Storyside Church

What do I have that the devil wants?

 

 

What should I be fighting for?

 

 

Who should I be fighting for?

 

 

Have I lost my fight?

 

 

 

 

Jude 1  

 

1 This letter is from Jude, a brother of James. I am a servant owned by Jesus Christ. I am writing to you who have been chosen by God the Father. You are kept for Jesus Christ. 

 

2 May you have much of God’s loving-kindness and peace and love.

 

3 Dear friends, I have been trying to write to you about what God did for us when He saved us from the punishment of sin. Now I must write to you and tell you to fight hard for the faith which was once and for all given to the holy people of God. 

 

4 Some sinful men have come into your church without anyone knowing it. They are living in sin and they speak of the loving-favor of God to cover up their sins. They have turned against our only Leader and Lord, Jesus Christ. Long ago it was written that these people would die in their sins.

 

8 In the same way, these men go on dreaming and sinning against their bodies. They respect no leaders. They speak bad against those who live in the heavens.

 

16 These men complain and are never happy with anything. They let their desires lead them into sin. When they talk about themselves, they make it sound as if they are great people. They show respect to people only to get something out of them.

 

17 Dear friends, you must remember the words spoken by the missionaries of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

 

18 They said, “In the last days there will be men who will laugh at the truth and will be led by their own sinful desires.” 

 

19 They are men who will make trouble by dividing people into groups against each other. Their minds are on the things of the world because they do not have the Holy Spirit.

 

20 Dear friends, you must become strong in your most holy faith. Let the Holy Spirit lead you as you pray. 

 

21 Keep yourselves in the love of God. Wait for life that lasts forever through the loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

 

22 Have loving-kindness for those who doubt. 

 

23 Save some by pulling them out of the fire. Have loving-kindness for others but also fear them. Be afraid of being led into doing their sins. Hate even the clothes that have touched sinful bodies.

 

24 There is One Who can keep you from falling and can bring you before Himself free from all sin. He can give you great joy as you stand before Him in His shining-greatness. 

 

 

 

 

Instead 

 

 

 

Wants  /  Needs 

 

 

 

Sin will take you farther than you ever expected to go; it will keep you longer than you ever intended to stay, and it will cost you more than you ever expected to pay.

 

 

 

One great power of sin is that it blinds men so that they do not recognize its true character.

— Andrew Murray

 

 

 

What do I need to hear right now?

 

 

 

His Anointing  /  His Approval 

 

 

 

Who has slipped into your circle? 

 

 

 

Most of us will never have an issue with the LOVE of God. Our issues will be with the LORDSHIP and LEADERSHIP of God. 

 

 

 

Faith

 

2 Timothy 4:7 — I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

 

 

 

Family 

 

Nehemiah 4:14 — And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”

 

 

 

The Church 

 

 

 

Them

 

 

 

You

Mark 8

 

34 He called the crowd and his disciples together and said to them, “If anyone wants to follow me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. 

 

35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.

 

 

Have I given my life to the Lord?

 

 

Am I living my life for the Lord?  

 

 

When we come to Christ, we’re no longer the most important person in the world to us; Christ is. Instead of living only for ourselves, we have a higher goal: to live for Jesus.

— Billy Graham

 

 

What no is keeping me from my yes?

Galatians 5

 

17 The sinful self wants what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit wants what is against the sinful self. They are always fighting against each other, so that you don’t do what you really want to do. 

 

19 The wrong things the sinful self does are clear: committing sexual sin, being morally bad, doing all kinds of shameful things, 

 

20 worshiping false gods, taking part in witchcraft, hating people, causing trouble, being jealous, angry or selfish, causing people to argue and divide into separate groups, 

 

21 being filled with envy, getting drunk, having wild parties, and doing other things like this. I warn you now as I warned you before: The people who do these things will not have a part in God’s kingdom.

 

 

Have you ever wondered why Satan fights you so hard when it comes to your spirituality?

Have you ever wondered why your flesh fights you so hard when it comes to your faith?

 

 

Psalm 92

 

12 The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;

 

13 planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God.

 

14 They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green,

 

15 proclaiming, “The Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”

 

 

Planted 

 

 

The enemy will look for opportunities to uproot you.  

 

 

What is trying to uproot you right now?

 

 

They will...

 

 

Stay Planted 

 

 

Jesus never said that a Godly life would be easy; He said it would be worth it.

Titus 2:11-14 (NIV) 

11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.  

 

12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 

 

It teaches us to say no. Truth and Grace came from Jesus. King James mentions deny. 

 

13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 

 

14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

 

 

 

Titus 2:12 — Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world. (KJV) 

 

 

 

Is God teaching you to say “no” to something?

 

Saying no is often difficult.

 

Say no with your yes in mind.

 

What no is keeping you from your yes?

John 5:2-15

 

2 Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. 3 Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches. 5 One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?”

7 “I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.”

8 Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!”

9 Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking! But this miracle happened on the Sabbath, 10 so the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who was cured, “You can’t work on the Sabbath! The law doesn’t allow you to carry that sleeping mat!”

11 But he replied, “The man who healed me told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”

12 “Who said such a thing as that?” they demanded.

13 The man didn’t know, for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd. 14 But afterward Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.” 15 Then the man went and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had healed him.

 

 

 

 

Nobody starts life down.

 

 

Sin has the devil for its father, shame for its companion, and death for its wages. 

 

 

Thomas Watson

 

 

 

Wrong Direction

 

 

The enemy doesn’t want you to move in healthy directions.

 

Wrong Thoughts

 

 

You can reach unhealthy conclusions from your mat thoughts.

 

Wrong Relationships

 

 

The mat can cause you to lower your standards.

 

 Wrong Growth

 

 

Growth requires movement

 

 

 

Would you like to get well?

 

 

 

Life is filled with “are you ready” questions.

 

 

 

Stand Up  

 

 

Pick Up

 

 

Walk

 

 

“1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.”

 

‭‭Romans‬ ‭8:1-2‬ ‭NLT‬‬

 

 

Jesus came to make your life right side up.

There is no "I" in denial. 

 

 

Luke 9 

 

18 Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” 

 

19 And they answered, “John the Baptist. But others say, Elijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.” 

 

20 Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.”

 

23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 

 

24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 

 

25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?

 

Some say...

 

 

Who do you say that I am?

 

 

Jesus is not one of many ways to approach God, nor is He the best of several ways; He is the only way.

— A. W. Tozer

 

 

Romans 6

 

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. 

 

 

“Our confessions of sin need to be as well defined as our professions of faith. If faith is being sure of what we hope for, then repentance is being sure of what we’re sorry for.” 

— Mark Batterson 

 

 

Who is Jesus in your life?

Where is Jesus in your life?

 

 

We cannot be a part-time Christian and defeat a full-time Devil.

 

 

Denial 

Die Daily 

Direction 

 

 

Have I lost my desire to live in denial? 

 

 

Pleasure 

 

 

2 Timothy 3 

 

1 Remember this: There are some terrible times coming in the last days. 

 

2 People will love only themselves and money. They will be proud and boast about themselves. They will abuse others with insults. They will not obey their parents. They will be ungrateful and against all that is pleasing to God. 

3 They will have no love for others and will refuse to forgive anyone. They will talk about others to hurt them and will have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. 

 

4 People will turn against their friends. They will do foolish things without thinking and will be so proud of themselves. Instead of loving God, they will love pleasure.

 

 

Purity 

 

Luke 9

 

25 What will you gain, if you own the whole world but destroy yourself or waste your life? 

 

It’s not my performance before man that matters most, it’s my position before God.

“Again” — 2/28/21

 

 

 

Proverbs 24:16 — For the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.

 

 

 

Luke 5 

 

2 He noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. 

 

4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.”

 

5 “Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.” 

 

6 And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear!

 

 

 

Again: Another time, once more. 

 

 

 

The Wall 

 

 

The Fall 

 

Loneliness

Ledge

Lackadaisical

Letdown

 

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about.

— Quote 

 

 

The Fallout 

 

 

The Finality 

 

 

Proverbs 24:16 — For the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.

 

 

AGAIN

 

 

Psalm 147:3 — He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

 

 

God can put broken people back together again.

Shut The Door 

 

2 Kings 4 [KJV]

1 Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen. 

 

2 And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil. 

 

3 Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few.

 

4 And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full. 

 

5 So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out.

 

6 And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed. 

 

7 Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.  

 

1. I believe that she shut the door for privacy. 

2. I believe that she shut the door on public opinion. 

3. I believe that she shut the door to protect her stuff. 

4. I believe she shut the door to put doubt out. 

5. I believe that she shut the door to pay Thy debt and live off of the rest.

 

2 Kings 4

7 Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt,

and live off the rest, let me talk to those who

are in the pay thy debt season of your life,

 

There’s an anointing to pay thy debt and there’s an anointing to live off of the rest. You have to determine where you are in the pouring process.

Joshua 3:17 — The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.

 

 

Joshua 4

 

3 and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.

 

4 So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, 

 

5 and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, 

 

6 to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 

 

7 tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”

 

8 So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the Lord had told Joshua; and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them down. 

 

9 Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day.

 

10 Now the priests who carried the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything the Lord had commanded Joshua was done by the people, just as Moses had directed Joshua.

 

 

 

 

What is God asking me to do right now?

 

 

A revival is nothing else than a new beginning of obedience to God.

— Charles Finney

 

 

 

 

 

Closing

 

 

Stay Standing 

 

 

Trust God’s Track Record

“Get Up”

 

Luke 22

 

31 “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. 

 

32 But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

 

33 But he replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.”

 

34 Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.”

 

 

54 Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance. 

 

55 And when some there had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. 

 

56 A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, “This man was with him.”

 

57 But he denied it. “Woman, I don’t know him,” he said.

 

58 A little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” “Man, I am not!” Peter replied.

 

59 About an hour later another asserted, “Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean.”

 

60 Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. 

 

61 The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.” 

 

62 And he went outside and wept bitterly.

 

 

 

 

The Devil’s Desires 

 

 

Unfailing Faith 

 

 

Proximity

Place

People 

 

People are either a plus or a minus in your life. 

— John Maxwell 

 

 

Persistent Pressure 

 

 

 

Peter denies his relationship with Jesus.

 

Peter disassociates himself from the disciples. 

 

Peter denounces his personal revelation. 

 

 

 

Have you ever broken a promise to God?

 

 

 

Luke 24 

 

9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 

 

10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 

 

11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 

 

12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

 

 

 

However 

 

 

What am I going to do right now?  

 

 

Get Up!

Middle: The position of being among or in the midst of something. 

 

 

Mark 6

 

39 Jesus then told his disciples to make all the people divide into groups and sit down on the green grass.

 

44 The number of men who were fed was five thousand. 

 

45 At once Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to Bethsaida, on the other side of the lake, while he sent the crowd away. 

 

46 After saying good-bye to the people, he went away to a hill to pray. 

 

47 When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake, while Jesus was alone on land. 

 

48 He saw that his disciples were straining at the oars, because they were rowing against the wind; so sometime between three and six o'clock in the morning, he came to them, walking on the water. He was going to pass them by,

 

49 but they saw him walking on the water. “It's a ghost!” they thought, and screamed. 

 

50 They were all terrified when they saw him. Jesus spoke to them at once, “Courage!” he said. “It is I. Don't be afraid!” 

 

51 Then he got into the boat with them, and the wind died down. The disciples were completely amazed, 

 

52 because they had not understood the real meaning of the feeding of the five thousand; their minds could not grasp it.

 

 

 

Miracle Moments 

 

 

Middle Moments 

 

 

Have you ever went from the miracle to the middle?  

 

 

Middle Misperceptions

 

 

Don’t let fear decide your future.

 

 

Jesus