🔙 Welcome Back to Spiritual Warfare

Welcome back to this course on Spiritual Warfare. We're now entering Session 11, where we continue with the theme: Getting to Know Your Enemy.

🎥 Behind the Scenes: A Personal Update

This recording is happening on June 3, 2025, but I originally recorded this course back in the fall of 2024. Honestly, it’s been a challenge.

I am here months after finishing the full course to record two more sessions—and there's a reason for that: spiritual warfare.

⚡ Strange Studio Power Outages

While I was recording last fall, the power went out three separate times—but only in the Christian Leaders studio.
The rest of the building? Totally fine.
Then, as soon as we walked back into the studio—boom, the power was back on.

But I had to re-record a couple of sessions because of that.

😖 When It Got Personal

Then things started getting personal.
I started falling out of bed—something that’s never really happened to me before.
At first, I chalked it up to age, thinking: Maybe I’m just getting older.
But then I fell and hit my head on the bedstand. That’s when it really got my attention.

🙏 A Daughter's Prayer at 3:35 AM

I told my daughter what happened. She had been praying for me while I recorded these sessions—especially for protection.
She asked me, "Dad, what time was it?"
I said, "About 3:35."

She responded, "I woke up right at that time with the impression that I needed to pray for you as you do this course."

🧩 More Disruptions

Then other things started to go wrong:

  • Recordings were lost

  • Files disappeared without explanation

All of these experiences made it clear:
➡️ We’re facing real spiritual warfare.

⚠️ Technical Difficulties... Again

I had several near accidents. There were misunderstandings about where things were and what they were. The quizzes for this course—the ones used for credit—weren’t all there.
There were just all sorts of things happening like that.

So, the course was just about ready to go—everything was all set and prepared to get to you so you could hopefully use it and learn—and then we found out:

📣 Sessions 11 and 12 had no sound.

🔁 A Timeline of Glitches

Now, when I record, I do six sessions at a time.
So, the day I recorded these—back in September or October 2024—I did sessions 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12.

➡️ No problem with 7, 8, 9, or 10.
But 11 and 12? No sound at all.

The next person who came in and recorded had no issues.
🎞️ Another glitch.

👿 Resistance from the Enemy

I’m telling you this for a few reasons.
First and foremost:
The enemy doesn't want you to have this material.
He's been putting in roadblocks like crazy.

But here we are again today, trying to move past it—to get this teaching to you.
Because, as I’ve said before, this is something I had no training in.

Strange, right?
How can you go through seminary, be in ministry for years, and never be trained in spiritual warfare?

So I'm eager for you to receive this content.

🕵️ Session 11: Knowing Your Enemy — “The Tempter”

We're continuing with our theme of getting to know your enemy.

And today's focus?
One of his names: The Tempter.

📖 Example: The Temptation of Jesus (Matthew 4:3)

“The tempter came to him and said, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.’”

This comes from Jesus’ time of testing in the wilderness, right after His baptism by John the Baptist.

He fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, and then—the tempter came.

👉 Notice the tactic: “If you are the Son of God…”
He’s planting doubt.

And he offers a shortcut—solve the hunger yourself, without God's direction.

🧠 Example: Paul’s Warning (1 Thessalonians 3:4–5)

Paul writes to the Thessalonian church, which was being persecuted:

"When I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. I was afraid that in some way the tempter had tempted you and that our labors might have been in vain."

The enemy’s strategy?
Tempting believers—especially in hardship—to give up, walk away, or lose faith.

🐍 The Original Temptation (Genesis 3:1–7)

Now let’s go all the way back to the beginning—the temptation of Eve and Adam.

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say…?’”

⚠️ Did God really say?
It’s that same tactic again—casting doubt on God's Word.

Eve responds, and then the serpent replies:

“You will not certainly die... For God knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God.”

Temptation came through deception, desire, and a twist of truth.
And the result?
Sin entered. Shame followed. They sewed fig leaves to cover themselves.

🌳 Hiding from God in the Garden

“Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.”

They hid.
Shame entered. Fear took hold.
But God called out:

“Where are you?”

Adam answered:

“I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”

And God said:

“Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree I commanded you not to eat from?”

Adam replied:

“The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

Then God turned to Eve:

“What is this you have done?”

And Eve said:

“The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

👉 Shifting Blame, Avoiding Responsibility

Blame was passed around like a hot potato:

  • Adam blamed Eve (and indirectly, God).

  • Eve blamed the serpent.

But no one took responsibility before their Creator.

💭 Doubt, Deception, and Disobedience

Notice the pattern of temptation:

  1. Doubt — “Did God really say?”

  2. Deception — “God didn’t mean it like that…”

  3. Disobedience — Taking what was forbidden.

This wasn’t just a personal failure—it was a cosmic fall.

🌍 The entire world was impacted by this choice.

This passage is known as “The Fall”, and it explains why humanity now lives in a world of sin, brokenness, and separation from God.

🛑 Satan: The Tempter

He’s not just a tempter—he’s the Tempter.
His aim?

  • To make you doubt God's goodness.

  • To push you to disobey God’s will.

  • To drive a wedge between you and your Creator.

  • To destroy God's reputation and distort His truth.

📜 James on Temptation (James 1:13–14)

James, the brother of Jesus and an early church leader, wrote this powerful truth:

“When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For 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.”

🔥 That’s a key insight:

  • Temptation doesn’t come from God.

  • It comes from within—when our own desires latch onto something outside of God’s will.


🌱 Desire: The Starting Point of Temptation

James teaches that temptation begins with desire—and we all have desires, because humanity is broken by the fall.
Even as Christians, we carry desires that conflict with the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives.

🧠 Key point:
Improper desires are not unusual.
But they open a door for the enemy if not surrendered to God.

Paul writes elsewhere:

“Do not let the sun go down on your anger, lest you give the devil a foothold.”

In the same way, undisciplined desires—when we lack self-control—give Satan a foothold in our lives.

🎣 Enticement: The Lure that Follows Desire

Desire alone doesn’t become sin.
It becomes sin when it is enticed and pursued.

Picture a fish. 🐟

  • It has a normal desire: hunger.

  • Then it sees something shiny: a lure.

  • It moves toward the bait, unaware of the hook.

That's how temptation works.

🔥 David and Bathsheba: A Famous Example

One of the clearest examples of temptation leading to sin is David and Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11):

  • David stays behind in Jerusalem while his army is at war.

  • One evening, from the roof of his palace, he sees Bathsheba bathing.

  • Instead of turning away, he continues watching.

  • His desire turns into enticement.

👀 Was Bathsheba to blame? Some argue she knew the king could see her.
But Scripture places responsibility squarely on David.
No matter the external influences, David chose to pursue sin.

🧬 Still, Bathsheba appears in Jesus' genealogy (Matthew 1), showing how grace can redeem brokenness.

🚪 Disobedience: Stepping Through the Door

Temptation culminates in a choice—the moment of disobedience.

In one sermon, the speaker used a door as a visual:

  • You walk toward it, because it promises satisfaction.

  • You might even open it and peek inside.

  • But crossing the threshold is where sin happens.

That’s the step where temptation becomes action—and, as James says, “sin, when full-grown, gives birth to death.”

☠️ James doesn’t necessarily mean physical death, but spiritual death—distance from God, loss of purpose, broken relationships.

☠️ Spiritual Death: What Sin Really Brings

James says sin gives birth to death—not necessarily physical death, but spiritual separation from our loving Father.
That’s what happens when we give in to temptation and fail to confess it.

I know this process well. It takes developed self-control and ongoing surrender.

🧱 Pride: A Barrier to God’s Presence

Recently, I preached here in West Michigan on the sin of pride.
Not the healthy pride of appreciating your child’s achievements or doing a job well.
I mean the kind of pride that Webster's Dictionary defines as an unreasonable conceit in appearance, abilities, possessions, and more.

Unchecked pride builds a barrier between us and God, and that, too, leads to spiritual death.

🙏 The Pharisee and the Tax Collector: A Picture of Pride and Humility

This comes alive in Luke 18:

  • The Pharisee, a model citizen, stands confidently in the temple:

    “I thank you, God, that I’m not like other people… I fast twice a week, I give a tenth of all I get.”

  • The tax collector, a traitor to his people, stands far off, beats his chest, and prays:

    “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

Though the Pharisee followed 613 commands—and 1,500 more safeguards—the one justified before God is the humble tax collector.

💡 Why? Because grace comes only through humble confession, not human righteousness.

🎯 Satan Targets Christian Leaders

Satan, the tempter, is coming for you—especially if you’re a Christian leader.
Just like in historical battles where snipers aimed for officers, Satan targets those with influence.

His goal? To discredit, divide, and destroy.

📌 So be alert to the process of temptation:

  • Desire opens the door

  • Enticement draws you in

  • Disobedience leads to spiritual death

🕊️ A Final Word—and a Prayer

One of my heroes, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, a Russian writer and former prisoner of the Soviet gulag, once wrote:

“The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties—but right through every human heart.”

That's true.

Let me close this session with prayer:

🙏 Prayer for Protection and Renewal

Lord,
I'm here in West Michigan, but I know the people listening to this course are from all over.
And I know the enemy is at work.

I ask You to:

  • Prod hearts and minds through this teaching

  • Protect Your people with the shield of faith and the breastplate of righteousness

  • And when we fail—and we will—remind us that You are the God who raises the dead to life

Let it be true for each of us.
In Jesus’ name, amen.

Modifié le: mercredi 4 juin 2025, 12:47