Pastor Wayne Cordeiro & Pastor Paul Brown
July 26, 2020 - W2030

"I Can't Stop Thinking About Waffles!" 

Pastor Wayne Cordeiro & Pastor Paul Brown

July 25 & 26, 2020 

[Video from Oregon] 

PASTOR WAYNE CORDEIRO:  God created us as visual beings and we see things in pictures; He created birds, rainbows, aurora borealis or northern lights with multifaceted colors! He made bugs, not just one species, but over a hundred thousand different kinds and colors of bugs, when one would have sufficed! God is creative and visual; and He created us in His image, so we are creative and visual, too.  

Our mind is like a movie theater--it plays anything we want on the screen of our mind, and across the canvas of our mind are pictures!  Often, when we least expect, negative images will come across that people dislike us, marriage is falling apart, a financial setback, or our business closing!  There's no reality to this and the devil knows it; so, the next best thing he does is to deceive you into believing it is true! Once he convinces you to keep those pictures in your mind, you'll become so convinced that the messages are true, and a stronghold is being built!

Have you been to a circus and seen full?grown elephants tied to little stakes in the ground and standing still? You may have wondered, one flick of the foot and they could pull that stake out, but why do they stay there?  It's because when the elephants were babies, their ankles were tied with a chain to a stake driven deep into the ground; and when it tried to pull away from that stake, it was not be able to. So, after months and years of trying to pull free, this 5? to 7?ton mammoth creature quits trying as it is convinced that it can't break loose!  That's a stronghold!  

[End Video:] 

PASTOR PAUL:  Can we say thank you to Pastor Wayne?  So glad that you guys are here to worship God with us at New Hope Oahu, even though Hurricane Douglas is coming!

Pastor Wayne says that a stronghold is a lie (an untrue image) that we replay again and again in our minds. I'm a high school pastor, so I always talk to students about strongholds: How it affects our sleep, decision making, and the way we think about ourselves.  Strongholds also affects our marriages, families, businesses, and jobs.  In fact, if we let it, strongholds can also ruin our eternity--but, there's hope in the Name of Jesus Christ and God's faithfulness!  

Before we go any further, let's watch a video of a little girl who can't stop thinking about waffles!  She's a cute little girl, but she has a stronghold!  Before I ruin it, please take a look at this:

[Video]

MOM:  You what? 

DAUGHTER:  I just can't stop thinking about waffles!

MOM:  Well, you had waffles for dinner, and you had waffles for breakfast, so you'll eat something else.  

DAUGHTER:  Oh, I ?? I can't stop.  Why can't I just stop dreaming about waffles?  

MOM:  I don't know.  I don't know.  Do you need a nap?  

DAUGHTER:  No. I just don't know why I just can't stop thinking about waffles!

[End Video]  

The little girl is chained to her desires--she's in prison!  Maybe your waffle/stronghold is addiction, worry, finances, pandemic, health issue, fear, lust, self?hate, loneliness, regrets, or rebellion!  The enemy wants us to think that we cannot overcome the stronghold; but the Word of God has something to say about the lie/image that we continually play again and again in our minds! 

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 RSV says: "⁴for the weapons of our warfare are not worldly but have divine power to destroy strongholds. ⁵ We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle to the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ," 

We are the only people group in existence that God says has the power and authority to hold back the gates of hell!  That is amazing!  The devil is pretty crafty--he will take away our authority and use it against us through our minds, thoughts, and imaginations! Pastor Wayne says, "The devil is a headhunter; our minds are the battlefield; and his trophy is our imagination."  Imagination is so powerful!  

If you've been to Disneyland and have seen the rides (Space Mountain, etc.), you experienced somebody's imagination that became a reality!  Your imagination can also become reality! Disney has a quote: (1) Think it, (2) Dream it, (3) Believe it, (4) Dare to make it a reality!  

If the enemy is using your imagination for your destruction saying: Keep thinking about your self?hurt and self?harm; and dream, believe, and dare to do it, remember, God can take the destructive imaginations and change them! He is saying: Think about your life, dream about the future I have for you; believe My promises, and dare to walk in faith! 

OVERCOMING STRONGHOLDS 

Practice Wielding the Sword of the Spirit:  Understand how the enemy works and stay free from stronghold! The enemy is crafty--but our God is greater!

(1) Write down:  John 10:10 CSB: "A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance."

Genesis 3:1 NIV: "Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, 'Did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden'”?

The enemy likes to distort the promise/the truth of God and asks:  "Did He really say, I will never leave you nor forsake you? " "Did He really say you have a future and a hope?" Yes, He did say that!  

The enemy wants us to take our eyes off God's promises and put them on the urgent! C.S. Lewis wrote "The Screwtape Letters," a fictional story about a senior demon teaching a junior demon how to deceive the world, and says: "There is nothing like suspense and anxiety for barricading a human's mind against the Enemy (God), he wants men to be concerned with what they do; our business is to keep them thinking about what will happen to them."  He brings us anxiety to draw us away from the promises of God and focus our attention on the urgent, rather than the most important! The enemy works to distract us from the promises of God!  

(2) Destroy the lie of the enemy with the truth of God.   

Ephesians 6:17 NIV says: "Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."

The only offensive weapon we have is the sword of the Spirit, the word of God! Many leave it on the coffee table when it should be in our hands, ready to go! God says to hide it in our hearts!   

The most dangerous people in the world is the prayer warrior who prays in the spirit: The young man fighting the good fight with scripture; the young lady mentoring other ladies that they're valuable and their identity is in Christ Jesus; the kupuna encouraging people--these are the warriors of heaven!  

- By Memorizing It 

Psalm 119:11 NIV says: "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you."

When Pastor Wayne went to China, he spoke to 22 leaders; the 22 leaders oversaw 22 million people in this area!  He asked one of the leaders, "If we get caught tonight, what's going to happen?"  The leader said, "Well, you will be deported, but we're going to prison for 3 years." Pastor Wayne was taken aback! When he said, "Let's open our Bibles to 2 Peter," he saw a lady give her Bible away, and she recited the whole passage! Afterwards, he asked the lady, "How do you know the Word so well?"  She said, "When we are thrown in prison, we try to bring some scripture so we can read it as fast as possible, before they take it away! I want to memorize it because it's so powerful! The guards can take the paper away, but they can't take what is hidden in my heart!" When we are going through difficult times in life and it seems that you're in prison, you can still be free in the word of God! 

- By Thinking About It

Deuteronomy 6:7 RSV says: "and you shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise." 

Whatever you're doing, teach the scriptures to your children, walk with it, and feed on it. Pastor Wayne says that our minds are like a TV, but our TV doesn't turn off!  The only way that we can change channels is to develop new channels by memorizing scriptures! As I begin to live and walk with the scriptures wherever I go, I get to actually change channels, again and again!  

Whenever the enemy came to test Jesus, the Bible says that He always answered: "It is written."  We also must know what is written so that we would know who we are, whose we are, and the promises that God has given us--then we can walk in confidence!  

(3) Add People in Our Lives that Love God and Love us, in that order.

Ecclesiastes 4:12 NIV says: "Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."

So, the best way to destroy a strong cord with three strands is to divide the strands!  We must fight the good fight with the word of God against the lies of the enemy; but we also need brothers and sisters around who will take us where God is calling us to go, by giving someone permission to speak into your life.  When I can accept sincere criticism from my Christian friends, I am allowing them to help me break my stronghold!  

Ephesians 4:15 NIV says: "...speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ."

True statistics:  The highest killer of young adults are themselves, and God is saying it is time we overcome strongholds in our lives with the truth of God's Word and become more like Christ. As we sharpen each other, it actually shaves off a little bit of metal! Learn to overcome strongholds this year. Ask Jesus to take you to a place that you've never been before!  Then, we will see God's best in everything that we do--it's a journey!  

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1  Explain stronghold, and how it is developed.

2. What offensive weapon do we have to overcome the enemy?

3.  Who are the most dangerous people in the world? 

4.  The Bible says that we overcome the enemy with the word of our testimony; share how you overcame your stronghold.