The Real Enemy

Matthew 5:43-44

: 1 peter 5:8

: Ephesians 6: 10-14

Enemy___(echthrus)__Greek

____hated/hateful

___active sense___hating

**our enemy is the devil/satan

** satan is driving the church today in such a way that pastors are busy fighting each other

___we are busy fighting each other

___that is what we are being taught

___Jesus said "pray for those who persecute you"

___ and today pastors are preaching "the hit method".....(Matthew 5:38)

** pastors should also preach (Matthew 5:39)

__Jesus died for us not so that we can walk day and night wondering if this person hates us or not

__that's not what Jesus died for.....and if pastors are preaching that m sorry as i stand here i say "Christ is not in them"

**Jesus said "you are my friends if you do what i command you" (John 15:14)

__ He also says that " I command you to love one another as I have loved you"

(John 15:12)

**If indeed we are God's children we would honor His Word and begin to love each other and begin to pray for those who have gone astray and begin to pray for those who hates us and persecute us

**one might say tht "they tortured my parents"_____well God tortured His Son for your sin's sake

** one might say they killed my brother___well God gave His Son to death so that we wouldn't die anymore

**there is nothing you can say that justifies your hatred towards your family member, sister, daughter, brother or anyone

** Jesus laid His life for you because He loved you____He expect you to love His people as well

**they might have hurt you that i know, it might be difficult to even think about talking to them, but listen to me careful

___m not saying what you have been taught is wrong.....every teaching should be tested through the Word of God ( 1 Thessalonians 5:17-19)

___what is being preached does it agree with God's Word?......then we respond to it

___Begin by releasing forgiveness.....if u have to cry because it hurts....you may do so.....but in the end you gotta say He is still my father, She is still my mother,

___"freely you have received and freely u shall give".......you received forgiveness from your Father fully and freely.....you should give forgiveness fully and freely....

___you gotta say i have to fight the right enemy

**our battle is not over yet, yes people will hate us, yes people will talk bad about us ,gossip about us,lie on us....

____they are never gonna be our enemy satan and his followers is

** satan has given us this mentality that people are our enemies

** Jesus says when speaking to peter

"satan get behind me" ( Matthew 16:23)

** peter was not the enemy but satan was

___ when we begin to see people as our enemy we have lost the battle

** (1 john 4:17)

__john compare us to Jesus,

__His enemy is our enemy, His friends are our friends

__ Jesus Himself said "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" (....well was He talking about satan?_____No

___He was talking about people who are full of rage and jealous towards us__people who hate us__people who wanna see us destroyed and with nothing

**as God uses people so does satan

__ our priority is to love them because the One who created us loves them even more

__what should be preached is this:

** demons are spirits n they occupy our bodies, now the challenge is to fight against them not against ur husband or wife or children or anyone who is a human being

** demons can influence your kids or people all round us to do things that can end up destroying their lives and our lives

__demons can influence u to say things u could never say in your rightful mind

__demons can influence you to change your behavior from being good and kind to being bad and evil

__ demons are always looking for a body to occupy and they can invite other demons stronger than itself (Matthew 12:43-45)

** demons can influence a sickness in a persons body

** demons can only stay in an empty house (body)

** your character is a result of what is inside of u

__you reap what you sow___meaning what u decide to put inside of you is what you going to harvest

__satan uses what is inside of you to attack you___when you fill your body with sexual immorality satan will attack you and he will make sure that's all you think about and he will make sure that you feel like you cant live without sex

__when you fill your body with sin___satan is right there waiting to attack u__demons are gonna come and dwell within u and destroy everything good about you

**only perseverance can produce character

** patience___short period sufferings

__perseverance__long period sufferings

** (Habakkuk 1:6-11)