June 7, 2023 • 28 mins
Are ministers actually interviewing demons and even holding lengthy conversations with them during deliverance sessions? Is the Church listening to demons and hoping that "the enemy will expose himself," as many deliverance ministers are quoting today? Did the Lord Jesus Christ tell His followers to rejoice that the demonic spirits were subject to His Authority, or did He direct the disciples to emphasize and celebrate other Kingdom Matters more? Is deliverance ministry all about driving out demons, or is there much more to "deliverance" than you are being told. Let's talk about it!
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Matthew and Stephanie have been separated unto the Lord from before their birth to proclaim the Name and the Reign of Jesus Christ. They carry the Glory of God and move in a powerful breakthrough anointing that brings liberty to many. God has graced them with an apostolic mantle coupled with the heart of David and a strong prophetic edge in preaching and teaching the Word of God. They flow mightily in the gifts of the Spirit, especially as skilled minstrels/psalmists. Their apostolic mandate from the Lord is three-fold. It is to restore and rebuild true altars of worship and prayer. It is to equip and empower the Church. It is to revive and heal the nations, calling forth the army of God for such a time as this. Their ministry is marked by humility and compassion, and it is known for mighty signs, wonders, miracles, healing, freedom, and deliverance in The Name of Jesus.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.
(00:04):
The whole earth is full of His glory.
Welcome to Gems for the Journey, Wisdom from the Word of God.
(00:26):
Hey, God bless you, everybody.
Welcome to Gems for the Journey, Wisdom from the Word of God.
And we're your hosts, Matt and Stephanie Garrity.
And we're founders of River of Heaven Ministries.
And we have a three-fold vision to rebuild and restore, equip and empower, and revive and heal.
Through these broadcasts, you're going to be touched, rebuilt, and restored,
(00:48):
equipped and empowered, and revived and healed.
And you're going to be functioning like never before as a kingdom man or a kingdom woman.
Amen.
And I'm going to be with you today for another episode of Gems for the Journey, Wisdom from the Word of God.
Wow.
Well, welcome back to another exciting episode here.
We're talking about even current events, things that are going on in this world.
(01:11):
And we're looking to see how God's Word applies.
Does God's Word give us principles?
Does God's Word give us these gems, these treasures to live our lives by?
You know, there are a lot of times these days when people want you to focus on everything else except for God.
They want you to focus on the media.
(01:34):
They want you to focus on current events.
They want you to focus on everything except for where we're supposed to be focused on the Lord.
In Isaiah chapter six, the first few verses, it says that in the year that King Uzziah died,
behold, I saw the Lord high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple.
(01:56):
Then the prophet goes on to say that there are angels, these, you know, seraphim angels with two wings.
They covered their face with two.
They covered their feet, and with two, they flew, and they cried out to one another.
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.
The whole earth is full of his glory, and holy is the Lord of hosts.
The whole earth is full of his glory.
(02:17):
And it says there was a shaking smoke that filled the temple.
There were all these tremendous manifestations, smoke, shakings.
And we see other places in scripture where there's lightning, thunder, and voices and colors.
All these things are associated with the throne room of God.
We see this in the book of Revelation.
(02:38):
We see this also in other prophetic books where we get a glimpse into heaven.
We get a glimpse into the throne room, and we see things described to us that are very, very, very difficult for our natural mind to understand.
We have to believe these things by faith.
We have to understand these things by faith.
And we're in a time right now where there are a lot of people who want us to take our eyes off of where our eyes need to be.
(03:05):
Our eyes need to be on Jesus Christ.
Our eyes need to be on the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Notice how in Isaiah chapter six,
Where it says, in the year that King Uzziah died, behold, I saw the Lord.
Uzziah was a king who was a mighty ruler in Israel at that time, around that time.
(03:31):
Oftentimes you'll see prophetic books marked with the rule and reign of kings, either their birth or their death.
And you'll see that associated with the prophetic writings.
But I believe that there's a rhema word here that in the year that King Uzziah died, behold, I saw the Lord.
Israel was focusing on King Uzziah.
King Uzziah was a military ruler.
(03:54):
He was a king, but he was also advanced in military tactics.
He won many great battles in and around Israel over the course of his reign.
And people looked at him. They looked to the strength of his reign.
They looked to the strength of the military force that he commanded.
But the problem was that he got judged by the Lord, and the Lord actually took him out of ruling because he started to mess with the stuff in God's house.
(04:24):
He actually started to touch the things of God.
He actually started to try to come in and take over. That way brought corruption.
And then we know that it's not going to be too much longer after someone starts to do that where God says, okay, I've had enough.
That behavior is one of the most punishable things in the Bible.
And you can see this many different times, you know, whether it's with Herod or whether it's with Nebuchadnezzar or whether it's with Haman, whatever the case may be.
(04:53):
If there's somebody that starts to really come against God's people if there's someone that really starts to come and try to interfere with the workings of the kingdom of God,
There is a grace period, and then his judgment comes.
He judges the situation.
There are a lot of people right now who are looking at natural events and saying, oh, well, we got to look at this and look at that.
(05:17):
And, oh, look how bad things are and, oh, we need a president to save us, and we need our governor to save us.
We need this person to save us.
We need to have a great military.
You know, all these things hold some value.
Yes, we want a president that believes the scripture.
Yes, we want a president who's a man of God who wants to serve the Lord of God with his life or her life.
(05:40):
We want governors and mayors, and we want local officials that are going to fear the Lord.
Absolutely, 100%.
We want to see those individuals in office.
As a matter of fact, the Bible talks about how it is important that we pray for everyone, all those in authority, everyone else.
You know, we know, we see that in the books of Timothy.
(06:01):
And so, but people go too far.
They trust in a man, woman, military might, or whatever to deliver them.
And anytime we look to a Uzziah, quote-unquote, we have a problem because when you look to Uzziah, that's all you have.
(06:24):
You're looking to a man.
You're looking to a woman.
You're looking to some leader to deliver you.
You're looking to your government.
You're looking to your military force.
And many other nations are listening to this podcast today.
You might be in a similar situation. There are a lot of people in your nation...
They're looking to your president or your prime minister or your military might, whatever it is, that is a human nature way to feel secure, to feel strong, to feel secure.
(06:56):
But that's not what the Word of God teaches us to do.
The Word of God in the book of Romans teaches us to honor the governing authorities.
It calls it the civil arm of God.
Many of us are familiar with those scriptures.
However, just because something is the civil arm of God, the government is not God, nor does it take his place. God's got a civil arm.
He instituted government.
He allowed the government to come forth because otherwise, there would be anarchy and terrible things.
(07:21):
But then he's got his spiritual arm, if you will, which is the church.
Then he has the building blocks of society, which are family, marriage, all these different things.
But again, none of those institutions, none of those things that have been orchestrated by God or placed into being by God, are something we should ultimately trust in.
(07:45):
Do we value family?
Absolutely.
Family is essential.
We love the building block of society.
Do we value marriage?
Absolutely.
Marriage between one man and one woman.
Not the corrupt way the world is holding things and calling marriage these days.
But we honor the institutions of what God says are holy, what he brought into being in scripture.
(08:08):
One man and one woman in a marriage covenant, the family, the government, all these things.
But none of these things are what we are to look to as the savior.
And there's a lot of people that think... oh, man, if we could just get all the marriages right, wow.
If we could get this marriage thing right, we'd be good.
(08:31):
Or we could get all the families back together.
We'd be good to go.
Wow.
If we could get the government straightened out, we'd be good to go.
And there are truths to those assertions.
However, I want to bring this to your attention that even if we did all that and people were not focusing their eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ,
(08:54):
they were trying to get things going the right way, trying to work things out, trying to bring things back into order, all these things.
But if we miss Jesus, if we do all that stuff, but we don't have our eyes on him.
If we don't have our eyes beholding him, us pursuing him, us worshiping at his feet, and an intimate relationship with him,
(09:20):
then we failed, we have failed, beloved.
We've tried for years and years and years to straighten out this institution and that institution.
But the only solution is not to straighten out the institution.
The only solution is what Second Chronicles 7:14 says.
God says if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, have communication with God daily,
(09:49):
Have a conversation with God daily.
If they will humble themself and pray and seek my face.
That means pray and worship.
That means praise.
That means, you know, worshiping at the feet of Jesus.
Those who worship the Father must worship him in spirit and truth.
So if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray (humility) and prayer, and worship and praise,
(10:10):
seek my face and turn from the wicked ways (repentance), then God says, I will hear from heaven.
Forgive the sin.
I will heal the land.
Could it be that we're trying to heal the symptoms of what's going on in our land?
And God's saying, yeah, there's value in healing the symptoms or going after and treating the symptoms.
But the bigger issue that needs to be dealt with is the root.
(10:33):
And the root is that the United States of America, by and large, has walked away from its foundation.
The United States of America has turned its back on what the founding fathers, what the people,
what the church was like at the beginning of our nation.
Remember, we escaped, or we left.
(10:55):
We left a situation over there in England in search of religious freedom.
We had the crown, the monarchy back then.
Again, it was like a King Uzziah thing, wasn't it?
Corrupting the church or trying to come in and say, we rule the church.
The monarchy was saying that we own the church and no one rules the church.
No one owns the church except for the one who is the head of the church.
(11:18):
The one who is the chief cornerstone.
That's Jesus Christ.
It's his church.
It's his church.
Could you imagine someone coming into someone's store, if you will, they set up a booth inside that place and start selling the items that this store owns?
They start to sell these things in a booth within this store.
Someone decides I'm going to sell these items.
(11:41):
I found them here.
I'm going to sell them right now in the middle of the store.
That sounds like foolishness, doesn't it?
Why?
Because the one who owns all those items is the store.
It's not the person who came in and said, oh, I like this item, and I like this item.
And so now I'm going to make my own booth within the store and start to give out the items as though they're mine.
(12:02):
But that's exactly what people have started to do.
You look at social media, and people are vending the word of God, packaging it up, you know, sending it out there.
Let's sell it.
Let's do this.
Let's make money.
And again, we know that people need support as far as ministry is concerned; if people are in full-time ministry, absolutely.
But you know what?
(12:23):
God said, my house shall be called a house of prayer, and you've made it a den of thieves.
Why would the Lord say that? Because back in ancient times, people were selling sacrifices to those who were going to purchase them, but the sacrifices had defects.
And they were saying, oh, there's no defect, but they were ripping people off.
I keep getting back to this whole thing of where are our eyes focused?
(12:46):
If our eyes have become focused on how much money can we make by putting the gospel out there?
How many books can we sell?
How many t-shirts can we print?
How many stars from Facebook can we get because people really like that scripture you posted.
Have we begun to vend the word of God out there?
(13:08):
Like we're some type of vending machine inside of a structure, which is the Lord's.
Let's remember the church is the Lord's.
The word of God is the Lord's.
The gifts and the fruits of the Spirit are the Lord's.
The authority and the power are the Lord's.
He allows us to steward them.
(13:30):
He allows us to walk in those things.
He allows us to be a willing vessel where his power and his authority move in,to and through.
But none of those things are ours.
And I think that the scary thing really is these days, there are a lot of people in the body of Christ who are teaching people,
(13:51):
wow, you can manifest this and manifest that. Wow, brother or sister, you can just speak everything you want into existence.
And that's very, very wrong concerning what scripture actually teaches.
We speak what God's word says.
We speak what God said already.
Okay.
(14:12):
Life and death is in the power of the tongue.
Absolutely.
But again, who is our focal point?
Who is the one that we're looking to?
Who is the object of our worship?
Who is the one whom all the things belong to?
The prophetic and the apostolic and the evangelist and the pastoral and the teaching.
(14:34):
All the five-fold are the leadership mantle of Jesus Christ.
You know, the kingship, the priesthood, roles, the Lord's allowed us to walk in, but they're his.
He's the king of all kings.
He's the one who's made us the kings.
He's the high priest.
He's the one who's made us the priest.
None of us would be kings and priests if it weren't for Jesus Christ. We'd be nothing without Father God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.
(15:00):
For those listening who are ministers. None of us would be fivefold leaders right now; apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, without Him.
If it wasn't for Jesus ascending to heaven... Again are we really focused on what we need to focus on?
So many people are focused on the stuff.
Wow, look at this.
Wow, look at the healing.
Look at the freedom.
Look at the deliverance.
That's great, deliverance ministry.
(15:21):
So many people are focused on, wow, I can get demons to come out of people.
Deliverance is not this thing of demons coming out of people. That is a byproduct of deliverance.
In the old covenant, deliverance was not to cast demons out of people.
Deliverance was the victory over the enemy.
(15:43):
Deliverance was the Lord moving people from a place of dryness and lack to a place of abundance.
And to do that, things needed to be dealt with for people to possess their promised land.
Yes, there were giants in the land.
And so all the people who are focused on demons and all this stuff, and oh yeah, deliverance is all about demons, it's not only about that.
(16:04):
When anyone says anything about deliverance right away, people get defensive and they're like, wow, well, you know, how dare you argue with them?
How dare you argue with me. Don't you know that much of Jesus's ministry was deliverance?
Absolutely.
But you also have to remember that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
And deliverance is part of the package of our salvation.
(16:26):
You should be able to be delivered when you first receive Christ.
That is, it's not just salvation, but what else did you receive through the finished work of the cross? Deliverance
And you may not receive all of it during salvation, but as you are saved, we've witnessed many people.
Thousands of people over the years be delivered to demonic power right away.
(16:47):
Instantly... boom.
Okay.
Why?
Because part of salvation, part of what Jesus did on the cross, is deliverance.
He didn't just give us salvation.
He gave us healing, freedom, deliverance, and abundance, John 10:10.
So deliverance is not this obsession with casting out devils.
Remember, Jesus actually warned about that, the apostles, the disciples, they came back and said,
(17:12):
Hey, Jesus, you're never going to believe what happened.
The demons were coming out of people.
Wow.
And Jesus says, do not rejoice in this.
Rather rejoice that your names are written in the Lamb's book of life.
He was redirecting their focus to what?
The finished work of the cross.
He was redirecting their focus to what?
(17:35):
True deliverance.
And true deliverance comes through the finished work of the cross.
True deliverance is when the Lord provides deliverance for his people.
Again, in the Old Testament, David slew Goliath.
Goliath is a picture of a principality, ruling and all this stuff.
And as he came down, you know, they were no longer slaves and all that.
(17:56):
Absolutely.
They drove the giants out of what would then be the promised land later on.
All these different things are accurate.
But again, they are the byproducts.
They are the byproducts because it says that God delivered them into the hands of the people of God, or God drove them out.
God delivered the enemy or them out of the hands of the enemy.
(18:18):
See, deliverance is the word that speaks of what God has done or what God is doing to bring you from one place to another.
Or to bring you from a place of bondage to a place of wholeness.
The byproduct of deliverance is that demons have to come out.
(18:39):
I'll give you an illustration.
Deliverance is the pure, crystal clear water being poured into a cup of murky, muddy water that has insects and all other types of creatures in that water.
When the water is being poured into that murky, muddy cup full of dirty water, what begins to happen?
(19:02):
That's deliverance.
Deliverance is when God's pure, living water begins to flow into your life.
And as God's water begins to flow into your life, you will be delivered.
What do I mean by that?
Well, the murky water will start to come out.
What else will start to come out and be displaced?
Those insects, those bugs, those creatures.
(19:23):
Whatever was living in the murky water.
And also, if it gets on the outside of the glass now, that will come off as well because there's an overflow of this water being poured in.
And we're a vessel.
We're like a cup.
And so at one point, we were filled with muddy and murky, filthy water full of insects, which you can use as an illustration for demons.
(19:49):
Whatever you want to use as an illustration, we were full of stuff that was not from God, afflicting spirits, demonic spirits.
Either they were in us, or they were on us, and we were in chains.
But when we receive Jesus Christ, what happens is the living water, He is living water.
And the water, the living water of God, begins to pour and flow into your life.
(20:11):
And as every time, you're worshiping Him, His living water is pouring into you.
And there should be a constant overflow coming out of your life, right?
And as God continues to pour in, continues to pour in, starting with your salvation, what begins to happen little by little, all that murky water is displaced.
And little by little, you're filled with this crystal clear water, the water of God, living water, the Lord Himself.
(20:37):
Amen. He is the living water.
And the byproduct of what happens when He, the living water comes to dwell in your vessel is that, guess what?
All the murky water is pushed out.
And then even the things at the bottom, even the things, the insects, whatever it is, eventually, if you pour enough water with enough force into that vessel,
(21:01):
it will eject all the insects, it will eject all the vermin.
It will push those things out of there because of that flow of water that's pushing down.
And I don't want to get into physics and stuff like that, but that force exerted down will actually cause those things to move up and out.
(21:22):
And I love the fact that we're emphasizing deliverance so much.
Years ago, Derek Prince, the great minister, Derek Prince, he really, really did a lot of great work in emphasizing how to deliver people, how to get people delivered,
how to cast demons out of people based on Scripture.
Absolutely. Many others, great men and women of God throughout history, Smith Wigglesworth, others.
(21:46):
Listen, if you are called of God and you are a minister of the gospel, some of the byproduct of what's going to happen when you lead people to the Lord,
when you lay hands on people, when you pray that people would be made whole is deliverance.
You're going to see people delivered.
But then you have these people these days, they're interviewing demons for like 15 minutes.
(22:11):
Let's not forget, beloved, that demons lie. Their leader is the father of lies.
And so we've got all these people interviewing demons for strategy.
I'll tell you what, that's borderline witchcraft when you do stuff like that.
Demons spoke through people like legion in scripture for example, but Jesus didn't let them have a whole conversation.
Okay. That's not what Jesus was about.
(22:34):
As a matter of fact, most of the time, he's says, keep your mouth closed, quiet, silence.
Right. So why do we have this fascinating fascination these days with letting demons speak through people?
Are they really going to reveal all the plans of the enemy?
Since when do we start listening to the demons and the enemy about the enemy's camp?
(22:55):
Show me that in scripture, where the demons are going to reveal all the things about what the enemy is doing.
That's foolishness.
And so, you know, we really got to get our eyes back on the Lord Jesus Christ.
We got to get our eyes focused back on the prize in the year that King Uzziah died.
Behold, I saw the Lord high and lifted up and the train of his robe filled the temple. Amen.
(23:19):
And then the angels are crying out to one another.
Notice the focus is not on the angels.
Isaiah is not saying, wow, I started worshiping the angels. No.
Matter of fact, Revelation 19 (23:27):
10 specifically tells us to worship God only for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
Will there be wars? Yes.
Rumors of wars? Yes. Earthquakes? Yes.
All these different things, birth pangs? Yes.
Even perhaps beyond birth pangs? Absolutely.
But although those things are going on, beloved, do not lose heart.
(23:50):
Do not be afraid. Okay. Do not fear for the Lord has overcome this world.
You are not a slave to this world. If you're born again, you're not serving the god of this world who is satan, little g.o.d.
If you're born again, you are saved, you are set free and you are delivered and you will continue to be delivered.
(24:12):
Hallelujah. As you continue to receive the living water, just allow the Lord to continue to pour in his living water into your life.
Keep your eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ. And then later in Isaiah chapter six, what did he hear?
He began to hear the Lord speak as he focused his eyes on the Lord, as he focused worship on the Lord,
(24:33):
And the Lord said, who will go for me? And who can I send? Who will go for me?
And then Isaiah, once he got his eyes off of himself, and his eyes on the Messiah, his eyes on the Lord,
then all of a sudden things started to make sense. And he says, you know what? Here I am. Send me Lord.
Send me out there because, God your heart is souls. Your heart is people. Your heart is that all mankind would be saved.
John 3:16, says this (24:57):
for God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whosoever would believe in him would not perish but receive everlasting life.
It's the heart of God that many, many, many, many, millions and millions and millions of people, all people would come to him.
Not all people are going to come to him because they are free will and some will reject him. Some will. And that's tragic.
(25:18):
But understand this, beloved, we must keep our eyes on Jesus Christ, keep our eyes on Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, okay?
The Lord will commission us. We will hear what he's saying. We will be commissioned by him and we will fulfill our assignment as he works into and through our lives.
And here's the most beautiful part, perhaps, that as God is continuing to pour His water into us, as we are continually receiving the kingdom, hallelujah, both now and forevermore.
(25:48):
As God continues to pour that living water into us, there is an overflow and it begins to affect everyone's lives around us.
And so when there is an overflow out of your life, when you are a vessel and God can pour into and through your life, guess what?
Other people are affected, other people are saved, other people are healed, and yes, other people will be delivered.
(26:09):
The byproduct of that will be demons coming out of people and all those things that were holding them bondage, broken in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen?
God bless you guys today. I pray that you're encouraged. I pray that you are challenged by this. You don't have to agree with me.
But I want to bring your attention to some things that we are hearing right now, some things that are being done right now, and ask all of us to search the scriptures
(26:31):
and see what God's word actually says. Amen? Until next time on Gems for the Journey, goodbye.
If you'd like to connect with us, you can go to our website at www.riverofheaven.org.
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(26:52):
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Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.
(00:04):
The whole earth is full of His glory.
Welcome to Gems for the Journey, Wisdom from the Word of God.
(00:26):
Hey, God bless you, everybody.
Welcome to Gems for the Journey, Wisdom from the Word of God.
And we're your hosts, Matt and Stephanie Garrity.
And we're founders of River of Heaven Ministries.
And we have a three-fold vision to rebuild and restore, equip and empower, and revive and heal.
Through these broadcasts, you're going to be touched, rebuilt, and restored,
(00:48):
equipped and empowered, and revived and healed.
And you're going to be functioning like never before as a kingdom man or a kingdom woman.
Amen.
And I'm going to be with you today for another episode of Gems for the Journey, Wisdom from the Word of God.
Wow.
Well, welcome back to another exciting episode here.
We're talking about even current events, things that are going on in this world.
(01:11):
And we're looking to see how God's Word applies.
Does God's Word give us principles?
Does God's Word give us these gems, these treasures to live our lives by?
You know, there are a lot of times these days when people want you to focus on everything else except for God.
They want you to focus on the media.
(01:34):
They want you to focus on current events.
They want you to focus on everything except for where we're supposed to be focused on the Lord.
In Isaiah chapter six, the first few verses, it says that in the year that King Uzziah died,
behold, I saw the Lord high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple.
(01:56):
Then the prophet goes on to say that there are angels, these, you know, seraphim angels with two wings.
They covered their face with two.
They covered their feet, and with two, they flew, and they cried out to one another.
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.
The whole earth is full of his glory, and holy is the Lord of hosts.
The whole earth is full of his glory.
(02:17):
And it says there was a shaking smoke that filled the temple.
There were all these tremendous manifestations, smoke, shakings.
And we see other places in scripture where there's lightning, thunder, and voices and colors.
All these things are associated with the throne room of God.
We see this in the book of Revelation.
(02:38):
We see this also in other prophetic books where we get a glimpse into heaven.
We get a glimpse into the throne room, and we see things described to us that are very, very, very difficult for our natural mind to understand.
We have to believe these things by faith.
We have to understand these things by faith.
And we're in a time right now where there are a lot of people who want us to take our eyes off of where our eyes need to be.
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Our eyes need to be on Jesus Christ.
Our eyes need to be on the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Notice how in Isaiah chapter six,
Where it says, in the year that King Uzziah died, behold, I saw the Lord.
Uzziah was a king who was a mighty ruler in Israel at that time, around that time.
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Oftentimes you'll see prophetic books marked with the rule and reign of kings, either their birth or their death.
And you'll see that associated with the prophetic writings.
But I believe that there's a rhema word here that in the year that King Uzziah died, behold, I saw the Lord.
Israel was focusing on King Uzziah.
King Uzziah was a military ruler.
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He was a king, but he was also advanced in military tactics.
He won many great battles in and around Israel over the course of his reign.
And people looked at him. They looked to the strength of his reign.
They looked to the strength of the military force that he commanded.
But the problem was that he got judged by the Lord, and the Lord actually took him out of ruling because he started to mess with the stuff in God's house.
(04:24):
He actually started to touch the things of God.
He actually started to try to come in and take over. That way brought corruption.
And then we know that it's not going to be too much longer after someone starts to do that where God says, okay, I've had enough.
That behavior is one of the most punishable things in the Bible.
And you can see this many different times, you know, whether it's with Herod or whether it's with Nebuchadnezzar or whether it's with Haman, whatever the case may be.
(04:53):
If there's somebody that starts to really come against God's people if there's someone that really starts to come and try to interfere with the workings of the kingdom of God,
There is a grace period, and then his judgment comes.
He judges the situation.
There are a lot of people right now who are looking at natural events and saying, oh, well, we got to look at this and look at that.
(05:17):
And, oh, look how bad things are and, oh, we need a president to save us, and we need our governor to save us.
We need this person to save us.
We need to have a great military.
You know, all these things hold some value.
Yes, we want a president that believes the scripture.
Yes, we want a president who's a man of God who wants to serve the Lord of God with his life or her life.
(05:40):
We want governors and mayors, and we want local officials that are going to fear the Lord.
Absolutely, 100%.
We want to see those individuals in office.
As a matter of fact, the Bible talks about how it is important that we pray for everyone, all those in authority, everyone else.
You know, we know, we see that in the books of Timothy.
(06:01):
And so, but people go too far.
They trust in a man, woman, military might, or whatever to deliver them.
And anytime we look to a Uzziah, quote-unquote, we have a problem because when you look to Uzziah, that's all you have.
(06:24):
You're looking to a man.
You're looking to a woman.
You're looking to some leader to deliver you.
You're looking to your government.
You're looking to your military force.
And many other nations are listening to this podcast today.
You might be in a similar situation. There are a lot of people in your nation...
They're looking to your president or your prime minister or your military might, whatever it is, that is a human nature way to feel secure, to feel strong, to feel secure.
(06:56):
But that's not what the Word of God teaches us to do.
The Word of God in the book of Romans teaches us to honor the governing authorities.
It calls it the civil arm of God.
Many of us are familiar with those scriptures.
However, just because something is the civil arm of God, the government is not God, nor does it take his place. God's got a civil arm.
He instituted government.
He allowed the government to come forth because otherwise, there would be anarchy and terrible things.
(07:21):
But then he's got his spiritual arm, if you will, which is the church.
Then he has the building blocks of society, which are family, marriage, all these different things.
But again, none of those institutions, none of those things that have been orchestrated by God or placed into being by God, are something we should ultimately trust in.
(07:45):
Do we value family?
Absolutely.
Family is essential.
We love the building block of society.
Do we value marriage?
Absolutely.
Marriage between one man and one woman.
Not the corrupt way the world is holding things and calling marriage these days.
But we honor the institutions of what God says are holy, what he brought into being in scripture.
(08:08):
One man and one woman in a marriage covenant, the family, the government, all these things.
But none of these things are what we are to look to as the savior.
And there's a lot of people that think... oh, man, if we could just get all the marriages right, wow.
If we could get this marriage thing right, we'd be good.
(08:31):
Or we could get all the families back together.
We'd be good to go.
Wow.
If we could get the government straightened out, we'd be good to go.
And there are truths to those assertions.
However, I want to bring this to your attention that even if we did all that and people were not focusing their eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ,
(08:54):
they were trying to get things going the right way, trying to work things out, trying to bring things back into order, all these things.
But if we miss Jesus, if we do all that stuff, but we don't have our eyes on him.
If we don't have our eyes beholding him, us pursuing him, us worshiping at his feet, and an intimate relationship with him,
(09:20):
then we failed, we have failed, beloved.
We've tried for years and years and years to straighten out this institution and that institution.
But the only solution is not to straighten out the institution.
The only solution is what Second Chronicles 7:14 says.
God says if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, have communication with God daily,
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Have a conversation with God daily.
If they will humble themself and pray and seek my face.
That means pray and worship.
That means praise.
That means, you know, worshiping at the feet of Jesus.
Those who worship the Father must worship him in spirit and truth.
So if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray (humility) and prayer, and worship and praise,
(10:10):
seek my face and turn from the wicked ways (repentance), then God says, I will hear from heaven.
Forgive the sin.
I will heal the land.
Could it be that we're trying to heal the symptoms of what's going on in our land?
And God's saying, yeah, there's value in healing the symptoms or going after and treating the symptoms.
But the bigger issue that needs to be dealt with is the root.
(10:33):
And the root is that the United States of America, by and large, has walked away from its foundation.
The United States of America has turned its back on what the founding fathers, what the people,
what the church was like at the beginning of our nation.
Remember, we escaped, or we left.
(10:55):
We left a situation over there in England in search of religious freedom.
We had the crown, the monarchy back then.
Again, it was like a King Uzziah thing, wasn't it?
Corrupting the church or trying to come in and say, we rule the church.
The monarchy was saying that we own the church and no one rules the church.
No one owns the church except for the one who is the head of the church.
(11:18):
The one who is the chief cornerstone.
That's Jesus Christ.
It's his church.
It's his church.
Could you imagine someone coming into someone's store, if you will, they set up a booth inside that place and start selling the items that this store owns?
They start to sell these things in a booth within this store.
Someone decides I'm going to sell these items.
(11:41):
I found them here.
I'm going to sell them right now in the middle of the store.
That sounds like foolishness, doesn't it?
Why?
Because the one who owns all those items is the store.
It's not the person who came in and said, oh, I like this item, and I like this item.
And so now I'm going to make my own booth within the store and start to give out the items as though they're mine.
(12:02):
But that's exactly what people have started to do.
You look at social media, and people are vending the word of God, packaging it up, you know, sending it out there.
Let's sell it.
Let's do this.
Let's make money.
And again, we know that people need support as far as ministry is concerned; if people are in full-time ministry, absolutely.
But you know what?
(12:23):
God said, my house shall be called a house of prayer, and you've made it a den of thieves.
Why would the Lord say that? Because back in ancient times, people were selling sacrifices to those who were going to purchase them, but the sacrifices had defects.
And they were saying, oh, there's no defect, but they were ripping people off.
I keep getting back to this whole thing of where are our eyes focused?
(12:46):
If our eyes have become focused on how much money can we make by putting the gospel out there?
How many books can we sell?
How many t-shirts can we print?
How many stars from Facebook can we get because people really like that scripture you posted.
Have we begun to vend the word of God out there?
(13:08):
Like we're some type of vending machine inside of a structure, which is the Lord's.
Let's remember the church is the Lord's.
The word of God is the Lord's.
The gifts and the fruits of the Spirit are the Lord's.
The authority and the power are the Lord's.
He allows us to steward them.
(13:30):
He allows us to walk in those things.
He allows us to be a willing vessel where his power and his authority move in,to and through.
But none of those things are ours.
And I think that the scary thing really is these days, there are a lot of people in the body of Christ who are teaching people,
(13:51):
wow, you can manifest this and manifest that. Wow, brother or sister, you can just speak everything you want into existence.
And that's very, very wrong concerning what scripture actually teaches.
We speak what God's word says.
We speak what God said already.
Okay.
(14:12):
Life and death is in the power of the tongue.
Absolutely.
But again, who is our focal point?
Who is the one that we're looking to?
Who is the object of our worship?
Who is the one whom all the things belong to?
The prophetic and the apostolic and the evangelist and the pastoral and the teaching.
(14:34):
All the five-fold are the leadership mantle of Jesus Christ.
You know, the kingship, the priesthood, roles, the Lord's allowed us to walk in, but they're his.
He's the king of all kings.
He's the one who's made us the kings.
He's the high priest.
He's the one who's made us the priest.
None of us would be kings and priests if it weren't for Jesus Christ. We'd be nothing without Father God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.
(15:00):
For those listening who are ministers. None of us would be fivefold leaders right now; apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, without Him.
If it wasn't for Jesus ascending to heaven... Again are we really focused on what we need to focus on?
So many people are focused on the stuff.
Wow, look at this.
Wow, look at the healing.
Look at the freedom.
Look at the deliverance.
That's great, deliverance ministry.
(15:21):
So many people are focused on, wow, I can get demons to come out of people.
Deliverance is not this thing of demons coming out of people. That is a byproduct of deliverance.
In the old covenant, deliverance was not to cast demons out of people.
Deliverance was the victory over the enemy.
(15:43):
Deliverance was the Lord moving people from a place of dryness and lack to a place of abundance.
And to do that, things needed to be dealt with for people to possess their promised land.
Yes, there were giants in the land.
And so all the people who are focused on demons and all this stuff, and oh yeah, deliverance is all about demons, it's not only about that.
(16:04):
When anyone says anything about deliverance right away, people get defensive and they're like, wow, well, you know, how dare you argue with them?
How dare you argue with me. Don't you know that much of Jesus's ministry was deliverance?
Absolutely.
But you also have to remember that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
And deliverance is part of the package of our salvation.
(16:26):
You should be able to be delivered when you first receive Christ.
That is, it's not just salvation, but what else did you receive through the finished work of the cross? Deliverance
And you may not receive all of it during salvation, but as you are saved, we've witnessed many people.
Thousands of people over the years be delivered to demonic power right away.
(16:47):
Instantly... boom.
Okay.
Why?
Because part of salvation, part of what Jesus did on the cross, is deliverance.
He didn't just give us salvation.
He gave us healing, freedom, deliverance, and abundance, John 10:10.
So deliverance is not this obsession with casting out devils.
Remember, Jesus actually warned about that, the apostles, the disciples, they came back and said,
(17:12):
Hey, Jesus, you're never going to believe what happened.
The demons were coming out of people.
Wow.
And Jesus says, do not rejoice in this.
Rather rejoice that your names are written in the Lamb's book of life.
He was redirecting their focus to what?
The finished work of the cross.
He was redirecting their focus to what?
(17:35):
True deliverance.
And true deliverance comes through the finished work of the cross.
True deliverance is when the Lord provides deliverance for his people.
Again, in the Old Testament, David slew Goliath.
Goliath is a picture of a principality, ruling and all this stuff.
And as he came down, you know, they were no longer slaves and all that.
(17:56):
Absolutely.
They drove the giants out of what would then be the promised land later on.
All these different things are accurate.
But again, they are the byproducts.
They are the byproducts because it says that God delivered them into the hands of the people of God, or God drove them out.
God delivered the enemy or them out of the hands of the enemy.
(18:18):
See, deliverance is the word that speaks of what God has done or what God is doing to bring you from one place to another.
Or to bring you from a place of bondage to a place of wholeness.
The byproduct of deliverance is that demons have to come out.
(18:39):
I'll give you an illustration.
Deliverance is the pure, crystal clear water being poured into a cup of murky, muddy water that has insects and all other types of creatures in that water.
When the water is being poured into that murky, muddy cup full of dirty water, what begins to happen?
(19:02):
That's deliverance.
Deliverance is when God's pure, living water begins to flow into your life.
And as God's water begins to flow into your life, you will be delivered.
What do I mean by that?
Well, the murky water will start to come out.
What else will start to come out and be displaced?
Those insects, those bugs, those creatures.
(19:23):
Whatever was living in the murky water.
And also, if it gets on the outside of the glass now, that will come off as well because there's an overflow of this water being poured in.
And we're a vessel.
We're like a cup.
And so at one point, we were filled with muddy and murky, filthy water full of insects, which you can use as an illustration for demons.
(19:49):
Whatever you want to use as an illustration, we were full of stuff that was not from God, afflicting spirits, demonic spirits.
Either they were in us, or they were on us, and we were in chains.
But when we receive Jesus Christ, what happens is the living water, He is living water.
And the water, the living water of God, begins to pour and flow into your life.
(20:11):
And as every time, you're worshiping Him, His living water is pouring into you.
And there should be a constant overflow coming out of your life, right?
And as God continues to pour in, continues to pour in, starting with your salvation, what begins to happen little by little, all that murky water is displaced.
And little by little, you're filled with this crystal clear water, the water of God, living water, the Lord Himself.
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Amen. He is the living water.
And the byproduct of what happens when He, the living water comes to dwell in your vessel is that, guess what?
All the murky water is pushed out.
And then even the things at the bottom, even the things, the insects, whatever it is, eventually, if you pour enough water with enough force into that vessel,
(21:01):
it will eject all the insects, it will eject all the vermin.
It will push those things out of there because of that flow of water that's pushing down.
And I don't want to get into physics and stuff like that, but that force exerted down will actually cause those things to move up and out.
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And I love the fact that we're emphasizing deliverance so much.
Years ago, Derek Prince, the great minister, Derek Prince, he really, really did a lot of great work in emphasizing how to deliver people, how to get people delivered,
how to cast demons out of people based on Scripture.
Absolutely. Many others, great men and women of God throughout history, Smith Wigglesworth, others.
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Listen, if you are called of God and you are a minister of the gospel, some of the byproduct of what's going to happen when you lead people to the Lord,
when you lay hands on people, when you pray that people would be made whole is deliverance.
You're going to see people delivered.
But then you have these people these days, they're interviewing demons for like 15 minutes.
(22:11):
Let's not forget, beloved, that demons lie. Their leader is the father of lies.
And so we've got all these people interviewing demons for strategy.
I'll tell you what, that's borderline witchcraft when you do stuff like that.
Demons spoke through people like legion in scripture for example, but Jesus didn't let them have a whole conversation.
Okay. That's not what Jesus was about.
(22:34):
As a matter of fact, most of the time, he's says, keep your mouth closed, quiet, silence.
Right. So why do we have this fascinating fascination these days with letting demons speak through people?
Are they really going to reveal all the plans of the enemy?
Since when do we start listening to the demons and the enemy about the enemy's camp?
(22:55):
Show me that in scripture, where the demons are going to reveal all the things about what the enemy is doing.
That's foolishness.
And so, you know, we really got to get our eyes back on the Lord Jesus Christ.
We got to get our eyes focused back on the prize in the year that King Uzziah died.
Behold, I saw the Lord high and lifted up and the train of his robe filled the temple. Amen.
(23:19):
And then the angels are crying out to one another.
Notice the focus is not on the angels.
Isaiah is not saying, wow, I started worshiping the angels. No.
Matter of fact, Revelation 19 (23:27):
10 specifically tells us to worship God only for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
Will there be wars? Yes.
Rumors of wars? Yes. Earthquakes? Yes.
All these different things, birth pangs? Yes.
Even perhaps beyond birth pangs? Absolutely.
But although those things are going on, beloved, do not lose heart.
(23:50):
Do not be afraid. Okay. Do not fear for the Lord has overcome this world.
You are not a slave to this world. If you're born again, you're not serving the god of this world who is satan, little g.o.d.
If you're born again, you are saved, you are set free and you are delivered and you will continue to be delivered.
(24:12):
Hallelujah. As you continue to receive the living water, just allow the Lord to continue to pour in his living water into your life.
Keep your eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ. And then later in Isaiah chapter six, what did he hear?
He began to hear the Lord speak as he focused his eyes on the Lord, as he focused worship on the Lord,
(24:33):
And the Lord said, who will go for me? And who can I send? Who will go for me?
And then Isaiah, once he got his eyes off of himself, and his eyes on the Messiah, his eyes on the Lord,
then all of a sudden things started to make sense. And he says, you know what? Here I am. Send me Lord.
Send me out there because, God your heart is souls. Your heart is people. Your heart is that all mankind would be saved.
John 3:16, says this (24:57):
for God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whosoever would believe in him would not perish but receive everlasting life.
It's the heart of God that many, many, many, many, millions and millions and millions of people, all people would come to him.
Not all people are going to come to him because they are free will and some will reject him. Some will. And that's tragic.
(25:18):
But understand this, beloved, we must keep our eyes on Jesus Christ, keep our eyes on Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, okay?
The Lord will commission us. We will hear what he's saying. We will be commissioned by him and we will fulfill our assignment as he works into and through our lives.
And here's the most beautiful part, perhaps, that as God is continuing to pour His water into us, as we are continually receiving the kingdom, hallelujah, both now and forevermore.
(25:48):
As God continues to pour that living water into us, there is an overflow and it begins to affect everyone's lives around us.
And so when there is an overflow out of your life, when you are a vessel and God can pour into and through your life, guess what?
Other people are affected, other people are saved, other people are healed, and yes, other people will be delivered.
(26:09):
The byproduct of that will be demons coming out of people and all those things that were holding them bondage, broken in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen?
God bless you guys today. I pray that you're encouraged. I pray that you are challenged by this. You don't have to agree with me.
But I want to bring your attention to some things that we are hearing right now, some things that are being done right now, and ask all of us to search the scriptures
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and see what God's word actually says. Amen? Until next time on Gems for the Journey, goodbye.
If you'd like to connect with us, you can go to our website at www.riverofheaven.org.
River of Heaven Ministries is advancing the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven through various means.
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In James 1.27, Scripture teaches us to care for the widows and the orphans.
We take this seriously and are actively involved in supporting widows and others in need on a monthly basis. Together, we can do more.
Additionally, our radio broadcasts and podcasts reach all nations, touching lives worldwide.
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Daily, new listeners hear the gospel and through these broadcasts and podcasts, millions have an opportunity to repent, believe, and receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Listeners also learn about powerful Tabernacle of David principles through our teaching, encouraging all to worship the Father in spirit and in truth with great passion and purity.
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