Our name | Mission | Vision | Leaders Ministries | Schedule | Directions | Contact Home   Gateway Church gathers for worship Sundays at 10:30 a.m. Location: 6425 Jefferson Rd. (Hwy. 129) in Athens, Georgia. For directions, click here. Ministry of the Word: Recent sermons Our quarterly e-magazine Gateway Today For the Gateway family Pastor Jerry's Weekly E-Mail A GATEWAY SERMON SUMMARY AUDIO Understanding strongholds (Second in the series, Demolishing Strongholds) Jerry Varnado, pastor Gateway Church, Athens GA April 15, 2007 Main Scripture text: 2 Corinthians 10:1-5. Demolishing Strongholds April 1, 2007 • True Christian Humility April 15, 2007 • Understanding Strongholds April 29, 2007 • Tolerating Jezebel May 6, 2007 • Recognizing the Spirit of Jezebel May 27, 2007 • Demolishing the Spirit of Jezebel The word stronghold literally means "a citadel or high place, enclosed or protected like a fortress or castle." Synonyms include refuge, asylum, safe haven. Sounds good, doesn't it? We all need a stronghold, a safe place to hang out where we feel safe and secure. But it's not a good thing if the stronghold we're talking about is a safe place for demons to hide out. Until Jesus came, humans had little defense against demonic power. But Jesus messed up their party! No longer could demons they brazenly operate in the open. They had to resort to secret, deceptive ways to influence people &endash; and they had to have a safe, fortified place -- a stronghold -- from which to launch their attacks. So a "spiritual stronghold" is a fortified place from which demonic spirits can operate to wreak havoc in human life. Both Scripture and human experience help us understand some common spiritual strongholds -- and how they get established: 1) Anger, bitterness, prejudice. Anger is natural emotion but if we hold on to it, it gives the devil a foothold in our lives. If we don't have an attitude of forgiveness, the devil can turn that foothold into a stronghold. Over time anger turns to bitterness. Anger and bitterness are the root of prejudice. 2) Persistent sin. If we refuse to turn from sin, we are rebelling against God. That gives opportunity to the demonic power. Our authority over Satan is based on our union with God through Jesus Christ. Continued disobedience undermines that union. In essence, we surrender our authority over the enemy. 3) Wounds. Those who minister in the area of deliverance find that demonic spirits can gain entrance into our lives through wounds that go unhealed, especially childhood trauma. Fortunately this kind of stronghold may be the easiest to deal with. Prayer for inner healing can displace the demonic power and destroy the stronghold. 4) Lies believed. All strongholds involve this element of believing lies -- lies that contradict God's Word. This is why Jesus said knowing the truth will "set us free." 5) Agreements with the enemy. The devil is a deceiver, and he often deceives people into following a certain course of action. Once a person agrees with the enemy's suggestion, construction of a stronghold begins. For example, "The only way to avoid getting hurt is never to be close to anyone again." The person who agrees with that suggestion will go through life crippled, because we were created for relationship with God and each other. Not only are there are strongholds that affect individuals, there are corporate strongholds that can occur in the live of a church, a city, even a nation. I'll talk more about this in a later sermon, but for now let me mention this one thing: corporate strongholds are often established with the aid of peer pressure: "Well, everybody is doing it, it must be OK." That lie has been the "open door" for strongholds that affect millions of people. Next time, we'll talk more about corporate strongholds in our culture -- and how we can with God toward their destruction. Supporting texts: Luke 10:18-19 | Ephesians 4:26-27 | 1 Samuel 15:23 | John 8:31-32; 43-44 A mp3 audio file of this sermon is here (37 min.). (Download to a PC by right clicking on the link and choosing "Save Target As." Mac users: click, hold, and choose "Download Link to Disk." Depending on your connection speed, the file may take several minutes to download.) An audio CD of the sermon summarized above is available free of charge (U.S. requests only). Request a CD by calling or writing the Gateway Church office. Please specify number 070415a: Understanding Strongholds. © 2007 Gerald R. Varnado To the Gateway Church home page How to contact us