September 16, 2007

2 Kingdoms:

Kingdom of God vs Kingdom of Darkness

*satan and his demons are already defeated - Genesis 3:14-15

*salvation transfers the believer from darkness into light - Col 1:13-15

*Christians have total victory over the enemy - Col 2:14-15

3 Observations about the Kingdom of Darkness

1. It is a kingdom defined by rebellion - Isaiah 14:12-15

-rebellion against divine authority

-Lucifer rebelled against God Himself

-when we rebel against any authority, we are rebelling against God Himslef - Romans 13:1-3

               a.) the Kingdom of God is defined by obedience

                               -obeying Jesus Chtrist and His word

                               -it is not a democracy

2.It is a spiritual kingdom - 2 Cor 10:4-5

carnal - of this world; earthy; human

a.) a spiritual being runs it

*devil - means to accuse

*satan -means slanderer (damage or destroy our reputation)

b.) there is a spiritual battle going on - it is invisible and ongoing

*******DO NOT MAKE THE SPIRITUAL BATTLE PERSONAL, BUT SPIRITUAL*******

c.) there is a spiritual path

-it leads somewhere

-to spiritual death forever

3. The character of the kingdom of darkness consists of lies and decpetions - 1 Tim 4:1 & John 8:44

-the devil and his demons are liars

-the believer defeats lies and deception with the TRUTH...........Eph 6:14

TRUTH - means real; genuine;truthfulness;sincerity

a.) the belt of truth

b.) it was worn around the waist - we mst have truth at the center or very core of our being and lives

c.) The Kingdom of God is TRUTH

The Belt of TRUTH represents several things:

(1) it speaks of Jesus Christ being the TRUTH - John 14:1-6

-Jesus is not one choice out of many choices or one part out of many parts

(2) There is absolute TRUTH - 1 Peter 1:20-21

-it is the Bible

-Proverbs 14:12 & 16:25

(3) TRUTHFULNESS must be a characteristic of every believer

-this is being honest and truthful eith ourselves, God and others about ourselves...............