Excess Baggage 4
‘Counter Attacks’
Pastor Stan Roberts
Luke 11:24-26 NLT
24 “When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, searching for rest. But when it finds none, it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’
25 So it returns and finds that its former home is all swept and in order.
26 Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before.”
Maintaining freedom is what many Christians are not prepared for.
A cycle of baggage:
- FREEDOM
- PROSPERITY
- BONDAGE
Galatians 5:1 NIV
1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Secrets of how to stay free:
- HUMILITY
PROVERBS 16:18 NIV
PROVERBS 16:17 NIV
1 Peter 5:6 NIV
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.”
The CHOICE is YOURS!
Psalm 51:1-2, 17 NIV
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
17 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.
- HONESTY
1 John 1:9-10 NIV
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
James 5:16 NIV
“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”
- HOLY SPIRIT
Romans 8:9 NLT
“But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)”
2 Corinthians 3:17 NLT
“For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
We need ENCOUNTERS with the Holy Spirit!
We need the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives!
Genesis 32:22-32 NIV
22 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.
23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions.
24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man (angel) wrestled with him till daybreak.
25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.
26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
27 The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered.
28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”
29 Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.
30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
31 The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip.
32 Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.”
Genesis 32:27 – 29 AMPC
27 [The Man] asked him, What is your name? And [in shock of realization, whispering] he said, Jacob [supplanter, schemer, trickster, swindler]!”
28 And He said, Your name shall be called no more Jacob [supplanter], but Israel [contender with God]; for you have contended and have power with God and with men and have prevailed. [Hos. 12:3-4.]
29 Then Jacob asked Him, Tell me, I pray You, what [in contrast] is Your name? But He said, Why is it that you ask My name? And [the Angel of God declared] a blessing on [Jacob] there.”
HUMILITY
HONESTY
DAILY PRESENCE OF GOD
Will produce:
- New Strength.
1 Corinthians 2:3-5 NIV
3 I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling.
4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,
5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.
- New Identity, new name.
Anyone be in Christ is a brand new person! (2Cor 5:17)
- NEW JOY! Blessing.
Psalms 16:11 NIV
11 You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
You give Him your JUNK!
He gives you a NEW LIFE!
Are you ready to give your life to Jesus?