Know the Law Well Enough to Recognise What Is Acting Illegally

Sermon outline

Supernatural manifestation follows a renewed mind: know the word well enough to recognise and cast down every thought that acts against it, walk in love and forgiveness, and settle it that God is in control.

1. This is our Father's house

   He walks the church through the year's work: the corroded canopy refabricated and replaced, the toilets and rusted pipes redone, a new air-conditioning system, and then a flood that came through the open roof days before Easter, soaking the foyer, stage and downstairs rooms. A fire from old light fittings followed, so every light was replaced with LED, and repeated break-ins led to new fencing, beams, CCTV and alarms. He honours the members who gave their skill, their nights and their money, most of whom did not want to be named, and says God has blessed their homes and businesses in return.

   Illustration: One member who runs his own business walks the building not pointing out what others should fix, but saying, come, let's sort this out. Another, after installing the security systems, told him he was busier than ever, with contracts that had eluded him for years now coming to him.

   “This is my house, and because this is my house, I will do what's necessary in my house, God is gonna bless you.”

2. We do not war after the flesh

   Something uncommon does not ordinarily happen; something supernatural is beyond the laws of nature. Our weapons are not carnal but mighty through God to pull down strongholds and cast down imaginations, the theories, arguments and reasonings born in the mind. Two people can go through the same experience, one in turmoil and the other in peace. God has no favourites; the one who seems favoured is simply more reliant on Him.

   “God doesn't have any favourites. The one we call favourite is the one that's more reliant on God.”

   • 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
   • Isaiah 26:3-4

3. The battle is lost in the mind

   The devil is a defeated foe; most Christians lose the battle in their own minds, shaped by how they grew up. Renew your mind daily by the word. Entertaining wrong thoughts is like inviting strangers off the street to a feast who then wreck the house. And you cannot arrest what you do not recognise: just as an attorney knows his field of law completely, a believer must know the word well enough to spot what is acting illegally against it.

   Illustration: Put your mind in the washing machine every day, and the washing machine is the word of God. A conveyancer knows property law and a family attorney knows family law; the believer's law is the word.

   “How do we know what to arrest if we don't know what the Word of God says?”

   • Romans 12:2

4. Do what you have never done

   Present your body a living sacrifice, the least God expects, and be transformed by renewing your mind. To see supernatural results, start doing what you have never done: read the Bible, hand things over, stop reacting. In a crisis people fall back on their default: the people they used to know, the things they used to do, and the way they used to talk and think. Think soberly of yourself, use your gift in the body, and remember we are where we are because of yesterday's decisions.

   Illustration: Keeping your distance from a parent you are fighting with to protect your heart only leaves the problem festering in the corner. Confront it with forgiveness, love and humility and you get a different result.

   “We are where we are because of yesterday's decisions.”

   • Romans 12:1-8
   • Matthew 5:13-14

5. Walk in love and balance the scales

   Walking in love is one of the hardest things, especially around difficult people, and he admits there was a time he was that person. He reads Romans 12:9-21 from the Living Bible: really love others, help God's children in need, pray for those who mistreat you for being a Christian, never avenge yourself, feed your enemy. Unforgiveness makes the love walk null and void. A false balance is an abomination, so the life we live Monday to Saturday must match Sunday.

   “It's not good enough to come to church on a Sunday morning, sing a few praise songs, let the pastor pray over you, listen to the word and then Monday through to Saturday we live another kind of way and expect the blessing of the Lord.”

   • Romans 12:9-21
   • Matthew 6:14-15
   • Proverbs 11:1

6. God is in control

   It is not about how much evil is out there but how much protection a believer has. We are protected from calamity, and though sometimes we are hit hard, our lives are in God's hands and all things work together for good. The only fear worth having is the fear of the Lord. There is a time for everything, so be content in every season, knowing God is in control.

   Illustration: His wife does not like him cycling alone at four in the morning on an empty road, but the risk is the same as sitting in a mall coffee shop. In Mount Edgecombe a truck came off the highway into the Flanders Mall parking lot and hit about forty cars; he was parked there that day, and the last car hit was two away from his.

   “It's not about how much evil is out there, it's about how much protection you have as a believer.”

   • Romans 8:28
   • Matthew 6:8
   • Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

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