Wendy Salisbury teaches on spiritual warfare, healing through communion, and the armory of the Kingdom at Rivers Apostolic Centre
A Sunday service at Rivers Apostolic Centre featuring teaching on communion and healing, followed by a full sermon by Wendy Salisbury on spiritual positioning, warfare, and the weapons available to believers.
Summary
This episode is a recording of a Sunday service at Rivers Apostolic Centre. The service opens with Ps Aaron Salisbury leading communion, teaching from 1 Corinthians 11 and Matthew 9 that the body of Christ broken in communion is specifically for healing, while the blood is for forgiveness — and that failure to discern this distinction is the biblical reason given for Christians being weak, sick, or dying prematurely. Following a giving segment focused on the church's annual Faith Missions offering, led by Ps Royree Jensen, Wendy Salisbury delivers the main sermon from Isaiah 54, framing it as a teaching on "the armory of the Kingdom." She contextualises the sermon within specific prophecies given to the church — including a September 1 commissioning into 'springtime,' a call to 'learn the art of war in the spirit,' and a double anointing for overcoming fear — which she presents as the urgent backdrop for the teaching. She identifies the believer's position in Christ, the nature of the spiritual fight, and a detailed list of spiritual weapons — including the cross, the spoken word, prophecy, personal testimony, the mind of Christ, inherited authority, the armor of God from Ephesians 6, and worship. Two personal testimonies illustrate the life-and-death power of spoken words — one of a young man who died after an occultist's proclamation went unrefuted, and one of Wendy's brother who survived a catastrophic stroke after his wife refused to receive the doctors' prognosis. The service closes with Wendy inviting Murray Kennedy to the front to pray for young people with kingdom-linked businesses; Murray is also noted for his charitable trust work with prisoners in New Zealand.
Key Takeaways
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Opening: Communion Teaching on Healing and the Body of Christ
Ps Aaron Salisbury: As we're worshiping this morning, Hans reminded us of the double portion of joy. What I love is how nature reminds us of the glory of God — how good God is. As I shared a couple of weeks ago, Wendy and I are getting visited by lots and lots of kookaburras. I did a bit of research on the kookaburra, and they symbolize joy. When I was ministering last time and brought the word, we had two kookaburras come and sit on our fence — not one, but two. So that symbolizes double joy. And what the Spirit of God said to me is: in this church, the joy is going to increase double. The kookaburra also symbolizes healing. So we're going to see double the healing here in this church. And the kookaburra also symbolizes overcoming fear. So we're going to see double the overcoming of fear here in the church. Amen. Hallelujah.
You know, when Jesus walked this earth, he did some amazing things. Jesus fed thousands of people all at the same time — but not all the time. Jesus calmed the storms — but he didn't calm every storm. But something Jesus did all the time was he healed. Jesus healed everywhere he went. In fact, when it comes to the supernatural part of Jesus' ministry when he walked this earth, everywhere he went, he healed.
You may be wondering what that's got to do with communion this morning. I'm going to ask Gary if you'd pull the pulpit in for me, because I want to read something to you. Let's give Gary a hand. Gary's an amazing servant in the house of God. We love you, Gary.
You'll find when it comes to Jesus that whenever he walked this earth, he healed. Why was that? Because Jesus' nature is to heal. Next to eternal life and next to salvation from eternal hell, divine health is the greatest gift that we have in this life. If you doubt that, just wait until you don't have it. Then you realize what a gift it is. But here's the thing — if God's nature is to heal, have you ever wondered why so many Christians are sick? It's getting a bit quiet now. I'm not referring to minor ailments like coughs or colds. I'm referring to serious, life-threatening illness. If people who don't know Jesus are sick, we don't really get surprised by that, because they don't have the promises of Jesus Christ and they don't have him as their protection. But when many believers are seriously sick, it should raise questions. And when I was preparing this morning, I realized I'm talking to myself as much as I'm talking to anyone else. So bear with me as I bring this to you.
What does the Bible actually say about this? The Bible says something very specific. And you might be surprised, but the Bible gives one and only one reason why Christians are weak and sick and die sick. And I'm going to read it to you. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verses 29 to 30. The Apostle Paul says this: "For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body." Verse 30 says, "For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep." Now the word sleep here doesn't mean physical bodily rest. It actually means death.
I was raised in a church where this was never explained to me. And I used to get communion sweats. Anyone get communion sweats? When communion was about to be served, I would sweat and think to myself, is there any unconfessed sin in my life? Because I don't want to eat in an unworthy manner. I would sit there and absolutely just be hydrating in my seat, because I thought there's maybe this sin, so I'd confess every sin I could think of, and then all the sins I couldn't think of, I'd think, just in case, I better confess them as well. Communion was a very traumatic time for me. I respected the table, but I had a complete misunderstanding of what the Bible actually says. So I'm going to dive deep into this this morning.
I want you to notice in verse 30 it says, "for this reason." It doesn't say "for these reasons." By the way, we're all going to physically die at some point unless Jesus Christ returns. In fact, we sang a song on Easter Sunday — "In Christ Alone" — and the last two lines of that song say, "Till he returns or calls me home." But what is this reason? Why does it say "this reason"? Well, this reason is not discerning the Lord's body. And we can assume by looking at 1 Corinthians 11, verses 29 to 30, the reason many of the Corinthian believers became weak and sick and passed away before their time was because of their failure to discern the body of the Lord.
Notice this — Paul says it was their failure. Not their failure to discern the blood, but their failure to discern the body, that caused people to be weak and sick and die before their time.
The blood, which we celebrate in the cup, is for forgiveness. I'll prove it to you. Colossians 1, verse 14 says, "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins." The body of Christ we celebrate with the bread, and the body is for healing. Matthew 26:26 — Jesus said, "Take, eat, this is my body." Isaiah 53, verse 5 says, "He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed."
In the Gospels, Jesus' body was filled with healing power — so much so that his clothes were drenched with power and vitality. It says in Luke chapter 6, verse 19, "And the whole multitude sought to touch him, for power went out from him and healed them all." And David prophetically picks up on this in Psalm 103, verses 2 and 3. He says, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits — who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases." Does that mean everyone? I looked that up in the original language. All actually means all. It means every single one.
The blood of Jesus was shed for forgiveness — for your iniquities. And the bread, the body, was broken for the healing of your diseases. But here's the thing: as Christians, we tend to be sure of our forgiveness but not so sure of our healing.
Matthew 9: Jesus Demonstrates Both Forgiveness and Healing
Jesus did something I want you to see. Turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 9. As I was preparing this morning, I saw this and thought, man alive, I've got to share this. Jesus performed another astonishing miracle in the Gospel of Matthew, and he showed us something. He showed us he has the power to forgive sin and the power to heal. But look at the way he did this.
Ps Aaron Salisbury: Matthew 9, verses 1 to 8. "So he got into a boat, he crossed over and came to his own city. Then behold, they brought to him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, 'Son, be of good cheer. Your sins are forgiven you.' And at once the scribes said within themselves, 'This man blasphemes.' But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, 'Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier to say — your sins are forgiven, or to say arise and walk?'" What is easier to say — the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses your sin, or the broken body heals you? What is easier to say? "But that you may know the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" — then he said to the paralytic — "Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house." And he arose and departed to his house. And when the multitude saw it, they marveled — the word actually means they were afraid — and glorified God, who had given such power to men.
The blood of Christ was shed for forgiveness of your sin, and the bread, the body of Christ, was broken for the healing of your diseases. Holy Communion is a meal we share often. In fact, in this church we do it every week — to remind us of all that Jesus purchased for us on the cross. The power of proclaiming the Lord's death. Paul said, "For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes." We only get to do this till Jesus comes. When Christ returns, we no longer do this.
Receiving Communion: Declarations of Healing and Forgiveness
So can we all stand this morning? Because I want us to do something specific today as we take the communion elements. If you're visiting this church this morning, we come forward to the table and we partake from the elements. I'm going to ask the stewards to come now and break the bread for us.
As we take the bread this morning, I want you to hold it in your hand and declare something. I want you to declare, as you eat it, according to Isaiah chapter 53, verse 5: "I am healed by the broken body of Christ." Say that as you take it. As you take the cup this morning, hold it in your hand and as you take it, declare: "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin."
And can I leave this with you? I know as Christians we're convinced of our forgiveness. We're convinced of our eternal life. But are we as convinced of our healing? Because that's what Jesus Christ did. That's what we do when we proclaim the Lord's death. Jesus conquered hell, death, and the grave. And Jesus Christ is here, as he was when he died, to bring healing to your bodies. Let's come and receive the elements.
It's a good time to turn to someone and bless them. Don't underestimate the power of the word. The meaning of the word "bless" is to make the Philistines envious. So make some of your Philistine acquaintances envious with the amazing blessing of the Lord. Hallelujah.
Giving and Relationships: The Connection Between Generosity and the Kingdom
Ps Royree Jensen: Well, good morning. You are never more God-like than when you are in good relationships and you are generous. The kingdom is a kingdom based on relationship. And the Godhead is based on relationship — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You are never more God-like than when you're in good relationship. The other thing about God is he is extravagantly, absurdly generous. The audacity of God to give as he has given. The scripture says, "If he has given to us his Son, shall he not also with him freely give us all things?"
And so Matthew writes — and there's a whole lot before the "therefore," which is why the word "therefore" is there — under the heading of fulfillment of the law, it says this: "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar and go and be reconciled to your brother. Then come and offer your gift." So relationship and generosity go together. Throughout the scripture, there's a link between our relationship and our generous spirit.
So we are a generous people. I therefore assume that we have pretty good relationships. But if there's anybody here this morning that you would like to punch in the nose before you come with your offering — would you bring your offering to the front via the nose-punching episode? It's not just about church. It's about every aspect of our life.
As I was reading this and thinking about the power of generosity, it's the most powerful thing you can do. You can actually negate an enemy by your generous spirit — not by a bribe. Because the only difference between a bribe and a gift is the intent of the giver. So we're not into bribing each other or bribing God. Just saying — you're an extremely generous people because relationships are very good.
You can tell the morale of a church by the tithing that goes on. You may have a day or a week or even a little season where things are down, but overall the morale — and that's what morale is based on — is evidenced by the giving. And so it's important that we are people who stay in relationships. It's so important that we can have long-term relationships. If you're someone whose friendship only lasts for two or three years with somebody, you've probably got an issue. Anyway, we won't go there today. But just to say that you are never more godly in your external evidence than when you are in good relationships and you have a giving, generous heart. And one of the ways that you can actually get into and maintain a good relationship is through a generous spirit, because God is generous — absurdly so. He gave us his Son.
Faith Missions Giving Launch
So just a short word today on giving. Today is the day that we're launching our new Faith Missions Giving for the next 12 months. Just an update on where we're at over the last 12 months. What was brought in in the offering was $144,000. We are close to our target. We are $18,000 short. Our target is $162,800, and we are $18,000 short. The Lord blessed us with a substantial gift to help bring this up to what we said. And here's the good thing — we don't know who offered what. We're not a church who chases after you for whatever we think is owing, because we don't. It's just not the way it works. But just ask the Lord, and let's see if we can fulfill what we filled in on our envelopes last time around. That would be so good. So it's $18,000 short, and we've got the rest of this month to see what we can do to bring that up to its full amount. Hallelujah.
To do this — Wendy, could you dig out that other basket? Thank you. In the past, we have always given you a slip of paper, you tear off a piece, you keep that piece, and you put the other piece in the offering. When it's time — at the end of this month, the first week in May — this will be returned.
However, being very creative and very different, today you'll be getting a love heart. They're not bunny ears — that's a love heart. And inside the love heart, there are two coins, a large coin and a small one. Here's the deal. You will take this home — and we'll be giving them out to each one. If you don't want it, take it anyway, because then nobody will know that you didn't want it. Take this home, and with the small one, there's a place to write the amount that you, by faith, will believe God to give to you for missions over the next 12 months. You write that on it and you bring that back and put it in the offering on the first Sunday in May.
But there's a second one there — the larger one. On the larger one, you put that same amount, so that you have a reminder of what you said. And that one has a fridge magnet on it. How clever was this? So on the larger one, you put that amount to remind you, and you slap that on your fridge. So when you go to each other's houses, you just go to their fridge. It's a lot of fun.
So we're going to give these out today. The small one you bring back on the first Sunday in May and put it in the offering so we can assess the budget for missions for the following 12 months. We keep that open for the whole month of May, and we'll give you the total amount. This is amazing. I think Wendy did all of these. Crafty people — thank you, Grant.
Father, in the name of Jesus the Christ, we thank you for the relationship that we have with you and the givingness of our almighty God. I pray that for each one of us, as we go through life, we will increasingly value relationships, which is the basis of the kingdom. And out of that relationship comes an attitude to give unto those who have less than we do and those who need to hear the gospel of the kingdom of God, that your kingdom will be extended and expanded. So Lord, we give you praise, and I pray over each one as they come forward today that a spirit of generosity will come upon them and you would multiply unto them.
Welcome and Notices Before the Main Sermon
Ps Royree Jensen: Thank you. Isn't it good to be in the house of the Lord and just come and worship him? So good. We are super privileged to be able to do that. And he gives us that privilege by laying down his life for us, which is a pretty powerful gift to give.
Just a very warm welcome to James and to Ezekiel and to Levi. Welcome back. So good to have you guys back with us. The last Sunday of this month is Mission Sunday, and they are going to be sharing with us. We'll have a missions fundraising lunch on that day, because we have a team of at least 30 people coming from New Zealand in July to join us for mission on the street with a Kahu team. They're going to be living here at the church, and we're going to be doing outreach. So the fundraising lunch will go towards that. As we're having the lunch, James and Ezekiel and Levi will share with us the powerful things that the Lord is doing.
If you are visitors with us today, please join us for a cup of tea after the service — coffee, water, biscuits, whatever you like. Maybe take a few biscuits and give them around in the streets. Some outreaches and different things are happening.
Just a couple of notices before we get into the Word. For the ministry leaders, today there is a security meeting in the prayer room at 1 o'clock. So if you could join us there. If you didn't read your emails in the last couple of months, just pretend you did and join us there at one o'clock.
Main Sermon: The Armory of the Kingdom — Isaiah 54
Well, today I feel very strongly to jump into a scripture that's very precious to me and just keeps on rolling around. It's a prophetic word in the scripture from the book of Isaiah, so you're welcome to go there and have your Word with you this morning. Isaiah 54 is where we are.
I was given this scripture a year before I was born again by somebody who had caused me great harm in my life. And when I first read it, I thought it was a great cheek for this person to give me the scripture. Little did I know how much this passage of scripture would bless me for the rest of my days. So it's a very powerful scripture. It's a prophetic word to the people of God — both the people who had come out of captivity for the city of Jerusalem, and then also for the Gentile church ongoingly. With the prophetic word, when it's brought, it is now and forever will be. And so this is a word very strongly given to God's people and for the expansion of God's kingdom.
As I was considering what to bring this morning, I felt very strongly from the Lord that he wanted us to concentrate on a few parts. This scripture is huge. As I was sharing with Royree before I came up, it's like the Word of God is like a pie. And in this area of this pie, it feels like the smallest sliver of what you could bring on this topic. It's such an expansive part of the Word, and there are so many beautiful songs and scriptures this morning already confirming what I believe the Lord is wanting us to hear.
So Isaiah 54 — going to read from verse 9, from the New King James Version.
"To me, this is like the days of Noah when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth. So now I have sworn not to be angry with you and never to rebuke you again. Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken, nor my covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you. Afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise, your foundations with lapis lazuli. I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones. All your children will be taught by the Lord, and great will be their peace. In righteousness you will be established. Tyranny will be far from you. You will have nothing to fear. Terror will be far from you. It will not come near you. If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing, and whoever attacks you will surrender to you. See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon for its work. And it is I who created the destroyer to wreak havoc. No weapon formed against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me, declares the Lord."
Amen. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. And this is their vindication from me, declares the Lord. And all God's people said, amen. Yes and amen to that.
So today I sense we need to concentrate on the armory of the kingdom. The armory of the kingdom. I want to drill down into three different areas. One is our position. Two is our fight. And three is our weapons. Our position, our fight, and our weapons.
Our Position: Established in Christ
What is our position? And what is an armory? Chatting with some of the younger ones — is that armor or armory, is that a good word? An armory is an array of resources available for a particular purpose, or a place where weapons are kept. So if you see those modern movies where a person goes into a room and all of a sudden everything opens up and there's a truckload of different weapons in front of them — for us, we have a truckload of different weapons in the kingdom for us to be able to do kingdom life on this planet really well.
As with most wars, the amount of power, prominence, or prior victories that a particular nation has is the position from which that army fights. And we as believers are very well positioned. As kingdom citizens, we are positioned in Christ — in him, in Yahweh, the great I Am, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, Emmanuel, the Alpha and Omega. We are positioned in him. He is the commander of heavenly hosts, and we are positioned in him.
In verse 10, it says, "Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will never be shaken." Our first position. "Nor my covenant of peace be removed." This is a covenant that was made — talking about when God promised, with the evidence of the rainbow, that he would never flood the earth again. This is that promise. "Says the Lord who has compassion on you."
Then in verse 13, it says, "All your children will be taught of the Lord, and great will be their peace. In righteousness you will be established. Tyranny will be far from you. You will have nothing to fear." Nothing to fear. Double for fear, being gone in the name of Jesus. "Terror will be far removed and it will not come near you."
So from those verses, we can establish that we are firstly positioned in his unfailing love. We are secondly positioned in his covenant of peace. We are positioned in his compassion. We are taught by the Lord — the Holy Spirit teaches the children of God. We have an all-time teacher residing within us. We are taught of the Lord. Righteousness is purchased by Christ for you. We are in a righteousness position.
So the king and the kingdom with whom we are contending is that which has already overcome hell, death, and the grave — has already won the victory, is already on the throne, has already purchased our salvation, and has already dealt with shame. Already all done.
Number six of where we are positioned: we are positioned in an ever-expanding kingdom. This kingdom never stops expanding. Jesus promises us — what does he say? "I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it." An ever-expanding kingdom. Just a good few chapters back in Isaiah, in chapter 9, we have this scripture about the expanding kingdom. It says, "For unto us a child is born, and to us a son is given" — the prophecy of Christ — "and the government will be on his shoulders, and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." In verse 7 it says, "Of the greatness of his government and peace, there will be no end" — ever expanding. "He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this."
So six, we are positioned in this ever-expanding, everlasting kingdom. And seven, we are positioned in the zeal of the Lord. The zeal of the Lord is what fulfills all of the kingdom. So imagine if you have on your side the zeal of the living God. Just take that into consideration. That is where we are positioned. We are not positioned from a point of weakness. We are positioned from the strongest place that we could possibly be on this planet earth. Amen. Hallelujah.
He is so good, and he is almighty. He is all-powerful. For us at Rivers Apostolic Centre, we've had a number of different prophecies over the last six months, and I just want us to remind ourselves of what they are.
The first one is from the 1st of September — the beginning of the new year for our Hebraic calendar. We are positioned in springtime. We are positioned currently, spiritually, in springtime. It was a commissioning on that day into the springtime of the Lord. We know from that as well that in the scriptures it says, "In the springtime when the men go out to war." It is a time of warring in the spirit. It is a time of contentions of kingdoms. And we're seeing this all over the planet. If it's not within you, it's going to be in another nation or between nations. This is a time that it is wartime.
At a similar time, for both Hans and myself, the Lord said to us: we are to learn the art of war in the spirit. Now, we should have hoped that after decades we might have learned, but the Lord was giving us a clear call to do some extra learning in this space. Know the art of kingdom war. What does that look like?
We also have the double anointing that was spoken over us a couple of weeks ago, and that is the overcoming of fear. Fear is rampant amongst our young people. If we had a pandemic of COVID, we certainly have a pandemic in the West of young people struggling with what they call anxiety — which is just a really good glorified word for fear. And it must bow to the name of Jesus. It will not be tolerated by kingdom citizens. We are not to tolerate fear. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power to overcome, love, and a sound mind. And we declare that over our young people in this nation and in the nations of the West, in Jesus' name. Fear will not overcome. Fear has already been overcome — at the cross. That's where it was done. Hallelujah.
Our Fight: What We Are Contending With
So we know where we are positioned. Secondly, what is our fight?
In verse 15 of Isaiah 54, it says, "If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing. Whoever attacks you will surrender to you." That's a very good position, right? "See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon to do its work. And it is I, God, who have created the destroyer to wreak havoc." Really? Did he? Yeah, he sure did. "No weapon formed against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me, says the Lord."
When we see these verses, we see it's a very bad idea for anyone to come against a child of God. We're already positioned in victory. What does it say? That they will surrender to you. You've got to know your position to know where the fight ends. You might have to hold for a while.
Secondly, God created the one who can create a weapon, and he created the one who can use a weapon. And they are limited to his restriction. We saw this often in the Word of God, particularly in the Old Testament. Think about Pharaoh. Think about Nebuchadnezzar. Powerful people, but yet restricted by the living God. Is there difficulty? Yes, there is. But what they get to do and don't do — and that includes all created beings — is under the control of our God. That's a very comforting place to be.
The promise here is that no weapon formed against you will prosper. The promise is not that no weapon will be formed against you. So do we fight? Yes, we do. Do we need to fight? Yes, we do. And we have one clue here of how we can fight well. We cannot sit idly by and do nothing. Jesus didn't die on the cross for us to sit around and wait for him to return. He did that so that we might stand and hold the kingdom and expand the kingdom here on earth. Because if we don't, it's nothing but foolishness and disobedience to the Word of God. So we choose whether we obey the Word and do it, or we just let the Word happen and watch the world go to hell in a handbasket. We've got handbaskets today.
In kingdom battles for us, it may not necessarily be a physical fight, but we are invited into this fight. Ephesians 6 says, "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of this dark age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. And having done all, stand."
It doesn't say we do not wrestle. It says we wrestle. And I don't know if you've seen wrestling — it's pretty active. Most of the men are like, yep. The ladies are like, nope. But there is a wrestle to be had. And we know in the wrestle, somebody's going to win. Somebody's going to tap out. We don't get to tap out until the day we get to tap into heaven.
We understand that we wrestle with ourselves sometimes. We wrestle with God often, probably. And we can wrestle with others and other forces. But we know what happens when we wrestle with God, right? There was a man who wrestled all night with God, and he came off with a bit of a limp to remind him who is the leader. Amen.
So the Word of God tells us we need to stand. It tells us in many places we need to overcome. It also tells us that we need to recover all. This is proactive fighting in the kingdom. This is wrestling and fighting. A good place to go and have a look — which we don't have time for today — is in the book of Revelation. There are letters to the seven churches there, and in every letter to each church it says, "To him who overcomes, you will receive such and such." That overcoming is for two things: the one is against the things of the flesh, and the other is against the wiles of the enemy. So we get the opportunity to overcome.
If there is a reward system to be had — sorry to break it to you — not everyone's going to get a participation medal. It's not very PC, is it? But there are rewards for those who overcome. Heavenly rewards for those who overcome.
So we know where we're positioned. We know that there is a fight, and we know that we are in that fight. It's not a carnal fight. It is a fight of wisdom, a fight of love, a fight of using our spiritual weapons.
Our Weapons: The Armory of the Kingdom
So I'm going to head into the place of spiritual weapons — the armory of the citizens of the kingdom.
Of course, our first weapon is the cross — what Jesus did for us. We were traveling in Bougainville recently, and as we were traveling through a very enjoyable rural drive to a far-off place, being jiggled around like crazy — everything that could shake was going to shake, that scripture was very real — we reached a certain place and I realized that we were in quite a strong spiritual space. I could feel the presence of the Lord, but I could also feel a contention in the spirit. And as I looked up, as the car was bouncing and I looked forward, I saw these two really big entities on the road. I didn't feel fearful about them, although I did recognize — I had seen some pictures previously of warriors dressed in certain outfits, and I recognized that they were wearing those outfits. It was a spiritual picture that I was seeing. And they were saying, "You don't pass here. You don't get to pass here."
And I was like, well, what's the condition? Because that's what the Lord told me to say — we don't really speak with other forces without knowing what the Lord is saying. And they said, "You don't go by here without a sacrifice." And I said, "Well, I give you Jesus Christ and him crucified." And they went like this — you go.
Spiritual spaces, spiritual wisdom that can only be given from him. But the cross speaks. Jesus Christ and him crucified is the greatest weapon that you will ever have to be able to contend and to overcome and to wrestle and to recover all. So that's 101, and I want to say that up front.
But in Isaiah 54, it says, "No weapon formed against you will prosper. And every tongue that rises against you — who will refute? You will refute." We get to. We need to refute the tongues and the words that are spoken against us as kingdom citizens, against the kingdom, against us personally.
So what does the word refute mean? It means to deny, to contradict, and to prove wrong. Deny, contradict, prove wrong. So practically, what does this look like for us?
The enemy is the accuser. We know this — one of his names is the accuser of the brethren, the accuser of God's people. We understand very well that the power of life and death is in the tongue. God created — he spoke and he created. There is power of life and death in the tongue. So it is important for us to deny, to contradict, and to prove wrong the accusations of the enemy.
When I was about a year born again, one of my older brother's friends was at a social event. I had never seen this before — I'd never learned to refute the words of the enemy. But we were there, and somebody made a joke, but it was actually quite rude and disparaging towards him. And he just said, "I don't receive that. I don't agree with that." And then he just walked off. I was like, wow, okay, that was interesting. So I went and said to him, what are you doing? What was that? And he said, "No, I'm not going to receive into me any words that are contrary to what God says about me." Amen. Good word. Don't do that.
So — deny. An accusation, to deny an accusation is to not agree with it. The minute you come into agreement with the enemy, you are opening a foothold into your temple. This is a temple. We have been told by the Word of God that you are a temple of God. We don't let foreign things into our temple. We don't let it in, and we don't let it have any play within us. The Word of God says, "Do not give the enemy a foothold." Because once he's got a foothold, he's got the house. Once he's got the house, he's got the area. Once he's got the area, he's got your suburb. He's not going to have that in Jesus' name. On our watch, that will not be happening. So we come into agreement with the Word of God. We do not come into agreement with the accusation of the enemy.
Contradict. Jesus had some pretty good ideas. When the enemy came to tempt him — after he had been led there by the Holy Spirit to be tempted, because not all temptation is because the enemy is taking you; it's there to prove the truth — what does he say? He brings the full counsel of the Word of God. Because very often when the enemy comes to tempt, he brings just a little snippet of the Word of God to tempt you. And most other religions on the planet are based off a snippet of the Word of God and not the full counsel of the Word of God. So we deny and we contradict with truth.
To be able to contradict with truth, we need to know what this says. We must know what it says. So our contradiction mustn't be contrary — it must be truthful.
What about this — I'm going to throw a word out there, and anyone can throw back some scriptures to refute what I'm saying. "You'll never amount to much." Nice — "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." "You'll never amount to much." "I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans to prosper you, not to harm you, to bring you a hope and a future." That sounds like I might amount to much. Amen.
What about this? "You'll never have enough money for the wedding, the child, the house, the whatever." It's God who gives us the ability to create wealth. "The Lord is my shepherd, I will lack no good thing." God is generous to those who are generous. Amen. We've got to know what the Word says.
What about this? "Nothing can save you." God's heart is that none should perish, but that all should be saved. Amen. We've got to know what the Word says.
What about this? "You're a liar." The Holy Spirit witnesses with my spirit to what the truth is. Spirit of truth. Amen. We must know what the refute is. Practice some refutes. If you've got the enemy coming after you in a certain area, go and find the refuting. What's the denial? What's the contradiction? Amen.
A powerful weapon in the armory of the Lord is your declaration of truth — truth and your refuting of lies. Spoken ones and internal ones. You've got to refute the internal words that are not the words of the Lord. We agree with God and we are at peace.
Two Testimonies: The Power of Spoken Words
So the spoken word can have the power of life or death. Why? Because we know that's true — the scripture says that. So I want to share two stories. One is where somebody didn't refute, and one where somebody did refute. Both of them are personal to me, so they're testimonies of my life and people that I know.
The first one was this. I had a very good friend — a group of us from high school used to hang out together — and he was a pretty successful young man. He had been in a Christian band when he was an earlier teenager, but he had walked away from the Lord. He had a car accident, which wasn't great, but when approaching the wreck, he jumped out of the car, he rolled, and he managed to not be injured. So he survived.
A year later, to the date, he had a car accident in the exact same place again, and he passed away. It was tragic. It was horrific. He was 21 years old, and his two friends in the car were severely injured. I knew his family well. I was part of organizing the funeral. We were besties for lots of years with a group of about five or six of us, and it was devastating to see a young person's life just taken very quickly. He had been drinking. There was fault on his behalf. It was a hard, hard reality for all of us.
A couple of days later after the funeral, we were sitting with the family chatting. And his older brother, who was significantly older than him, said, "Man, I wish I had never gone to that lady." We're like, what? What are you talking about? He had gone to a medium who was a palmist — this is occultic witchcraft — and when he was there, she said to him, "Within a year, one of your brothers will be dead."
The power of the spoken word. Myself and a few of us had become born again by that time. And one of my friend's older brothers — but younger than the guy who had gone — said, "Why didn't you tell me that you had gone? I could have taken authority. We could have broken the power of those words." And most likely, he would still be with us today. No refuting of a proclamation made by an occultist over life.
So just a quick note: if you've ever been to a medium, to somebody who speaks to the dead, to someone who's proclaimed over you at a school fair or in the road or wherever you've been — make sure you refute every single word that they have spoken, whether they be good words or bad words, because they are coming from the kingdom of darkness and those words have power. So that was the one story — not done with tragic, tragic outcome.
Different story. When my brother was 48 years old, he had a severe stroke. He had gone to the hospital the night before with an extreme headache, and they had said to him, "No worries, mate, just take some Panadol and go home." And the next morning, he had an almost catastrophic stroke. He was taken very quickly — thankfully by my nephew and my brother — to the hospital in a very short period of time of having that stroke. And when he arrived there, he was in a very, very bad way. He didn't have any cognitive function. He couldn't move. It did not look good for him.
After a bit of assessment, they called my sister-in-law, who — the second she knew that he was in trouble — started to speak very loudly in tongues over his life, all the way to the hospital in the car. She was just proclaiming in tongues. She didn't know what to pray. She just proclaiming in tongues. She got to the hospital. Six medical physicians came to her around my brother's bed, and she stood up, and they said, "We are sorry, Mrs. Worley, your husband is not going to live." And she said, "I refute that in the name of Jesus. My husband will live."
Her friend came — who was working as the head radiographer in that hospital — and she said, "Susan" — this is her best friend — "Susan, I am sorry, but they are right. He is not going to live. I've seen all of the scans." And she said, "Debbie, I refute those words. My husband will live."
Six months later, my brother walked his daughter down the aisle. He said a speech for her wedding. And he danced with her. He is now turning 60 this year. He is able-bodied. He's sharp of mind. He's not allowed to work because he was going to be the CEO of a massive multinational. But instead, he works almost full-time in ministry, and he assists other young men who have got building and construction companies.
That's the fruit of refuting words of death. Amen. Refute the word. Refute the wrong word. That is one of our weapons. We get to play a very strong part in whether something prospers or whether something doesn't — with what we say. Our tongue is powerful.
Weapon One: The Word, the Bible, and Prophecy
So weapon number one: the Word, the Bible, prophecy. Do not despise prophecy. This is, I believe, one of the main reasons why we shouldn't despise prophecy. Prophecy is a gift of the Father, a gift of the Son, and a gift of the Holy Spirit. With the gifts that we have — the list of gifts in the book of Corinthians — it says we should earnestly desire the gifts, but especially that we should prophesy. Why? Because it is the proclamation of life. This is right there, what we were talking about.
So prophecy is very important. Do not let the rubbish that's going on around the world around prophecy push you away from prophesying. If God is speaking, you make sure that you are speaking what he is speaking. Amen. That's for everybody. Not everyone's going to be a narcissist of a prophet, but we are all called to prophesy. Amen.
Weapon Two: Your Lived Testimony
Ps Wendy Salisbury: So weapon number two: your lived testimony. Amen. Your lived testimony.
Paul, in 2 Corinthians 10 — I like this because Paul is really real. He's been saved by grace. He's really real. He says, "When we are fighting, don't act in the flesh. Who think of us as if we walk according to the flesh? For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, they're not fleshly, but they are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. Casting down all arguments and every high thing that exalts itself above the knowledge of Christ. Bringing every thought into captivity, into the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled." That's one to get your head around.
Weapon Three: The Mind of Christ
So weapon number three: the mind of Christ. The Word of God says, "You have the mind of Christ." So use the mind of Christ.
When you're at school teaching young ones literacy, there are certain words that they'll use repeatedly — like, like, like. You know, like. You go, like, to the shop, like. And then you get, like, something to eat, like. And you have to teach them that there are certain words that they need to put in jail. And when you're trying to teach them words that are a little bit more — can you describe that picture? Yeah, it's nice. Can you describe how you're feeling? Nice. It's like, okay, no, we've got to do better than that. Your brain is good. It's big. So we teach them, and we draw a little jail and we say, you've got to put those words in jail. You can't have those words.
And that's basically what this Word is saying to us. When those words come into your mind — the stronghold is mostly in your mind. Yes, there are strongholds of principalities and powers in other areas. But first, you've got to master this before you master Logan City's strongholds. So put the words in jail. In other words, take them captive to the obedience of Christ. They must submit. We said no other name. Let your name be on our lips. These words must submit to who? Christ. Amen. To Jesus.
Weapon Four: Inherited Authority Given by Christ
So the weapon is the mind of Christ. And then the next weapon — which Paul keeps on speaking about as you keep reading that text — is knowing your authority. Know your authority. Because to be able to take something captive, you have to have some kind of authority, right? The guy on the street says, "Hey, I'm taking you to jail." You're like, whatever. The policeman says, "Hey, I'm taking you to jail." You're like, yep, we're going to jail — because he has the authority. He's got the badge. You have the authority. You've got the badge. Why?
Let's go to Luke 10 so we can understand that we do have the badge. You have to know this verse backwards, forwards, and inside out if you want to be overcoming in the world that we're currently living in. Luke 10, verse 17. The disciples are coming back after being sent out on a mission and they're super excited. "Then the seventy returned with joy saying, 'Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name.'" Wow. The name of Jesus is powerful. "And he said to them, 'I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you'" — put up your hand if you're a disciple of Christ. Keep your hand up. You are the one he gave the authority to. He has given it to you through the cross. Amen. — "'Behold, I give you the authority to trample on snakes and serpents and scorpions and overcome all the power of the enemy.'" My husband often does this — how much of the power of the enemy? All. All the power. That's insane, right? If you really think about it. All the power of the enemy. "And nothing shall by any means hurt you."
Then it says, "Nevertheless, don't rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you." What does it say? That the spirits are subject to you — put your hand up, disciple of Christ, you have the authority, nothing will harm you, the spirits are subject to you. Just let that sink in. It's really important that we know that. "Rather rejoice that your names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life." Because without your name written in the Lamb's Book of Life, you don't have authority, you don't have the ability to overcome. That is your ticket, that's your passageway into authority.
So weapon number four is the inherited authority given by Christ.
Weapons Five to Thirteen: The Full Armor of God
Weapons five to thirteen — going to rush through these quickly, time is short. We know these in the book of Ephesians. It says we need to put on the full armor of Christ. "Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth." Say truth. "Having put on the breastplate of righteousness." Say righteousness. "And having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace." Say gospel of peace. These are all your weapons. "Above all, taking the shield of faith" — shield of faith — "with which you will be able to quench all of the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation." Take salvation — just stick it on today, right on your head. If you've got the helmet of salvation on your head, your thought life should be pretty good. Amen. "And the sword of the Spirit" — let's say sword of the Spirit — "which is the word of God. Praying always with all prayer and all supplication in the Spirit." Important that you can pray in the Spirit. "Being watchful to this end with all perseverance." Let's say all perseverance. Perseverance is one of the weapons of your warfare. Perseverance, amen. "And supplication for all the saints." Let's say pray for all the saints. Amen.
You praying for the saints — you are using a weapon of your warfare. So truth is a weapon. Righteousness is a weapon. Faith is a weapon. Salvation is a weapon. The Word in the Spirit is a weapon. Prayer and petition is a weapon. The Spirit is a weapon. Perseverance is a weapon. Don't give up. Don't give up.
I have a group of people just recently doing fundraising for an orphanage in Zambia, in Ndola. They ran this last few days from Brisbane to Sydney. There were seven of them. They did relays, and they did 10 to 12 kilometers at a time. They just finished yesterday at the Sydney Opera House. Talk about persevering for a cause. Sometimes you may lose a few toenails and you're persevering, but God's got you. He can heal you.
Praying for others is a weapon. That is a weapon.
The Final Weapon: Worship
So the last weapon for today is one that we do regularly and which serves us all very well to do. Worship. Worship is a weapon. It removes our thoughts off of ourselves and puts our thought firmly and fixedly on Christ. Worship is not just giving glory to God — it is a weapon by which you can overcome.
We know in the Word of God that Jesus worships on the cross. If Jesus himself needed to worship in a hard place, boy, that's a really good clue for us. Amen. David worships and brings peace to a tormented king. The Israelites worship and they tear down impenetrable walls. And Paul and Silas — chained, naked, beaten, and not in the best of places — choose what? They worship. They worship the Lord. Earthquakes happen. People get saved. Worship is one of your most powerful weapons.
I awaken the dawn with worship. I worship in the night hours. I worship all day from the rising of the sun to the setting of the same. Let's worship him. Because as we worship him, what does he promise? He inhabits the sacrificial praises of his people. And then we get to live this.
Closing: Romans 8 and the Call to Stand
I'm finishing with this today. So we know where we're positioned. We know we are in a fight. We know that we have a full armory. And there are many other weapons present — probably hundreds of other weapons that you can discover in the Word of God, including the name of Jesus, the blood of Jesus, the broken body of Jesus, truth, love, grace, mercy, tithing, and so many more. So many weapons.
So Romans 8, verse 31. I was singing about this earlier, and God's been saying this a lot lately. When God says something a lot in a certain season, it's to encourage us — to put courage into us to be able to fight well. Verse 31 says, "What then shall we say in response to all of these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one." Just let that sink in. Who can condemn you? No one. No one. "Christ Jesus who died — more than that, who was raised to life — is at the right hand of God and is also praying for us."
I love this. "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written, 'For your sake we face death all day long.'" Is there a fight? For sure there is. "We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." Pretty tough. But it says, "No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us." You are more than a conqueror. He's the conqueror, but you are more than that. Wow.
Our position is secure. We do have a fight. We have every weapon today — now, necessary to overcome — all because of what Christ did for us on the cross. Verse 17: "No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the inheritance." This is your inheritance. "And this is the vindication from me, declares the Lord."
Let's stand together this morning. The Word of God speaks about we are not of those who shrink back. And this is not a season for us to be shrinking back, Rivers Apostolic Centre. This is a season for us to be pressing forward in the things of the Lord. We have all authority. We have all power from him. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Yes, there is a push. Yes, there is a fight. But this is the place where we get to, by our life and by our declaration and by our authority, overcome all the work of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means harm you. Amen.
So this morning we're going to worship, because this is a weapon, but it is also what this amazing, powerful God is worthy of. As we worship, I want you to be thinking about: are there thoughts in my head that don't belong there? Are there accusations that I have agreed with and I need to disagree with? I need to refute them. I need to deny them. I need to proclaim the Word of God against those things. I need to not agree with the accusations.
I really sense from the Lord that there are some people in this room who are accusing themselves. You're accusing yourself. We don't get to do that. You don't get to do that to a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. So for some, it may mean that you need to just repent before the Lord of self-condemnation, because there is no condemnation and there is no one who can condemn us as citizens of heaven. So you might need to just have a bit of dealing with the Lord and repent and come into agreement with what he says.
If you need to and would like to come and have prayer afterwards, that's absolutely fine. We are happy to agree with you in prayer and to pray for you, particularly if there's some particular ongoing anxiety or distress for you that you need to have prayer for. Because sometimes you need to be delivered from a foothold or a stronghold of the enemy, and we can pray with you for that absolutely today.
I also would like Murray Kennedy, if you could just come down here. Murray's a good friend of ours, and Royree spoke about relational glory. We have a relationship with Murray. He was on the mission field with us in Africa many, many years ago. I particularly felt this morning — Murray from a good old Brethren background, but was renewed in the spirit in an awesome fashion in Africa and other places. Part of that scripture is that by our life and by what we do — in the book of Peter it says, by our good works, by what we do that is good. And for the young people in the room, if you have a business or you are starting a business and it's being called of the Lord, I would like Murray to lay hands on you today and to pray for you.
Murray has a good works charitable trust that is doing off-the-charts work with prisoners in New Zealand. He also has a business that supports that, that is absolutely flourishing, and he has persevered through thick and thin. His testimony is one of overcoming, but now one of flourishing and seeing many, many people's lives changed for eternity — and in the natural. So if you've got a business and you have that business linked in the fashion to wanting to support the kingdom, then I'm going to have Murray stand up here and pray for you. I believe there's a lot of young men and women in the house who have that on their hearts. So come and have prayer for that.
But in the meantime, we're going to open up the floor for you to come, and we are going to worship the Lord. Let's give him all the praise, all the glory, because he is our conquering hero. All hail King Jesus. Hallelujah.