savior Yet daily we chaff to bring our lives under His Kingship, His authority and we seek to be the Kings and Queens of our own lives

The Guelph Vineyard Love God. Love People. Lives Transformed. Spiritual Warfare – The Larger Context Two Obstacles we must overcome to Change our World View 1.What we believe is Possible 2.Our Experience Link our theology and our experience Desperate Willing to let God open our eyes Shift in Practice

The Guelph Vineyard Love God. Love People. Lives Transformed. Spiritual Warfare – The Larger Context Why is it so Hard to Make the Shift in Practice? 1.Humanity prefers to Stay as we are Prefer the Security and Control of what we know Yet God is calling us to place our security and dependence in Him and relationship with Him 2.Deep Unwillingness to change even when we know Pharasees in Matthew 13 I pray that God will give me a soft heart to obey and change as he opens my eyes to truth

The Guelph Vineyard Love God. Love People. Lives Transformed. Spiritual Warfare – The Larger Context So…what do we know about this conflict and the one we are in conflict with? 1.Everything has its origin in God - God is in Control Genesis 1:1 – In the Beginning God Created the heavens and the earth Psalm 90:2 – Before the mountains were formed…from everlasting to everlasting you are God John 1:1 –All things were made by him… Colossians 1:17 – In him all things hold together 2.There was a rebellion, God allowed it, it’s leader is not equal to God Job 1:12, 2:6 – Satan needs permission from God

The Guelph Vineyard Love God. Love People. Lives Transformed. Spiritual Warfare – The Larger Context So…what do we know about this conflict and the one we are in conflict with? 3.The leaders of this rebellion is a Deceiver Genesis 3 – Father of the Lie to Adam and Eve Revelation 12:9 – …the ancient Serpent who leads the whole world astray 4.He is a Destroyer 1 Peter 5:8 – he prowls around like a Lion looking for someone to devour 5.He is a Tempter and Seducer Matthew 4, Luke 4 – Tempt Jesus II Timothy 3:7 – “Worms” his way into the weak

The Guelph Vineyard Love God. Love People. Lives Transformed. Spiritual Warfare – The Larger Context So…what do we know about this conflict and the one we are in conflict with? 6.He is not Omnipresent, but does have an army Matthew 25:41 – “devil and his angels” Mark 3:13-30 – Satan is the “prince of the Demons” which are his army 7.He has a Kingdom this earth – has been allowed Ephesians 2:2 – Ruler of the Kingdom of the air 8.We battle this Kingdom Ephesians 6:10-18 – “Put on our armor” to stand against his scheme and arrows in battle

The Guelph Vineyard Love God. Love People. Lives Transformed. Spiritual Warfare – The Larger Context So…what do we know about this conflict and the one we are in conflict with? 9.There may be a hierarchy to his army Ephesians 3:10, 6:12 – Ruler and authorities of this dark world 10.The Army may have Geographic rule Daniel 10:13 – The prince of the Persian Empire Jude 1:6 – God Punishes ones who leave their region or level 11.Quite likely behind earthly ruler Exodus 6-12 – each plague against a Egyptian “God”

The Guelph Vineyard Love God. Love People. Lives Transformed. Spiritual Warfare – The Larger Context So…what do we understand about his Strategies? 1.He creates conflict in the Heavenly Places Daniel 10 – War between the angels and demons 2.He attacks God’s Children Direct Oppression – James 1:13-15 plays on our weaknesses and desires Indirect Oppression – Gains control over our culture, Politics, media, Positions of power 3.He deceives and controls those separate from God’s Culture II Cor 4:4, Romans – Blinds their eyes and draws them into every form of evil

The Guelph Vineyard Love God. Love People. Lives Transformed. Spiritual Warfare – The Larger Context In the midst of this Rebellion and War how did we find ourselves caught up in the conflict? Next week…pick the story up with Adam and Eve naked in the Garden