First, a shout-out to Pastor David for actually wanting to track down my blog to look at a possible rival for the Masquerade. He's just awesome like that, so I'll make it easier and give the link he'll need here. And Donatello rocks!! ^_^

Second, a shout-out to Cornerstone for hosting the first ever sermon I've heard on spiritual warfare that didn't diminish it down to just the struggle with our human nature. And it didn't go overboard either with wild descriptions of battles with demons or spiritual fervor and whatnot. I can't tell you how long I've been waiting to hear something balanced like that from the pulpit and not just from the personal experience of mature believers. People, the church needs to proclaim the reality that when it comes to the spiritual world, we are neither to fear it or freak over it. It is as real as the seat you place your rear on, just not in the same way. And it is connected to our physical world in ways we don't understand or expect, which is totally fine! After all, humans are also spiritual/physical beings, that's what uniquely qualifies us for being God's image in this physical world. So the spiritual side of things must also be there and our actions in this physical world affect it, just as Paul says in Ephesians 6 when he points out that we don't fight against flesh and blood but against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. By the same token, the spiritual world can affect us more than we give it credit for, like in Daniel's experience with the angel Gabriel who told him the answer to his prayers was delayed because of a battle in the spiritual realm. The key is to learn to recognize when something in your life is under attack, and then know what your resources are in fighting it.

I wish I could like the sermon here for your listening pleasure, but for right now there are no Cornerstone sermons online, so you'll have to make do with my faulty memory. The four things that the speaker pointed out as our resources were 1) the power of the name of Jesus, and there really is power there. We don't really understand this too well here in America, or at least I don't. Its something for me to chew on, but I can't deny that its there. 2) the Word of Truth, the Bible. How do we know what God thinks of us, what He wants us to do, and what He's promised? Why, He told us, didn't He? And He did it in a way that we can actually physically hold the words in our hands. How's that for a spiritual/physical link! 3) the blood of the Cross, the blood that was shed and saves us, restores us, heals us, and covers us just like the Passover tradition. Now this I understand much better, because thanks to the blood I am in a different relationship with God than I was before He saved me, and I have different privileges, standings, everything. 4) the presence of the Holy Spirit. The seven sons of Sceva are a great example of the need for this. They had the other 3 down right: they knew there was power in the name of Jesus, they knew the Scriptures of their day, and they understood that the blood of Christ changed something, but they didn't know God personally! They didn't have His Spirit living inside of them, connecting them to the Living Vine. So of course they got their butts kicked and humiliated by the very man they were trying to "save". Its the same with us. Without the Spirit breathing God's life into us, we've got only knowledge, and it doesn't matter how much a corpse knows because in the end it still is a corpse.

I really wish I could share the sermon with you guys. There was a lot to chew on, and I think it was presented in the right way because it made me think more about Kingdom building, even if I felt weird at parts. I'm a good American myself, there's plenty of materialism in me such that thinking about the spiritual world kind of makes me uncomfortable. But uncomfortable or not, if its Biblical, then I need to adjust my thinking.