Demons, Aliens, and the Sin You Think You Committed

get to me. And church, I found one passage this week that really answers all five and it doesn't just answer them, it names them. Romans 8 38 for I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing can separate us from him and the apostle Paul put it all in the same verse and he didn't put them there to teach us a class he put them there on a list of things that lose to Jesus. Come on.

Amen. So let's pray God I thank you. I thank you for your power in this place. Holy Spirit I thank you that you're already moving in people's lives. Lord I thank you God for touching everybody every heart every mind.

Lord pull back the veil. God that we can see what's going on in the spiritual realm today and Lord I thank you. God for casting out every spirit of fear in this place. God every spirit of confusion every spirit of infirmity. God open up our hearts to the power the truth and the light of your word.

I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen. Let me start with the wild card question because the pastor claimed this week that Jesus was tortured and abused in hell for our sins. This teaching goes back to the early 1900s to a guy named E.W. Kenyon.

He was a Baptist pastor but the Baptists don't believe what he taught. Okay. Some Pentecostals are out there teaching this too but Pentecostals don't believe this either. Okay. Just want you to know that this is not an accepted doctrine by any denomination but it's called JDS.

Jesus died spiritually and every time I hear it preached I've seen it preached on TV. I've seen it preached on TikTok. I've actually been in a church service where somebody preached it. Every time I hear preached I want to just lose my mind because it's heresy and in my opinion it's blasphemy. I'm just going to give you a couple scriptures we'll move on but Colossians 1 13 says this that he has delivered us from the power of darkness.

Aren't you glad for that? Remember that today when we dig into this stuff and he has conveyed us in the kingdom of the son of his love in whom we have redemption through his blood. Somebody say through his blood. That's important. We have redemption not through his torture, through his blood.

The forgiveness of sins. He talking about Jesus is the image of the invisible God the firstborn over all creation for by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth visible and invisible whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created through him and for him verse 17 he is before all things and in him all things consist. Jesus is God in the flesh and spiritually speaking God cannot die. The universe would fall apart because the Bible says that in him all things consist. He holds it all together church.

But the bottom line for JDS is this it claims that Jesus physical death on the cross was not enough to pay the price for our sins. Look with me at 1st Peter 2 24 1st Peter 2 24 who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree. Is that what the Bible says? In his own body he bore our sins on the cross that we having died to sins might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. The Bible says he bore our sins in his own body on the tree.

Either the Bible's lying or you're lying and I pick you. When Jesus died on the cross he said it is he didn't say it's almost done he said hold on hold on a minute hold on I gotta do I gotta do some more stuff no he said it is finished. Come on church say the cross was enough. All right three of you come on say it with me the cross was enough. We're gonna say that a few times today because I want that to sink into your mind your heart your spirit.

The cross was enough. Jesus said it is finished when he looked at the thief on the cross he didn't say this day you would be with me in hell. He said this day you will be with me in paradise. Y'all with me. All right we have been redeemed by his blood.

Come on say it again the cross was enough. All right now to this week's listener questions. Question one I have family that believes in I'm so glad you asked this question. I have family that believes in aliens what does the Bible say about it one said they've seen one. Such a good question.

My answer may shock you there is life beyond this earth. It's just not necessarily from another planet. Listen I just read Colossians Colossians 1 16 look back at that Colossians 1 16 says for by him all things were created that are in heaven and on earth visible and invisible. God made a whole category of creation that is both heavenly in other words not of this earth and invisible. Now it might feel like a sidetrack but I'm proving a point.

How many of you have heard of a little band called the Beatles. Young people ask your grandma I should tell you about it but let me show you something I got a slide for you here. Okay anybody this looks familiar to any of y'all. The Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. One of the most famous album covers in history okay from 1967 and all the band members got to submit a list of people that they wanted on the cover but I got another slide for you.

One of the faces on there is this guy. His name is Alistair Crowley. Newsman Crowley. Crowley I call him a crow. Alistair Crowley the newspapers of his day called him the wickedest man in the world.

He was actually the son of a preacher but he rebelled against God he blasphemed God. He hated Jesus. He hated Christianity and he became an occultist. His motto was do what thou wilt. In other words serve yourself.

Serve your own pleasures and desires. Don't serve God and he practiced all sorts of sexual perversions and he mixed drugs and sex with occultic rituals and he actually recorded encounters that he had with demons with evil spirits and he wrote down the things that they would speak to him and he completely sold himself out to the devil. Now watch this in 1918 I'm going somewhere while in the United States in New York City he was in an occultic ritual a seance and and he contacted a demon spirit and he sketched out what he looked like. Let's take a look. Does that kind of resemble some stuff that we see in popular culture today?

Now remember this is 1918. This is not a creature he drew for a comic book or a sci-fi novel. This is a portrait of a demon spirit that he believed that he encountered in an occult ritual. Now I'm not telling you anything. I'm just giving you a little bit of information.

Y'all can take the slide down. Let me show you. Let me tell you about a guy named Joe Jordan. This is my this is my friend here Joe Jordan. Joe Jordan is a field investigator for MUFON the mutual UFO network.

Anybody heard of that? Okay a couple of you all right and the rest of y'all are thinking I pastor's been up too late again. Joe Jordan is not a pastor but he does have a ministry. He's a very well respected and credentialed UFO researcher. In fact this guy's a legend in the UFO world and he's also a Christian which is extremely rare but he's been doing this research since 1992 and he interviews people who say they've been abducted by aliens or they claim to have had alien encounters and one day he's in Florida interviewing a guy named Bill who describes this horrifying experience that he had in the middle of a night one night but he told Joe Jordan something that shocked him that caught his attention.

He said Joe he said in the middle of this horrifying terrifying experience I cried out and said Jesus help me and immediately everything stopped. So he talked to his fellow researchers at MUFON and he asked them he said have have you guys ever seen anything like that and it turns out almost all of them had that but because it was religious because it was Jesus stuff they dismissed it as irrelevant to their research but they had found the only common thread that stopped these encounters. He was shocked in fact he found over 400 cases where people prayed, sang praises and straight up called on Jesus and everything just came to a stop. Don't take my word for it take it from a man who investigates this stuff for a living. Now why would a name do that?

Because whatever it is it's from another realm and it knows exactly who Jesus is. Philippians 2.9 says this therefore God has also highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven of those on the earth and those under the earth every knee will bow at the name of Jesus. Amen. Now do I think all demons look like little gray men? No.

The Bible says Satan masquerades as an angel of light. Evil spirits can come in many different forms pretty ugly or pretty ugly. Either way they've all got to bow to the name of Jesus. Amen. Their power was broken at Calvary so somebody say it again the cross was enough.

All right question two what are the differences between fallen angels demons, Nephilim and principalities? All right I'm gonna try to get through this fast amen. I cannot promise a quick service today I'm going I got to take my time on some of these because we're covering a lot of ground today but I promise that you'll be home by midnight amen. You'll be home before Paul and Silas cried out. Okay all right let's start with angels.

Angels they're created by God to worship and to minister. They're seen throughout the Bible as God's messengers and as God's warriors. Okay this is God's staff all right and here's a pretty amazing thing that angels do in Hebrews 1 14 it says are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation? Isn't that cool? That means one of the jobs of angels is to minister to you.

Did you know that? That God will send angels to protect you to minister to you to strengthen you? I think that's amazing. Now the Bible says that some of them rebelled and got kicked out of the house. Revelation 12 9 so the great dragon was cast out that serpent of old called the devil and satan who deceives the whole world.

He was cast to the earth and his angels were cast out with him. Do you know that's the whole reason hell was created? It wasn't designed for people. Jesus said in Matthew 25 41 that hell was made specifically and I quote for the devil and his angels. God doesn't want people in hell that's why he sent Jesus to rescue us.

Now let's talk about the Nephilim okay everything most people know about the Nephilim they learn from a man with a podcaster a guy with crazy hair and a whiteboard. Okay but Genesis 6 4 says there were giants on the earth in those days and also afterward when the sons of God came into the daughters of men they bore children to them. That Hebrew word Nephilim means fallen ones and there are two main views on who these guys are. The ancient view is that fallen angels married the daughters of men. A modern view is that the sons of Cain married the daughters of Seth and let me give you some advice I'm gonna help you I'm gonna be pastoral.

Don't obsess over this. Please don't obsess over this. I've never once met one person whose whole life was changed by their view of Genesis 6 verse 4. Okay all right moving on demons let's talk about demons briefly these are called unclean spirits and evil spirits. The Bible doesn't say directly where they came from and because of that there are two main views on the origin of demons and evil spirits.

The oldest view is that they're the spirits of the Nephilim. The other view is that they're fallen angels and it tends to be the majority of you these days but I'll be honest with you I don't care where they came from all I care about is where they're going. Jesus humiliated them at the cross and they are defeated and they're bound for the pit church. Colossians 2 15 having disarmed principalities and powers he made a public spectacle of them triumphing over them in it. The New Living Translation says it like this in this way Jesus disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities he shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

I don't know if you figured it out but I think you know what I'm about to say church the cross was enough. Come on the cross was enough. If you don't remember nothing I say you better remember that the cross was enough. Jesus defeated all the powers of hell at the cross and we discover through the ministry of Jesus and the apostles that evil spirits can inhabit people. Matthew 12 43 Jesus said when an unclean spirit goes out of a man he goes through dry places seeking rest and finds none then he says I will return to my house from which I came.

Look what it's doing is looking for a house to inhabit demon spirit with nobody is looking for a place to dwell. Y'all the supernatural world is real evil spirits are real and real people are under the influence of evil. In fact the bible says to one degree or another the whole world is under their influence. First John 5 19 we know that we are children of God and the whole world around us is under the control of the evil one. The whole world around us y'all but thank God we don't belong to the world amen.

What about principalities and powers? Ephesians 6 12 where we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities powers against rulers of the darkness of this age. Principalities powers rulers. That's a hierarchy ranks that's the chain of command and this is what I want you to see the kingdom of darkness is not a mob it's organized. Okay somebody say it's organized.

One of the dumbest things oh I'm sorry I forgot to say no offense. But one of the dumbest things I hear people say is well I don't believe in organized religion. Listen to me hell is organized whether you believe in it or not and the last time I checked the church is the only thing on earth that the gates of hell shall not prevail against. So why on earth would you stop going to church? Anyway moving on before I start preaching.

How do people get demon possessed? Now before I get into that let me talk to you church folks. We got to stop blaming all our problems on the devil and the demon. Some of y'all don't have a demon you got a bad attitude and a sugar problem. Now that I've said that let's look back at Matthew chapter 12.

When he comes he finds an empty swept and put in order then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself and they enter and dwell there. Notice that the house was clean but clean is not the same thing as occupied. Some people have a spotless house but nobody's living in it. That's not holiness that's not holiness that's an airbnb baby because an empty life is not a safe life it's an available life. Some people get cleaned up on their own but they don't have the holy spirit living inside of them.

That's not deliverance that's a vacancy sign. That leads me to the real question can the believer be demon possessed? No not a child of God. First John 4 says you were of God little children and you have overcome them because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. He who is in you that means you are occupied.

If you are a born-again child of God your house is full. Am I right? Now can a believer be harassed or oppressed or find resistance from the devil? Absolutely ask Job ask the apostle Paul but there's a difference between hassled and inhabited. This is where a lot of people get confused.

Let me just make it simple. The Bible describes two things. One is the devil attacking from the outside. This is when you're attacked, tempted, accused, and pressured. Acts 10 38 says that Jesus went about doing good healing all who were oppressed of the devil.

What does it mean to be oppressed? Pressured, pushed from the outside. And it's interesting that Jesus specifically there is dealing with sickness. Sickness and disease. He healed not a few.

He healed all who are oppressed of the devil. And my Bible says Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He's still doing it now child of God. 2 Corinthians 12 7 the apostle Paul talks about a messenger of Satan sent there to hinder him. That's the devil on the outside attacking you but there's another thing altogether when the devil's inside the house.

The Bible says time and time again about the devil entering Luke 8 30 many demons had to enter him. Matthew 12 43 I'll return to my house the devil says. Luke 22 3 the Bible says Satan entered Judas. It's the difference of being outside the house and inside the house. But let's talk about how the door gets open.

Because a lot of times scripture tells us that somebody was demonized but it doesn't tell us how it started. So I can't give you a formula. I can just tell you some things that the Bible is clear that opens the door to the enemy. Number one is idolatry. 1 Corinthians 10 20 says the things with the gentile sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons.

I think that's a pretty good idea don't you? But what's an idol? An idol is anything that you defend before Jesus. That's good preaching brother. An idol is anything that you defend before Jesus because that'll tell on you.

I gotta go because I could just preach on that for two hours. Number two the occult. Deuteronomy 18 lists divination, sorcery, mediums, and consulting the dead as the practices of the occult. Today that would include things like horoscopes, tarot cards, and tarot apps, psychics, spells, Ouija boards, witch talk, okay? All of those things open up the door to demonic spirits in your life.

God doesn't call that stuff harmless. He calls it an abomination. So idolatry, the occult. Number three giving place to the devil through sin. Ephesians 4 26 and 27 don't let the sun go down on your wrath nor give place to the devil.

Don't give him any real estate in your life. Don't let him park in your front yard and lord have mercy. Don't rent a maroon. Idolatry, the occult, giving place through sin and number four handing yourself over. Judas is the clearest case of this in the Bible.

In John 13 it says that Satan entered him. Nobody snuck up on Judas. Judas made a decision to put himself in Satan's hands just like Aleister Crawley did. Now here's the part I can't skip, okay? Idolatry, the occult, giving place, handing yourself over.

Every one of those is a decision that a person makes. None of them is something that was done to that person. And I want you to hear me. Trauma is not on that list. Grief is not on that list.

Abuse is not on that list. Mental illness is not on that list. The Bible names doors that people open. It never names wounds that people suffered. So don't let anybody tell you that what happened to you gave the devil an open door into your life.

That's not in this book. I got one good strong amen right there. So can a believer be oppressed? Yes. Why else would God tell us to fight?

James 4-7, submit to God or resist the devil and he will flee from you. Can we be oppressed? Yes, at times can we be possessed? There's not one time in scripture, not once does a born-again spirit-filled believer ever possessed by an evil spirit. 1 Corinthians 6-19 says that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Amen. That means the devil can rattle your windows, but he can't have your house. Come on, somebody say, he can't have my house. Come on, tell somebody he can't have my house. Hallelujah.

That's a good message title. I'm going to write that down. You'll act like you never heard before if I preach it next week. But how do people get free? This is my favorite part because it's so simple.

I hate it when people give the devil a platform. I know y'all have seen it. People spend three hours interviewing the devil. What's your name? What's your rank?

What's your social security number? What's your serial number? How long have you been in this person? Name the last 10 people you ran before you were in this person. Come on, that's ridiculous.

The Bible says more often than not, Jesus cast out evil spirits with a word. You know what I think that word was? Because he was a country boy. Go on, get on him. Try it, amen.

Mark 1-25, hold that peace and come out of him. Acts 16-18, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. It's as simple as that. It's not about the volume. It's not about the theatrics.

It's always about the authority. Mark 9-29, they had a tough case. Jesus said this can come out but by prayer and fasting. Some things take a little longer. That's not failure.

That's still victory. But watch this one. This one's a warning. There were some men in Acts 19 who thought the name of Jesus was a magic wand. Seven brothers, the sons of Sceva, they'd seen Paul do it, so they tried it.

Acts 19-15, and the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus, I know Paul, I know, but who are y'all? Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them overcame them so that they fled out of the house naked and wounded. They came to do a deliverance and left butt naked, y'all. Church, the name of Jesus is not a magic word or a password. It's a relationship.

Come on, James 4-7 says what? Submit to God. Then you can resist the devil and he will flee. You cannot resist the devil from a life that stops submitted to God. That's why in Acts 19, at the end of that chapter, people were dragging their occult books into the street and burning them.

You know why? Because they didn't get a new magic word. They got a new Lord and his name was Jesus. So keep your eyes on the right. Don't get obsessed with demons.

Get obsessed with Jesus. 1 Sean 3-8, for this purpose, the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. Glory to God. Somebody needs to make that your theme verse. And every day you need to wake up and say, look out, devil.

I got Jesus in me and Jesus came to destroy your works and everywhere I go today, the works of the devil are going to be destroyed. Glory to God. You got to get a hold of who you are as a child of God. When we moved to Goldsboro, I was driving through my new neighborhood and a U-Haul saying, devil, your worst nightmare just came to town. Haha.

You're my child of God. The power of God inside of me. I'm hidden with Christ in God. Glory to God. You know why I can say that?

Because the cross was enough. Somebody asked this, do angels possess people? No, because they have a place to live. They're employed and they have a home. Listen, I've never seen an angel, but I have people in my family who have.

Any of y'all ever seen an angel? Many people have seen angels and God never let me see an angel. He let me see a demon. I'm like, oh gee, thanks. God opened up my eyes and I saw a demon spirit.

It was the most hideous thing I've ever seen in my life. Was I afraid? No. Why would I be afraid of a defeated enemy? I said, why would I be afraid of a defeated enemy?

Church, Jesus broke the power of hell 2000 years ago. You know what I did? I rebuked him in the name of Jesus. I said, get out of here. You know why?

Because the cross was enough. The cross was enough. So the real question is not who's out there. The real question is who's in here. That's the question that everybody has to ask.

Who's in here? First John 5 18, we know that God's children do not make a practice of sinning. It doesn't mean we had never messed up because that's the first saying. That's the same John who said that if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just and forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But he said God's children do not make a practice of sin.

He says we don't live a lifestyle of sin. For God's son holds them securely and the evil one cannot touch them. I want you to say this. The evil one can't touch me. Come on, say it again.

The evil one can't touch me. Can't touch this. No child of God could be demon possessed, but church people can. Oh, y'all didn't know there's a difference, did you? Going to church doesn't make you a Christian.

You can sit in church and be full of hell. I mean, you could be so full of hell your seat starts to melt. It takes more than just going to church. Jesus has to be the Lord of your life. Don't misunderstand me.

We all mess up and stumble sometimes, but if sin is still running your life, you're not a Christian, but I go to church. So does the devil. But I believe even the demons tremble and believe it comes down to this. Who is running your life? Who's the Lord of your life and who is in charge?

Not on Sunday morning, but on Monday morning, Friday night, Saturday night, who's in charge of your life? Because if sin is still in charge of your mouth and your money and your bedroom and how you treat people, then sin is still the Lord of your life. Oh, I'm preaching old school today, but it's what the Bible says. But here's the good news. You can make Jesus Lord today right now.

You can give up control and give it to all to him and he will change you from the inside out. Jesus can do what you could never do on your own. He could break the power of sin off of you and you will. The devil won't be your pimp anymore. Think about it.

Jesus to do what you could never do your own. Know why? Because the cross was enough. I'm almost done. It's just a couple more questions.

Next one in the garden was a serpent, the father of Cain. Whoever wrote this, I know you heard this from somebody and you did the right thing by asking this. The Bible actually answers this directly. Genesis 4.1. Now Adam knew Eve his wife and she conceived in bore Cain and said, I have acquired a man from the Lord.

Now that's the whole answer right there. One verse, one father, there is no serpent. That idea comes from a teaching called the serpent seed. And it got popular in this country because people used to argue that certain groups of people were descended from Satan. If you want to know the truth of it.

It was used to say that some people were less human than others. Now listen, any doctrine that leads you to conclude that some people are less human than others did not come from the Bible that came from hell. It's what we call a doctrine of demons. So don't believe it. This is the counter argument.

People say, well, first, John says that Cain was of the wicked one. Yeah. John tells us why. First, John 3 12, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. Why did he murder him?

Because his works were evil and his brothers were righteous. Why was he of the evil one? Because his works were evil. Not because a snake was his daddy. Amen.

Cain's problem was never his DNA or his blood. It was his wicked works. And that's good news for you and me because it means that nobody in here is disqualified from the redeeming blood of Jesus because of their pastor where they came from. You know why? Because the cross was enough.

Question number four, we're almost done. What does a reprobate mind mean and what is the unpardonable sin? Now somebody might be carrying the weight of this question today. Romans 1 28, even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient. Romans 1 28 in the NLT says, oh yes, since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking to let them do things that should never be done.

So they rejected God first and because they wholeheartedly, knowingly rejected God and chose to do sin knowingly and to lead others in sin knowingly, God turned them over to their sinful, foolish thinking. So they reject God first and then God lets them go. But what you need to know here is that God never slams a door on somebody reaching for the handle. So if you're worried that you have a reprobate mind, then you don't. Why?

Because you're worried about it. Now the unpardonable sin, let's look at the context because that's where the whole definition comes from. It's not leaving this church to join the church down the street. Hello. Some of y'all came from a church culture like that.

Oh Lord, he doesn't went to that church down the road. He ain't right with Jesus no more. Y'all don't talk to him now. You can't be friends with him any more. Come on, that stuff is from the pit of hell.

There is one church and that's the body of Christ. We are one family. Matthew 12, 22, Jesus tells us clearly what the impardonable sin is. Says a demon-possessed man who was blind and couldn't speak was brought to Jesus. He healed the man so that he could both speak and see.

Verse 24, but when the Pharisees heard about the miracle, they said no wonder he can cast out demons. He gets his power from Satan, the prince of demons. So a blind, tormented man gets healed in front of them. They watch it happen. Nobody's debating the facts and the religious leaders looked at the work of the Holy Spirit and said that's of the devil.

Matthew 12, 31, so I tell you every sin and blasphemy can be forgiven except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit which will never be forgiven. So what's the impardonable sin? It's a knowing, intentional, final decision. I mean, you know what's going on and in your heart you make the decision to look at the work of the Holy Spirit and call it the work of the devil. This is not a mistake.

It's not something that's said out of ignorance and I got a lot of brothers and sisters in Christ from other denominations and backgrounds that say stuff like that out of ignorance. But you know and you see that this is a miraculous work of God and you still choose to call it of Satan. Jesus said you can't come back from that. But it's a verdict of perch and reaches and they never revisit that. So be very careful about calling something demonic that the Bible says is a work of the Holy Spirit.

If you look at the Bible and don't look to tradition, look to the word of God. Because we see in the word of God that miracles, healing, tongues, prophecy, all of those are New Testament signs that come from the Holy Spirit. You might not come from a background that believes that. That's fine. Just don't call it of the devil.

My great grandfather, my not great grandfather, my grandfather, my daddy, daddy. He was a good old Baptist pastor down the street in Kenton in 1923. He was a pastor there and he began to just read in the scriptures. They didn't believe in that but he was reading and he kept seeing it over and over again in the New Testament church, signs and wonders and miracles and tongues and prophecy and then he met somebody who had been at this little revival in Los Angeles on Azusa Street and they began to tell him what was going on down there. And in the middle of the night, this Baptist pastor who was staying at the house of the treasurer of his Baptist church, woke up in the middle of the night and God said, do you want it?

He said, I want it. And the power of God fell on him. He jumped up on his bed praying in a heavenly language, started running down the hallways, praying in a heavenly language at the top of his lungs and the treasury woke him up, woke his whole family up. They came out in the hallway and said, preacher Clark, are you all right? He said, I'm more than all right.

He said, preacher Clark, this is the happiest I've ever seen you. He said, it's the happiest I've ever been. And he laid hands on them and they started speaking in tongues and praising God. I'll tear up a Baptist church. But he found out that it was of God.

Hallelujah. Just don't call it of the devil, but you better watch out. The Holy Ghost might hit you too. Pastor of the Lutheran church in Wilmington, North Carolina, she was driving down College Road one day, just worshiping God out loud, praising God and tears began to run down her face. She was overwhelmed with the presence of God.

And all of a sudden she started speaking in tongues. And she said, oh my God, what am I going to tell my husband? We don't even believe in this. But the power of, listen, the power of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit don't belong to the Pentecostals. They belong to the whole body of Christ.

It's a promise of God for every believer. Where was I? Let me keep going. I can't keep y'all here all day. I mean, you could choose to leave at any point, but I could just keep going and going and going and going and going.

All right. Last question. Last question. What does Romans 828 mean? This is a good one right here.

I love Romans 828. It says, we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. Now, I'm drawn to Romans chapter eight because when I was a kid, I printed out the whole chapter Romans eight and I taped it to my bedroom door. And every day before I left the house, I would read Romans chapter eight out loud and I would just claim it for my own and speak it over my own life. I love Romans chapter eight.

And this is a beautiful, powerful verse that has got me through the pretty tough seasons in life. And we know that all things, somebody say all things. Now, it doesn't say all things are good. It said all things work together for good. You know what that is?

That's a cooking verse. That's a cooking verse. Welcome to cooking with pastor Josh on Sunday morning. I brought a little illustration. Maybe you won't forget this.

That's a cooking verse. All things work together for good. He doesn't say all things are good because I found that raw eggs are not good. Rocky, Balboa, I am not. Raw eggs are not good.

You're going to feel like you've been eating a Taco Bell for three years. I found that flour by itself is not good. I've never picked up flour and said, man, I could just chug this whole bag right now. Nobody's ever said that because flour by itself is really disgusting if you've ever tried it. I've also found that baking soda by itself is not good.

I have never looked at Amber and said, baby, I'm just craving a good old box of baking soda. I just come on, stop in the food line, get me some baking soda. I just got to know that's nasty. Baking soda by itself is not good, but you know what? You put them all together and you got something that's good.

Come on, baby. Gc, we got cake. Where's Pastor Lamonta? There you go. Listen, I know y'all both had birthdays this past week.

Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Listen, it's not about the stuff you go through because you can go through some bitter, nasty, not good stuff. But our God is so great and so mighty and so powerful that he can take even the bitter things in life, even the stuff that's hard to swallow, even the stuff that's hard to face. God can take every single, even the stuff that could be dangerous.

He can take everything that we go through in life and in his great power and strength and goodness and mercy, he can work it all together and do something great and something good with those things. Amen. Y'all like my cake? I worked really hard to drive to hear his teeter and buy that last night. The next verse talks about the ultimate good because it talks about being conformed to the image of his son.

And this is where God really gets to work because you want to know the ultimate good is when you come out of the stuff you go through looking like Jesus. I don't know about you, but God's been working on me. I've been in a two-year squeeze. I mean, I thought that we were under pressure, but this last week it is multiplied seven. The fire has gotten seven times hotter.

And I have found that God has squeezed out a whole bunch of junk out of my life. And he has made me and conformed me a whole lot more like Jesus than I was two years ago. That's the wonderful thing about God. He works all things. He takes the worst thing that the devil sends your way and he turns that around and he works it for your good.

Only God can do something like that. God never said that thing that happened to you was good. God never said that mess you're going through right now is good. But listen, if it's not good, God's not done. He's just not done cooking yet.

Come on, if you don't like the way he's looking, God's not done cooking. If your world's still shaking, baby, God's still baking. If it's not good, God's not done. Amen? And I just want to close with this thought.

Listen, somebody asks this. How do you know you're going to heaven and how do you know you're saved? I want to go back to how I opened. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. But let me give you three quick things, okay?

We have three witnesses to know we're saved. Number one, we have the Word of God. First, Sean 5.13, these things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. Know what the Word of God says and stand in faith on the Word of God. Listen, we don't go by feelings.

I don't always feel saved. And I sure don't always feel sanctified because I sure want to lay hands on people sometimes. You know what I mean? People act up around goals, bro. I just want to bless them.

We don't go by what we feel because feelings are weather, okay? Deciding whether or not you're born again based on how you feel is like trying to decide if the world's still spinning by how dizzy you are right now. That's not how it works. Salvation is not feelings. It is a lifelong covenant with Jesus.

So one, we have the witness of the Word. Two, we have the witness of the Spirit. When you're born again, Romans 8.16, the Spirit Himself bears witness where? Within our spirit that we're children of God. Oh, we've been in Romans 8 all day.

I love it. The Holy Spirit is inside of you telling you that you belong to God. That voice that tells you, hey, you shouldn't have done that. Hey, you shouldn't have said that. You shouldn't have waved that finger in traffic.

It's this finger. Jesus is away. It's this finger. Good driving. Not the naughty finger.

The Spirit inside of you that convicts you when you do wrong, but also brings you peace when you're going through it. The Spirit bears witness inside of you that you're a child of God. And the third witness is a changed life. First, 2 Corinthians 5.17, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away.

Behold, all things have become new. It's not about perfection. It's about direction. Are you following Jesus? Are you being conformed to the image of his son?

And if you're not sure today, you can be sure we can settle it right now. In fact, you can remain seated, but let's just close our eyes and pray for just a minute. God, I thank you, Lord, that neither angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present, nor things to come, neither height nor death, nor any other created thing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. If you will, just continue to pray for a moment for those who don't know Jesus but need him today.

God, I thank you for your love, and I thank you for your mercy in this place. Jesus, I thank you that the cross was enough. God, that we're not saved by what we do. God, we don't earn our way into the kingdom of God. We're not saved by joining a church.

We're saved by faith in Jesus Christ. And God, I pray that faith would arise in people's lives today. God, that they would have the boldness, the courage to put their life in your hands, God, and see the power of what you can do with a transformed life. God, I thank you for your saving power. I thank you for your healing power.

God, I thank you, Lord, for your power to set people free. Glory to God. You may have realized by now, but this message was never really about aliens and demons. It was a message about Jesus. The Bible says in Acts 16, 31, believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.

You don't have to have it all together. In fact, Jesus came for people who don't have it all together. Come to God just the way you are and surrender control to him and he will change your life. In fact, I want you to pray this prayer out loud with me. Jesus, I'm a sinner in need of a savior.

I believe in you. I believe you died on the cross to pay for my sins. And I believe that the cross was enough. Forgive my sins. Set me free.

Change me. Make me brand new. Be the Lord of my life. Jesus, I surrender all to you today. Amen.

Automatically transcribed. Please forgive any errors.