Exposing The LIES!

What if you could transform your mind into a fortress against life's battles? This episode promises to equip you with the knowledge of spiritual warfare, focusing on the battleground of the mind. We explore how understanding the enemy's tactics, much like the plot of a futuristic alien invasion movie, can pivot us from defeat to victory. By embracing the guidance of the Holy Spirit and employing the power of self-discipline and thoughtful words, we can align our thinking with God's will to reach our full potential and purpose.

Join us in dissecting the profound lessons from Jesus' temptation in the desert, as we scrutinize His unmatched spiritual resilience. We discuss the critical replacement principle, where we swap the enemy's lies with the truths found in God's Word. Through the lens of Romans 12:2, we underscore the transformation of our thoughts and the subsequent impact on our mental and physical well-being. By following Jesus' example and immersing ourselves in scripture, we can better prepare ourselves against life's temptations and fulfill God's purpose.

Finally, this episode draws parallels between spiritual preparation and the rigorous training found in East Texas football and military practices. We highlight the importance of prayer, fasting, and scripture study as essential tools for spiritual readiness. Discover how scripture acts as both a shield and a sword in spiritual warfare, and learn to guard against deception and false beliefs in today's ever-changing world. We encourage a focus on spiritual values over political distractions, urging listeners to support and pray for leaders while staying rooted in faith.

Chapters

• 0:01 Spiritual Warfare and Focusing on Truth
• 11:34 Replacing Lies With God's Truth
• 18:27 Preparing for Spiritual Battle
• 33:37 Guarding Against Deception and False Beliefs

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Before we get into today's video, I just wanted to say thank you to all of the new subscribers. If you haven't yet consider subscribing, hit that bell notification so that you can see every time I put out a new video. A major portion of you that watch my videos haven't subscribed yet, so why not? It's free. You can also find a PayPal link below if you want to give a one time or give a monthly to support the channel. Anything, great or small, is appreciated. Now let's get into the video. What is up? Faith and failures. Welcome to another episode diving into the Word of God. So we're going to be. I kind of jumped around a little bit, but we're going to jump back into where we I think it was maybe two weeks ago we started talking about the battleground, the war in your mind. We need to understand what kind of battle we are fighting. What kind of battle we are fighting. You can't fight a war and be successful in that fight if you do not understand what the battle is, where the battle is and how you can fight it.

Speaker 1: 1:21

I think Tom Cruise is the star of a movie. I actually was just kind of had it on in the background and then started getting a little bit interested in it. It's called the Tomorrow War. It's about an alien invasion that they. He ends up getting in trouble. I don't remember I wasn't paying attention really in the beginning, but he gets in trouble, goes, he gets pretty much put on the front lines. It's kind of a futuristic where they have these body suits on and all that and he dies, but the alien's blood gets on him that somehow can predict the future. It keeps relapsing and so they, they keep winning. The aliens do over and over again and they can't figure out how, and ends up being a a time loop thing that they can always know the next move, and so they, they die, they just reset. They kept progressing in the war because every day you kind of know the enemy's different moves and you can kind of counteract. He ends up getting this power from the alien's blood and they end up I'm like right at the end of it. They end up, uh, kind of progressing themselves. Because now he has his power. He finds this girl that once had the power too, but then she got in a bad accident. They gave her blood infusions and that took out the alien blood that was in her blood. So it took away the power of her. Now this guy has it.

Speaker 1: 3:00

Anyways, once they started realizing the war they were fighting and how to progress, they were able to fight the war like for reals and not lose, because they were fighting a losing battle like day after day after day. It just seemed like they never could progress and they even I think at the beginning of the movie they showed up to this beachfront I don't know where it is. They get slaughtered and it's because the aliens knew that they were going to be there, because on the alien side they had fought this war before they saw them coming in and it's just like they had an advantage because they knew. They knew what the other person was going to do. That's the advantage of being spiritually led, is that the Holy Spirit knows and if you live long enough, you can recognize the tactics of the enemy and you can fight better. When you pay attention of how the battle is fought, you could pay attention to what weapons are available to you as the believer and one of the things the enemy tries to use against us that is not necessarily his weapon, but he uses our own weapon against ourselves.

Speaker 1: 4:14

Is our mind Like the devil, can't? There's no biblical standing, no reference or anything of the devil being able to read our minds. But Jesus, could he read the minds of the Pharisees and religious leaders? Answer the question? They were thinking, answer the question they were talking amongst themselves, but there's no recording of the devil being able to do that or demonic presence being able to do that. So that means that they're more observers, excuse me. And, that being said, he can whisper things in your ear, get your, your mind working, and that's why some people and and it's true, there's power in our words, you know there's there's life and death in our tongue. There's power in our words. What we allow to come out of our mouths now can be caught by the enemy and used against us. So that's why there is such, there can be such damage done when we don't filter what we say, which, if we're all honest, is very, very, very hard to do.

Speaker 1: 5:25

One of the nine fruits of the Spirit, one of them is self-discipline. Am I following silent? So I hope that you are enjoying the Bible studies that I've been putting out. I'm going to have some interviews coming up, so please make sure, like the beginning of this video said, subscribe and hit that little bell notification so you can see when I do interviews and put out new Bible teachings that I am trying to put out every single Monday. So, if you will look on your screen, we're going to look at this scripture and today we're going to be talking about exposing the lies.

Speaker 1: 6:01

So let's look at this talking about exposing the lies. So let's look at this. It says don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way that you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect, and pleasing and perfect. So in this little battleground topic, I want you to not try to latch on to the behaviors and the customs of this world, because these things, even though they can be good, they can be enjoyable, they can be fun, sometimes can hinder us from reaching our potential, reaching our purpose of where god actually desires for us to be. Because we're we. We don't have the bandwidth or the the hands to grab a hold of what he is trying to serve to us. Grab a hold of what he desires for us to do and our purpose, because our hands are already full with so many other things that may be good in the moment, but in reality, god has something greater for us, if that makes sense. So let's look in, I guess, a little bit broader.

Speaker 1: 7:22

So let's look at, I guess, a little bit broader. So let's look at a very real thing. This is going to be Jesus temptation. So we want to expose the lies. I'll show you the little slides I got Expose the lies. You can see a little brain in the background, because a lot of the things that we, the lies we end up living out in real time, usually ends up being a remnant or having the root of lies that have been fed to us. So let's look at the temptation of Jesus. If you have a Bible, or if you want to screenshot this and look back when you study which I hope you do in reference to this in Matthew, chapter 4, starting at verse 1 through 11.

Speaker 1: 8:14

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit. So pay attention to this. This was not something the devil did to him. This was, excuse me. This was immediately following his baptism. The heavens opened up. The Lord said this is my beloved son, whom I'm well pleased, and then the spirit ascended like a dove after that. Then he began to fast and pray. I think this is one thing that is lost on the church is we give our hearts to Jesus but we don't do some of the work that I believe God requires or desires for us to take up that mantle Like, for instance, for me personally. This is just a personal conviction for me.

Speaker 1: 9:02

Before I even prepare for my message on Sunday, I have a day of fasting and prayer and obviously I work a full-time job. I have a company. If you've ever done that, you know it's more than just a regular full-time job. You work all the time, every hour, almost the day, but I fast and I'm in the car, a lot traveling back and forth to work, so I pray while I'm in the car, a lot traveling back and forth to work, so I pray while I'm on the road. So I dedicate a day to fasting and praying because I want. I want to put my physical body to a spiritual submission and show God that I mean business about preparation, about receiving a word from him for his people.

Speaker 1: 9:48

And this is not just something, because here's the thing we like to use Jesus' examples for a lot of different things, but some of the harder ministry things we end up reserving that just for pastors of churches or elders of a church, and imagine the benefits and, yes, the burden if you would also do this just as a churchgoer. How much more intimidating you would be to the enemy, how much more of a ruler over your flesh, how much more self-control would you have If you actually did everything Jesus did, like following his examples, and that being fasting and praying. So in the very first verse it says this is right after Jesus was baptized, that he was led into the wilderness by the spirit to be tempted there by the devil, up church religion, christianity as well. I'm going to use this or do this, if it works out for me, for my benefit. And what I mean by that is we are very selfish and we sacrifice nothing for Jesus, but we expect everything from God. And so the Spirit led Jesus out to be tempted, not the devil, and we've got to remember that.

Speaker 1: 11:34

Verse 2, 40 days and 40 nights he fasted and he became very hungry. So it says 40 days and 40 nights. During that time the devil came and said to him nights, during that time, the devil came and said to him if you are the son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread. So he's like tempting Jesus. He knows Jesus has power. He knows Jesus has authority. The task he brought before Jesus he knew if he really wanted to he probably could have done it. I mean John 1.1. Jesus was with God, he is God. So he knew he had this ability available to him and he came to him in the moments when he was the weakest Physically, but he was not weak spiritually. Verse 4 it says but jesus told him no.

Speaker 1: 12:34

The scriptures say people do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of god. The devil took. Then. The devil took him to the holy city, jerusalem, to the highest point of the temple, and said if you are the son of god, jump off. For the scriptures say now see how he's using scripture. The devil knows scripture. The devil knows how to make it sound good, to wrap it up in pretty nice words, to make things seem like they are good when in reality they are, at the core, rotten. Jesus responded. The scriptures also say you must not test the lord, your god.

Speaker 1: 13:10

Next, the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. I will give it all to you. He said if you kneel down and worship me, get out of here, satan. Jesus told him, for the scriptures say you must worship the Lord, your God, and serve him, or serve only him. The devil went away and the angels came and took care of Jesus.

Speaker 1: 13:38

So here in Matthew, chapter four, we witnessed this for 40 days of fasting in the desert, only to be tempted by his adversary, satan. Now, like Jesus, we will face trials, we will face temptations, but his response should be a model for those of us that follow him. When confronted by the army sorry, when confronted by the enemy, jesus did not rely on his own strength or his own reasoning, but instead he countered each temptation with the truth of god's word. So remember, we're talking about replacing the lies, okay, so he took the devil, tempted him and he took what the devil said, just like the devil took what God said in the scriptures and he twisted it and perverted it to try to tempt Jesus to do something, to step out of the will of God in his moment of time of weakness and hunger. He first started off with hunger and then he started off with think about this Jesus had been 30 years 30 years. Some of us want God to do first, just find our purpose and our blessing by like next Tuesday.

Speaker 1: 14:52

And Jesus went through a 30-year time period where his calling, purpose and ministry had not yet started. But it was a time of preparation. So imagine the humility that Jesus had to retain to stay where God put him where he was born, the family he was born into, the place he was born into. They were subject to Rome. Imagine being underneath the Roman Empire and you know, you could wipe them out if you really wanted to. Like that would be a cool action movie. So he took what the enemy tried to tempt him with and he framed it up as it being all glory back to God and that I won't eat until I'm supposed to, I won't be king until I'm supposed to, which one day Jesus will be king, he will be sitting on the throne before everyone in all of his glory, but in this moment in his life he wasn't there, but the devil was trying to tempt him with something that he thought Jesus might be interested in, because he was trying to play on his human side.

Speaker 1: 16:19

So number two is the replacement principle. So by renewing our minds, we're taking what lies we know and we're replacing it with things that are true. Look at Romans, chapter 12, verse two. Don't copy the behaviors of this world we started with this one behavior and customs of this world but let god transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know god's will for you, which is good, it is pleasing, it is perfect. This is telling us to not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, and this is very important for our mental health and even our physical health, because I believe a lot of emotional things can manifest in physical aspects, like issues can manifest in sickness.

Speaker 1: 17:13

But if we are not taking the time to renew our minds and take care of ourselves mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually the devil will get us because we are out there weak. This transformation occurs as we apply the replacement principle, removing the lies of the enemy and replacing them with the truth of Scripture. You will not find truth in the culture. You have to find it in the cross. Just as Jesus rejected Satan's temptation with Scripture, we too can overcome the enemy's lies by saturating our minds with God's Word. If you're not diving into God's Word, if you're not studying God's word, if you're not participating in Bible study in church and things they have going on to build that community, you'll be left out, stranded by yourself, and the devil's going to come and try to sideswipe you, to come and try to side swipe you and you will not be ready for the damage. You'll end up falling to temptation because you, you didn't prepare. You don't.

Speaker 1: 18:27

Here in east texas, if you don't know, I live in east texas and they're big on football. Okay, I'm not not a really sports guy. I like playing them. I don't really like watching them. Or in school I was kind of like, yeah, whatever, I prefer to be with people and talk to people instead of just go out. And I'm a little guy, so football was not my thing. But here in East Texas it's a major thing, it is a religion. They do not play the games first and then go out and play and then practice. They practice for months. They'll stay in the weight room, they'll run plays, they'll run until they throw up. They will push their body to the limits so that when the actual game time comes, they will actually be ready for whatever happens.

Speaker 1: 19:20

The same with the military Boot camp and training is not supposed to make you love life. It is supposed to get your mind right for when reality happens out in the field. You are prepared and ready. And so why do we, as believers, wait until we are out in the middle of the fight and then cry oh God, where are you when we did no preparation for the fight to come, like we have no clue? Okay, some people are. They. They're very pessimistic and they say well, how am I supposed to know? Bad things are going to happen. Well, first of all, bad things happen to everybody. Second of all, even though on a football field, you run a play that you have practiced over and over again, you cannot predict what the other team is going to do ever. You don't know what their play is. You, ever you don't know what their play is. You don't know which guy's going to go left or right. You don't know what's going to happen. This is why watching a game can be fun, because you have no clue what's going to happen. So you can't say, well, I just don't know what to do. Read, pray and fast and prepare, like Jesus did.

Speaker 1: 20:32

The importance of a firm foundation, knowing God's word Psalm 119, 105,. It says your word is the lamp to guide my feet and a light to my path. In a world full of deception and confusion, scripture serves as a guiding light to keep us safe. It is meant to show us. This is my prayer. I tell my church this. This is my prayer. I don't pray that God shows me three steps on the road, I pray that he shows me the next step. If he shows me the next step, I will step faithfully every time. But until I see that step in front of me, I usually don't step unless I feel he is asking me to step in faith, because there's all kinds of deception, there's all kinds of confusion. I just want God to show me the next step.

Speaker 1: 21:27

Scripture also illuminates the way forward, guiding us against the schemes of the enemy. The Bible says the devil is roaring like a lion, and I think it's very funny the phrasing on all this, because it says like a lion, but then it says that Jesus is the lion of Judah, because the devil is trying to pretend he is equal to Jesus or God, and he's not. It's a false facade. By immersing ourselves in God's word, we establish a firm foundation of our faith, enabling us to discern truth from the lies and from the deception, and to remain walking or to begin walking if, if you knew in the alignment of God's will, so applying the example of Jesus by standing firm Ephesians 6, 17,. Put on salvation as your helmet and take the word of the spirit, which is the word of God.

Speaker 1: 22:38

This passage, it tells us to take the word of the spirit, which is the word of God, into battle for spiritual warfare. I know it's not fair, but whether you choose to actually fight or not, fight, do not follow Christ. You are in a battle, whether you like it or not, and you may not lose the battle now, but you will one day, and I don't want that for you. The word of the Spirit, which is the word of God, is our weapon in spiritual warfare. Jesus, like Jesus, we must wield Scripture as a weapon against the enemy's attacks, standing firm on the promises and truths found only in God's word. The cool thing about God's word it is an offensive and a's word. The cool thing about God's word it is a offensive and a defensive weapon. It will stop the attacks of the enemy and it will also land a striking blow.

Speaker 1: 23:49

So the fifth one is walking in victory. We need to embrace the transformative power of God's word, and when we do this we will begin to walk in victory. We need to embrace the transformative power of God's word and when we do this we will begin to walk in victory. Hebrews 4.12. For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires, and this may be why a lot of church people don't read the Bible. As we embrace the transformative power of God's word, we experience his victory over sin and doubt and we are transformed into vessels of his grace and his truth.

Speaker 1: 24:36

If the enemy would go toe to toe with Jesus, trying to trip him up, you better believe he's going to come after you, he's going to try to get you. Here's what I think, here's my personal opinion. There's no scripture, I guess, reference of this, but in my opinion, I think the devil's mad because he messed up so bad and he was cast out of heaven, and we mess up so bad, but Jesus came to make a way for us and he can't have that, he can never have that, he cannot be saved and so, just like a child, of course, the devil is very immature Every attribute of a spoiled brat he has that, trying to cause chaos and dysfunction in God's family because he can't be a part of the family. But everyone is tempted in some way. The devil's been doing this a long time. He understands what gets you. He understands what gets me.

Speaker 1: 25:43

There's stuff that pop up on Instagram and I'm like I have never once searched for this. Why is it here? You can blame it on algorithm. I blame it on the devil, because the devil knows where I'm weak. He knows where I have hang-ups and miss uh and and issues. So he tries to get me to look at things I shouldn't be looking at, to get my mind working in ways it shouldn't be working, and so I will literally like just exit out of the app and be like I see you, devil. Well, I'll show my wife.

Speaker 1: 26:20

Some people are like oh my gosh, you show your wife that stuff. Well, first of all, it's not porn. I'm not showing her porn. It is like just these little short videos of something that's terrible. I even saw one it was just today and it was like this little, like this girl wearing almost nothing and behind her was a green screen type deal and it was the pearly gates and this is not like an assumption. It said in the text. It was like me looking confused for the 200 and something reasons why I can't get in the pearly gates. I'm like you don't understand what you're saying, like there's two options, there's heaven and there's hell. And you're saying you've done, you do this, you do sexual immorality all the time and that's why you're not getting in and you're bragging about it and making it and trying to make a funny video. You're not going to be laughing one day. Sin is a very real thing. That will keep you out of heaven.

Speaker 1: 27:25

People like to think about the love of God, but as equal as he is on love, he is just and he is holy. So look over. I say look over. Like you got your Bibles, like I'm doing a sermon kind of 1 Corinthians 10,. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience and God is faithful. So he will show up, he will help you. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand when you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

Speaker 1: 28:00

People oftentimes misinterpret or use this. They pull from a very center of it and say that God won't give you more than you can bear. And yes, he will. If he never allowed more than you can bear, you wouldn't he will. If he didn't he never allowed more than you can bear, you wouldn't need God. You'd be able to handle it on your own. This is talking about temptation, but he will give you a way out. And so, just as Jesus was tempted with hunger, bare necessities, with a prideful kingdom like, I'll give you this kingdom. All you got to do is bow down to me. I'll give you all this stuff. All you got to do is deny, deny, deny. Well, the devil's been doing this for a while. He knows exactly what he needs to bring to your doorstep to get you thinking about whatever you're tempted with, to get you thinking about whatever you're tempted with.

Speaker 1: 29:00

With me, what my temptations are not is money. I can't say I'm not tempted to lie. I even said this on one of my sermons a week or two ago. It's like you know how we talk about white lies, right? Well, in reality, lying is lying. Like we just try to compartmentalize and make it seem like it's not as bad. Uh, for our own sake, really.

Speaker 1: 29:25

And uh, the the temptation to lie to your wife. When she asked how something looks on her, because you don't want to hurt her feelings and I told my congregation I was like you know, I didn't say anything to hurt her feelings, I just said I think it needs to be bigger the shirt. And they flipped out. I wasn't saying my wife was fat, I'm saying the shirt needed to be bigger. It's a difference. I didn't lie because I don't think my wife is fat, but the place she got the shirts from they're known for making smaller shirts, so their sizing is different. And that's all I was saying. But I didn't want to lie to her and be like no baby. Sizing is different and that's all I was saying. But I didn't want to lie to her and be like no baby. It looks good. And then she sees herself in the mirror a couple of days later when she's wearing it out. She's like I look terrible.

Speaker 1: 30:24

Why didn't you tell me? Well, here's the thing A lot of people ask for truth, but they aren't ready to receive the truth. So if you're wanting truth in your life, be willing to receive the truth when it's given. But the devil knows where you're weak. It may be lying, it may be stealing. It may be financial, it may be like you are not a solid person when it comes. You should not be over the finances of the church, you should not be counting the money back in the back. You should not be dealing with children or you should not be doing a small group because you lack the integrity or character right now. And that's okay. Like I don't mind somebody who is up front with their struggle or issues, I'd rather them and me know it, both of us. It comes from their mouth, not me finding out later.

Speaker 1: 31:22

What's frustrating is when people don't admit they have a problem. They never see their own faults and it's always everybody else. Those people are very hard to work with. The devil knows maybe pride pride is a very big one in the church house. Matter of fact, from what I see from church people in the in the bible in biblical days when jesus was alive, he talked a lot to the pharisees because they had the biggest pride issue ever. They always thought they were better than everybody else, the way they prayed, the words they spoke, how they prayed, the way they carried themselves, and I don't think today is much different, honestly. But the devil knows when to attack you, how to attack you and he loves to show up in your weakest moment. But what did Jesus do? He kept the word of God, the true word of God, not a twisted up, perverted version of it, but the actual word of God, the actual truth, not my truth, not your truth, but the truth in the middle of it. The enemy cannot stand up against the word of God, and that's the bottom line.

Speaker 1: 32:39

Like in our culture today, especially with social media and things like that, culture is constantly being pushed, pushing out what their truth is and versions of it, and who can not necessarily say it the loudest, but say it the most. I mean we, just at the time of recording this, we just had a 2024 election and man leading up to it. I've gotten so much junk mail, so many texts like text messages from people. I need your help. We're on the same team. I'm like, oh my gosh, this is annoying. I get it from every side. I'm like just shut up, like I'm so done with this. We have this side over here that's freaking out because this person and this happens every election it seems to be getting worse. This person's freaking out because this person and this happens every election it seems to be getting worse. This person's freaking out because this person won, just like in 2020, everybody's freaking out over here because this person won.

Speaker 1: 33:37

I'm like, listen, if you're a believer, like you should not be worried about the election. Like, do your part. But we should not like be so caught up in politics that we say that people are going to hell if they don't vote, because that's not biblical at all. The Bible tells us to pray for our leaders and instead we love to whine about it or complain, get other people in the bandwagon and it's not biblical at all. And I have some people I think right now are kind of mad at me, maybe because I don't play the politics game.

Speaker 1: 34:12

Like I pray that god's will be done and if we are understanding that we are in the end times, then the world has no option than to have a false peace and, on the christian perspective, get worse. Like everybody else would think that it's time of peace and, oh man, that's great and everybody's getting along and loving each other, when in reality, they just end up having no moral standard or moral compass and they get further and further from the Word of God and what actual moral is which if you're a person who does not know God. I can't hold you to the standard that God holds me to or what the word of God says, but I can show you what it says and just try to love on you and display Christ. That's all I can do. So I hope that some of these points and tools have helped you out, because there's a lot of lies floating around.

Speaker 1: 35:12

There's a lot of lies floating around. There's a lot of things floating around, and you need to be wise in your receiving and your believing, because a lot of things can be packaged up really convincing to be the truth, but if you don't have the word of God in you, then you won't know when lies come and trick you and get you believing in something that's not even actually biblical or true. Like the word of God should be your starting point for every belief, every assumption. If not, you'll end up falling for anything. You'll end up believing things about yourself that actually aren't true, aren't biblical. You'll believe things about our culture or believe things about how the church should be or how you know. Fill in the blank with whatever you decide to, but my point is don't believe lies. Replace the lies with God's truth and everything else will play out okay. I love you. I'm praying for you, and have a great week.