Pastor Cluck preached on “Deliverance Ministry” from:
2 Cor 10:4-6
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
I’ll skip the many one liners after his opening: “I’m going to be on the level with you. My bubble is in the middle”.
Most false prophets hide in Christian bookstores. These current boods don’t talk about the great Last Days revival. “The plowman is going to over take the reaper” is a fact. The apostate church is not the Catholic church; it is the backslid Pentecostals. The church has failed to preach deliverance; casting down proud logic. This from our text: stronghold—fortress – a forceful stubborn argument – strongholds in the local church.
There are spirits that are resisting spiritual and numerical growth.
1) A feminine spirit
The church has been described as “undisciplined children, bossy women and sissy men”. What’s at stake is revival with young men. “Some of the best men we have in our churches are women”. This is a generation of reversal of roles.
2) The carnal verses the spiritual
The carnal is setting the tone of the church. The need for prayer. Division means two visions; the pastor and a few pursuing the vision verses the other vision ruled by carnality undermining the vision of the church.
3) Laborers verses spectators
“The normal flow of revival is to get saved to serve; now it is saved to sit”. This is a generation of spectators. The church is like a football game: 11 men working who need a rest and 75,000 sitting who need some exercise. A key to revival is leaders leading and people following.
Secondly, there is a stronghold of ministry.
“Pure logic is the ruin of the spirit”. Wordy preachers kill. Where did you get your ordination papers? From Jn 15:16 “I chose you”. The danger of speaking above the level of your knowledge. Apollos had confidence but he was misinformed. The New Living says in 1 Cor 4:5 “don’t jump to conclusions”. Pastor I need to repent and lay my tongue on the altar – there isn’t an altar big enough.
There is an excuse for fruitlessness: quality verses quantity. Many are content with maintaining. Nothing more boring than hanging on instead of taking new ground. The cutting edge is getting sinners saved. “I’m into numbers because they represent souls” why does the Holy Spirit record 3000 saved on the day of Pentecost.? Go ahead, put it on record, make 2010 the year of breakthrough revival.
There is a danger in formalism where ability becomes the focus. Divine life is the attraction of revival. “Fire is always a crowd getter”. Acts 2:6 “it was noised abroad”. It is a contest between formalism and an animated God. Look around, God is into men and ethnics. “I did have some Indian blood, but I had a nose bleed and they kicked me out of the tribe.”
Institutionalism: the desire to reach a better class of people.
Some say: streamline our services so we don’t seem so Pentecostal.
Materialism: prosperity can become a curse.
Directions 