The Sword Of Deliverance Part 11

This is the concluding part of the message we started last week. As a quick recap we have looked at the sword as a weapon the use of the sword in the Bible, why we need to use the sword and the powers we should use the sword against. Then we went into reasons we should really fight against our oppressors and we looked at all those areas where the enemies of our souls become so stubborn. This week, we shall continue with the qualifications needed to handle the sword of deliverance and conclude the message.

QUALIFICATIONS NEEDED TO HANDLE THE SWORD OF DELIVERANCE

1.New birth: The first major qualification needed is a new birth. You must be born again and this is not negotiable. It is here that most people miss it. The MFM by the grace of God, is a do-it-yourself ministry. We do not teach people to be servants to prophets and priests. We teach them to be spiritually independent. Anybody who is not born-again as far as the Bible is concerned is not a Christian. He may be going to church but he is not a Christian. Standing at the abattoir does not make you a cow. You may be a priest, pastor, general overseer, general superintendent, general secretary of whatever, if you are not born again, you are not a Christian. This is the stance of the Bible.

John 3:3-5: “Jesus answered and said unto him, verily, verily, l say unto thee; except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb and be born? Jesus answered, verily, verily, l say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”

This is a clear statement that needs no argument at all. Become born again and have the ticket to heaven or perish. It does not matter whether you are the chairman of any committee of any church or if you are the one that helped them built the greatest cathedral in this country, you may do all that and still not be born-again. You may have degrees in Bible studies and still be a sinner .Put on the crudest form, it means being born from above; begotten from above, the Bible says you cannot commit sin. If you do, it must be accidental. But how many people today can say that their sins are mistakes? Are there not some people who pre-meditate on sins and carry them out?

The stance of the Bible is that the Lord winks at the time of ignorance but the one that you know and you do it, the Bible says, though they joined hand in hand, no sinner will go unpunished. So if you are born-again, sin will not become your habit. That is why this terminology has to be well defined for you to know and understand it. If you say you are born-again, how did it happen? How did you meet the Lord? Was it during a message or prayer or you just completed the back of an American tract? Or you shook the hand of an American Bishop and you said, Well, l am born-again” Being born again is a transformation. In the olden days, in Pentecostal churches, those who wanted to get born again, came to the altar to pray. They prayed themselves through into salvation because this is very important. Once you are saved, your name is written in the book of life, that is when you can say you are born again.

The greatest headache in the church today is that those who are not born-again and speaking in tongues are not doing the business of God. That is why in the Bible arrangement of spiritual gifts, the first one mentioned is, “before they shall speak with new tongues” But today people have turned it upside down. When somebody who is not delivered and born again is speaking in tongues, problem happens.

Why is this new birth important in handling the sword of deliverance? According to 1 Corinthians 12:13, every born-again believer is a member of the body of Christ and that body is not polluted. Every born again is a member of the family of God in heaven and on earth. According to Ephesians 3:15, every born again Christian is a son or daughter of God.

John1:12: “But as many as receive him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.”

Every born again Christian belongs to the Lord by adoption. According to Ephessian1:5, every born again Christian has been cleansed by the blood of Jesus.