The Truth Church

Pastor Hilton continues the series on spiritual warfare, drawing from Psalm 144:1-2 and Psalm 18:34, emphasizing that God teaches our hands to war. He reiterates Sun Tzu's essentials for victory: knowing when to fight, being animated by the same spirit (the Holy Spirit), and preparing oneself to catch the enemy unprepared. The central teaching focuses on the battlefield of the mind. The enemy uses imaginations and lies to exalt thoughts against the knowledge of God, sowing doubts, fears, and criticism of self, others, God, or the enemy's power. The truth of God's Word is the weapon to cast down these lies. Pastor Hilton illustrates this with the story of the two dogs—one good, one evil—and whichever is fed wins. He stresses the need to crucify the flesh by setting aside desires for immediate reward and revenge, which gratify the carnal mind. The carnal mind is enmity against God and brings death, but the spiritually minded mind brings life and peace. True spiritual warfare requires moving from living in the Spirit to walking in the Spirit by subjecting thoughts to Christ's obedience. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal (human hands, lips, thoughts) but mighty through God to pull down strongholds. Victory comes not by human might or power, but by God's Spirit, yielding to the Holy Ghost to be strong in the Lord.

Pastor Hilton preaches from Psalm 89:15, declaring that God loves sound and that a joyful sound distinguishes His people. He traces this through Scripture: the heavenly host at Jesus' birth, the disciples' loud praise at the triumphal entry, and the sound from heaven at Pentecost that drew a multitude. He emphasizes that everyone born of the Spirit produces a distinct sound—not a chaotic, self-glorifying noise, but a genuine testimony of God's grace. Using 1 Corinthians 14, he contrasts uncertain sounds that confuse with the certain, distinct sound that prepares believers for battle and worship. He illustrates this through the blind man Bartimaeus and the two blind men by the wayside, who cried out to Jesus despite attempts to silence them. Pastor Hilton stresses that a joyful sound comes from a grateful heart, is unashamed, and draws God's attention. He concludes by inviting the congregation to make a joyful noise, referencing Psalms that command praise, and assures that this sound brings blessing, joy, and the light of God's countenance.

Pastor Hilton begins with 2 Corinthians 1:20, affirming that all God’s promises are yea and amen. He distinguishes between the covenant God made with Noah after Noah’s obedience in building the ark, and the covenant with Abraham, which required Abraham to leave his country and walk before God perfectly. In both cases, God’s covenant came after human promise and action. Pastor Hilton then moves to Jeremiah’s prophecy of a new covenant, where God writes His law on hearts and minds, and Hebrews shows this covenant provides remission of sins. Under the old covenants, even righteous men like Noah and Abraham failed; human effort is insufficient. The new covenant through Christ fulfills the law: circumcision is now of the heart, and baptism in Jesus’ name is burial with Him, rising to new life by God’s operation. Repentance and remission of sins are preached in Christ’s name, beginning at Jerusalem. The promise of the Father—the Holy Ghost—came at Pentecost to those who waited. Pastor Hilton emphasizes that God never revokes His covenant; His mercy is everlasting. The sermon’s spiritual purpose is to call listeners to renew their promise to God daily, recognizing that their own righteousness is insufficient, but God’s covenant stands firm. The altars are open for those who wish to reciprocate God’s call with a sincere promise to live for Him, even if only for one more day.

Pastor Hilton continued a series on spiritual warfare, focusing on Sun Tzu's maxim: "He will win who prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared." The enemy's primary tactic is deception, rooted in lies planted in the mind. Drawing from John 8:44, he explained that Satan is a liar and the father of lies, and these lies begin as mere thoughts or questions. Using Eve's temptation in Genesis 3 as the archetype, he showed how a seemingly innocent question—"Did God really say?"—escalated into direct contradiction of God's word, leading to deception and disobedience. The pattern starts with an imagination, then matures into an exalted thing that poses as the knowledge of God, as described in 2 Corinthians 10:5. To combat this, believers must cast down these imaginations and bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. The remedy is to immerse oneself in truth—since Jesus is the Truth—and to think on things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report (Philippians 4:8). Peace and liberty come not from confusion but from aligning the mind with God's truth. The spiritual purpose is to equip the church to recognize and dismantle the enemy's lies, remaining unified in the Spirit and prepared for battle from a position of victory already secured in Christ.

Pastor Hilton preached from Psalm 51:10, focusing on David's prayer, 'Create in me a clean heart, O God,' after his sin with Bathsheba. David realized that his own attempts to fix his situation only made things worse, progressing from one sin to another. The core message is that only God, the true Creator, can genuinely create something new; humans cannot truly create, only make copies or images. This is why God commanded against graven images—any image we make of God, whether physical or in our minds, is inherently corrupt and incomplete, replacing the incorruptible God with a flawed version. The preacher drew parallels to Noah's day, when every imagination of man's heart was evil, and warned that mankind today similarly tries to manufacture its own versions of God. The solution is not to try to create our own image of God or our own righteousness, which is as filthy rags, but to submit to God and allow Him to create in us. This involves dying to the 'first Adam'—our natural, carnal nature—so that the 'second Adam,' Jesus, who is the perfect image of God, can live in us. Through repentance and transformation, we put on a new creature, discarding the old. Pastor Hilton emphasized that Jesus understands our infirmities, and through the Holy Spirit, we are changed from glory to glory, allowing God to recreate our hearts and lives into His image.