To advance the Kingdom, we must overcome an inferior one, that currently has dominion over people’s lives. This doesn't happen by our will power or hope, but by the power of the Holy Spirit, as we depend on Him and grow in God. To be free we need to remove the armour, or belief system, from our lives that have bound us up, so the demon or strongman can be easily cast out. Demonic strongholds creates an energy, but the Holy Spirit can energise us, to get great victory and freedom over any area of our life.
Introduction:
I have with me one of my daughters, her name is Joanna. My wife sends her love - she’s at home looking after Jo’s children. She’s being a good Nana with the three little boys. For those of you who don’t know us, we have 7 children and 20 grandchildren - very big family, very blessed!
It’s so wonderful to be with you; to have a chance to share with you, to pray with you, and to minister to you. We really love coming to this church. For us, this has been the doorway to Taiwan. It’s been the connection with Pastor Jonathan and Euan, and made the way for us to come to Taiwan. We’ve been coming two or three times a year now, for probably ten years; and seen thousands upon thousands of lives transformed. So, I really want to honour Euan and Jonathan for making room for us to come to this nation, because it was their invitation that made it possible for us to build a connection and some wonderful relationships in this nation.
God has given us incredible favour and we’ve been able to minister to pastors and leaders across the nation, to minister to churches, and privately, to some of the most influential people in your nation. I’ve been able to go to people that others would have no access to; and see God move in their private homes and touch them. We just love Taiwan. I love coming here, and feel a great affinity with Chinese people.
When we first came here, we had the most enormous spiritual conflicts that I have faced in ministry. Every day, the interpreter would get sick; day after day, a new interpreter. I’d say: “Hey, what happened to the last one?” “Oh, sick.” I never see them again. Finally at the end of the first week, I got very sick. It’s quite embarrassing when you come to bring the power of God to people, and you’re sick - I just had to push through what was actually just demonic resistance. I think about the first three or four visits, I would get sick each time, and so would the people around me. Then we just broke through it completely; and there has never been any trouble ever since.
Sometimes in our ministry, the resistance we face, we find, is very real. We just have to have the courage to stand up and face it, and push through, so I just determined that I would not back down. In my first week of ministry here, I think about day 4 or 5, I got so sick I couldn’t even speak. I remember waking up with no voice; and saying: “God, I did not come here to be sick. I came here to help.” So, I just kept quiet all day, and when it came to the meeting at night, immediately I had my voice. I finished speaking - no voice; and then there’s hundreds of people to pray for. I said: “Lord, I will not back down. Help me.” He showed me a key to releasing the power of God without me having to speak. So, we’re always learning all the time; and I hope to be able to share with you things that will really help you.
Main Message:
Our theme then, is deliverance and ministering deliverance. Since all of you have had some foundations in this area, I want to do more focus on removing demonic houses. I want to go past just the casting the demons out, to looking at the structures demons live in.
Just as a way of leading into that, we’ll just look at something Jesus taught on deliverance. We’ll look at Matthew 12:28. In verse 28, Jesus said: “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.”
Jesus is teaching about deliverance; and He brings out several things.
1.) Deliverance is a manifestation of the kingdom. So, it’s the kingdom of heaven coming into the Earth. It’s the authority of Jesus establishing itself in someone’s life. It’s an advancement of God’s kingdom, by overthrowing the demonic kingdoms. So, deliverance is a manifestation of the kingdom of God. Jesus said to pray for the kingdom to come. So, when you are doing deliverance, it is really kingdoms in conflict. It is a superior kingdom, and King, displacing an inferior one.