Beyond God’s Protection | Cornerstone Church | Pastor Linn Winters

that's my encouragement. Hey, we're, third week in a series called Stranger Beings and we're, talking about all things angels and demons and Satan and all of that stuff that you and I as Christ followers

need to be knowledgeable about, need to be aware about. And one of the things we've said from the very beginning is simply this, hey, Satan is real. He is real, which means it's absolutely absurd to ignore his presence. And then secondly, he hates you. He doesn't hate you because you've done anything

horrible to him, he hates you because he hates God. And the reality is he is a defeated foe. The final score has already been posted. When Jesus died on the cross for our sins and then rose again on the third day,

the final score was posted and he has no potential of winning. So what he's done is he's chosen the second best thing, he's trying to play spoiler. And since he can't defeat God, he's decided the next best thing is to break the heart of God.

And so he attacks us. If if he can destroy us, if he can take our lives and put it in ruins in the same way as a parent, if your child is living a horribly destructive breaks your heart, and it does the same thing to God when the children of God follow Satan's schemes and their

lives are destroyed and ruined. And so that's why he pays attention to you and me. So next week, we're gonna talk about Satan's three most common tricks that for some reason, we as Christians keep falling for that same trick over and over and over again.

There was a period of time in my life where Lisa would come to me and say, hey, can we swap cars today? And I'd say, well, sure. And then I'd get in her car and realize why, because her car was on fumes and she wanted me to fill up her tank. I'm embarrassed to tell you how many years she fooled me with that trick.

How much better if you and I recognize what Satan's trying to do to manipulate us and go, uh-uh, I see that one coming. Okay. So the three most common tricks that Christians fall for over and over again. And then the week after that, we're gonna talk about how do I know if it's actually spiritual warfare?

Because the reality is there isn't a demon under every rock And if you live your your life as a Christian thinking that everything that happens in your life is Satan, I'm actually gonna suggest to you that you will stunt your Christian growth. So how do I know? How do I know if this is Satan

or how do I know if maybe this is consequences for what I've done or maybe it's God teaching me something I don't know? How do I know for sure if it's spiritual warfare? So that's the next two weeks. Today, we're gonna talk about dabbling

and how dangerous it is when you and I go, oh, you know, no. You know, I'm I'm just gonna flirt around the edges with the supernatural. I'm I'm I it it it may be a little dark, but it's for fun. Right? It's just an office party and they've got someone doing tarot cards or, you know what, I'm I'm with some friends and everyone was going and seeing a fortune teller and I just thought, you know, I'll I'll do that and it was just a fun thing and we're gonna talk about how dangerous it is in our lives

to dabble. Alright. Here we go.

If you've got your bibles, go with me to the book of Job. And if you're not familiar, simply go to the middle of your bible. You're probably gonna hit the book of Psalms, and then, you'll go to the left. You'll find, this book of Job. We're gonna start in chapter one, in

verse six. So as we begin, let me just say this together. I'm gonna do my very, very, very, very best today to not sensationalize anything. My my heart is not to be scary or freak anybody out, my heart is to tell you the absolute truth and for that reason, my intent is to be 100%

biblical in everything that we say. We're gonna do a lot of verses today because I want you to know the bible says it, it's not just my opinion. And then there are a couple of moments, I'm gonna give you a little bit of my opinion or my idea and I'm gonna do my very best to say that out loud. Hey, this is what I think,

but it's what I think. Right? We don't know this part for sure because I want you to leave here with confidence of what scripture says about this topic in our lives. So here we go. It's Job, chapter one starting, in verse six. It's an interesting, moment. Here we go. It's something that happens in the life of Job.

One day, the angels came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan also came with them. The Lord said to Satan, where have you come from? Satan answered the Lord from roaming throughout the earth going back and forth on it. And then the Lord said to Satan, have you considered my servant Job?

There's no one on earth like him. He's blameless and upright, a man who fears God and he shuns evil. And then Satan comes back and really complains to God, he says, well, of course Job is living a great life because you're protecting him. Why wouldn't he love you? So here we go, verse nine.

Does Job not fear God for nothing? Satan replied. You have put a hedge. Catch that word. You've put this wall of protection, you've put limits to what I can do to him, So of course,

he feels great about you. He's thankful that you've done that. He put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has. You've blessed the work of his hands so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But now stretch out your hand and withdraw that protection, withdraw that hedge and strike everything that he has and he will surely curse you to your face.

The Lord said to Satan, very well then everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself, do not lay a finger.

Now, here here's what you need to know. This hedge of protection that Satan has complained about is not unique to Job. It every single one of us has a hedge of protection. In other words, God has said to Satan, look, I'm gonna limit what you can do to human beings. You can go this far but you can't go beyond that.

Imagine this, imagine if Satan actually had free reign. Imagine the chaos and the destruction he would do if God said, hey Satan, you can do anything you want to do to humans, hedge of protection. And because of that hedge of protection,

all of a sudden, Satan, when he has schemes and things he would love to do to hurt and wound and and God says, no, that's beyond the line. You're not allowed to cross the hedge. Think of it kind of like a wall on the deal. Now, this is my opinion, this is what I think. I believe that Christians are even more protected

than non Christians. In other words, our hedge of protection is even greater than the protection God offers to a non Christian. Kinda like this, as a parent, I guarantee you, you are more protective over your children than you are the neighbor kids. Your kid is playing in the street, you're like, hey,

get out of the street kid. The neighbor kid's playing in the street and you're like, sucks to be you kid. I you know? So I'm I believe

that Christians have greater protection in their life than those who are living their lives apart from god and away from God. But here's what you wanna know, you want to be behind the hedge. You do not wanna step out. You don't wanna cross out from God's protection in your life. How many of have ever been to a zoo?

Okay, three of us, that's great, they're gonna we're gonna it's gonna apply. 2009, there's a woman at the Berlin Zoo. She's standing at the polar bear Kate thing display and she decides that polar bears look fluffy and nice and she wants to pet a polar bear. She scales the wall. She scales the wall, slides down the moat

which you understand that was there for her protection so that she can now interact with the polar bears. The polar bear sees her, comes and begins to maul her. The zoo employees take a rope, they tie it to a life preserver and they lower it down the moat. They were smart enough not to get in the cage with the polar bears.

So they lower it down, she grabs on, they get her partway up and out, she loses her grip, she slides back down again and now the polar bears are mauling on her again. They finally get her out, highly wounded, highly distressed. Here's what the zookeeper says, lucky for her that the polar bears had just eaten

and that all they were doing was playing with her because if the polar bear had been serious, he would have killed her with one swipe. Guys, when you and I step out of God's protection, we go into the polar bear encampment. You realize Satan is smarter than you and he is stronger than you.

You do not wanna be outside of God's protection. And this is one of the things that happens when you and I dabble, when you and I flirt with the supernatural. We suddenly open doors, we we breach the protection and now we're on our own in the polar bear cage. You do not want to be outside

of God's protection for you. So the question goes, well, how would someone do that? How how would we step out from God's how would we cause that to happen in our lives? And the answer is dabbling. When you and I dabble in there, we go, look, look, look, I'm not satisfied with what God gives me.

I'm gonna dabble in the supernatural. There's answers I want that God's not giving. There's things I want to experience in my mind and we dabble in the supernatural. But guys, here's what you need to consider when you step into the supernatural and exclude God, that you really then limit yourself

to only one of two options. What you experience when you do that, it might be a charlatan. In other words, this person who's reading your palm or or doing the medium thing and calling back when you were, maybe they're a faker. And what they're doing is they're just giving you good guesses.

Oh, I I I I see an older gentleman. I'm I'm thinking your uncle. No, my uncles are all alive. Maybe it's your grandfather. No, my grandfather's still living. Maybe it's your grandfather's uncle. Oh yeah, they're guessing, they're good guessers and it's fake. Or the other option is you truly have contacted the supernatural,

which ought to be terrified. Let me explain why. You realize every single one of us already has contact with the supernatural. It's God. God has already made that available. He literally has said, hey, everything you need to know is either here in scripture or available to you in prayer.

But in this moment of dabbling, you've said, no, no, no, I'm gonna go beyond what God offers. So you've taken him out of the equation.

Something that seems to be popular is this idea, hey, I'm gonna contact a dead relative. You know, aunt Matilda died and there were things I wish I would have said to her or you know what, I just miss her and so it'd be so great to have a conversation with her.

Here's what you need to know, dead relatives do not come back for visits. They don't. Matter of fact, in the six thousand years that scripture chronicles, there's only been two times that God has allowed someone to come from the dead and have a conversation with humans. One is during a moment when wicked king Saul

is trying to contact the dead prophet Samuel. The second time it happens is at the Mount Of Transfiguration when Jesus is there, he's about to go to the cross and God allows Moses and Elijah to come and say, hey, this is God's son and what he's about to do is gonna change the world. Two times

in six thousand years and I'm telling you, I know you're special, but you are not the third time, you're not. Matter of fact, grab your Bibles, go with me to the book of Luke. And again, you're not familiar, if you go to the back of your Bible, work to the left, you're gonna find this book of Luke

and there's a story that Jesus tells in the book of Luke that gives you and me all sorts of insight. It's Luke chapter 16.

We're gonna start in verse 19. Now here's what you need to know. There are some people who want to say that this is a parable. A parable is a time when Jesus tells a story because it teaches a biblical lesson, right? It's kind of a metaphor that Jesus is teaching in the moment.

This is not a parable. Here's how you know why. Every single time God does a parable, he starts with these words. The kingdom of God is like. Second reason you know it's not a parable, because there is never a single instance in a parable where God uses names.

He'll say there was a certain rich man who went away and he had servants. He never uses proper names. In this, he does not start it, the kingdom of God is like and he uses names. This has got Jesus telling an actual event to you and me. Here we go.

Luke chapter 16 starting in verse 19, Jesus said, hey, there was a certain rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and he lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus who was covered with sores and he longed to eat what fell from the rich man's table.

Even the dogs came and licked his sores. The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried in Hades, in hell. And guys, just wanna tell you, hell is a real place. Jesus confirmed it's a real place. And people who live their lives rejecting who Jesus is,

that is their destination. Hell is real. In hell, in Hades where, he was in torment, he looked up and he saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue because I'm in agony in this fire.

But Abraham replied, my son, that in your lifetime you received good things while Lazarus received bad things, but now he's comforted in here and you are in agony there. And besides all this, between us and you, there's a great chasm that has been placed so that those who want to go from here to you cannot

nor can anyone crossover from there to us. And now he makes a second request. He answered then, then I beg you father, send Lazarus to my family for I have five brothers. Let him warn them so that they will not also come to this place of torment. And Abraham replied,

they have Moses and the prophets, let them listen to them. No, father Abraham, he said, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent. And he said to him, if they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead. Think about it a moment. His request

is, hey, send Lazarus to warn my brothers so that they can become believers. I mean, it's it's really actually a good request and yet Abraham says no, no, we don't send people back from the dead, even if it wasn't an effort to try to convince them to become Christians. So you just learn that this does not happen,

it's not something that's allowed. And so when you go and you say, hey, I wanna talk to aunt Sarah or whatever it is, it cannot possibly be aunt Sarah because it's and does it surprise you that the enemy would take advantage of your grief, of your missing a loved one and manipulate that against you

and trick you. And so scripture says this just isn't even an option, it's not there.

That being the case, anytime you step into the supernatural apart from God, you've got one option left. You're stepping through the hedge. You're literally involving yourself with things that are darkness. Matter of fact, I got a list of some of the things oh, wait a minute, wait before we do that. So

let's go to a passage that just talks about how this is deceptive in lies. Grab your grab your Bibles real quick and go with me to first Samuel. So this time go to the front of your Bible, Jethannesus, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, first Samuel.

Remember I told you there was two times where God actually allowed someone to come back from the dead. This is one of those times. It's first Samuel chapter 28

So let me give you the background. So Saul has been rejected by God for being king. He's been disobedient on multiple occasions. God has said, hey, Saul, you're no longer gonna be king nor is your lineage. I'm giving the kingdom to David.

The prophet Samuel has died and now the Philistine armies have gathered to attack Israel and Saul is scared out of his mind and he wants to contact Samuel and say, what should I do? And so he plans to go to a medium and have that medium call Samuel back. There's a problem. In one of his moments when Saul was obeying God,

he banned all the mediums, all the sorcerers, all the spiritualists out of Israel. So now he has to find one that will work with him. And what he does is he disguises himself so that the medium won't know that it's him. So here we go, is first Samuel chapter 28 starting in verse nine.

But the woman said to him, surely you know that Saul has done, he's cut off all mediums and spirits from the land. Why have you set a trap for my life to bring about my death? Saul swore to her by the lord, as surely as the lord lives, you will not be punished. Think about this for a minute.

So here's Saul disguised going to a medium who god has forbid and when she says, hey, I can't do this, it's you know, it's against the law and I'll be put to death and Saul says, I swear by the living God you'll be okay. And she goes, oh.

Even she believed in the living God and even she took that oath as being a binding oath. Isn't that incredible? Alright, back to the passage.

Verse 10, Saul swore to her by the Lord, as surely as the Lord lives, you will not be punished. Then the woman asked, whom shall I bring for you? Bring up Samuel, he said. And ready for this, watch what happens. When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out at the top of her voice and said to Saul, why have you deceived me?

You are Saul. Now wait a minute, think about this a minute. She's a medium. She is telling people, I am calling dead people back from the dead to have conversations with you. But when Samuel actually comes back from the dead, she's terrified. Why? Because that has never happened before. Every other time that she has called

relatives back from the dead, it's been demonic and it's been they've been impersonating the individual. And so when it actually happens that a dead person, she is out of her mind terrified. Which simply means this guys, any time you step across the hedge, you go to the street, it's either a fake or it's demonic.

That that's the only thing you're left with.

Let me give you a list of some of the things that that satan would love to invite us into that cause us to step through the hedge.

Ouija boards. It's either your friend is pushing that little thing to where he wants it to go or if there's something really happening there, it has to be satanic. Palm reading, horoscopes, crystal balls,

tarot cards. I know, I know, we were at the party and they just brought this gal in and it was supposed to be something that was fun and so we went there and you realize you stepped through the hedge because you consulted something that was supernatural that was not God, it was the enemy. Astrology,

the phone spirit guide, and you know it's only a dollar for the first ten minutes. Right? Mediums who are bringing back the dead to talk to us or they're talking to them, witchcraft. And guys, don't be fooled by people who say, well, I'm just a Wiccan. It's white magic. I simply worship nature.

You realize the scheme of the enemy is to get you to worship anything except God. And and scripture says that Satan presents himself as an angel of light. There's no such thing as a white witch. It's all darkness. And then crystals,

big thing, all know about that, we live here, Sedona is just up the road. You realize that comes out of dark, dark ancient Egyptian worship. And then here's some things I can't say, remember I said, we get to my opinion, then I'm just gonna tell you it's my opinion, but here's some things I want you to consider.

Does anyone know what the Greek word for witchcraft is? Pharmakia, it's where we get the word pharmacy from. And I'm just gonna tell you, I have concern that when someone involves themselves in illicitly using drugs, right, we're self medicating, we're doing, I don't know. Is that

crossing the hedge? Because we know that within a lot of witchcraft, there is drug involvement. There's peyote, there's what happens with food, I don't know. I think it's interesting that the word for witchcraft is pharmakeia. And then I'm concerned about some of the movies we watch. There's some movies that are just dark.

And I'm concerned about some of the music we listen to that actually gives glory to Satan. And again, I'm not telling, I'm just saying as a Christ follower, my choice, I just choose not to go to those movies. I choose not to listen to those songs because I don't want anything, anything

to put me on the other side of the hedge. And I think we at least should be prayerful about it and considering. Scripture says, put no wicked thing before your eyes. Going outside the hedge is a big deal. Matter of fact, grab your bibles really, really quick. Go with me to the book of Leviticus.

So all the way back, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus.

Leviticus chapter 19.

Leviticus chapter 19 verse 31 simply says this, do not, this isn't a helpful suggestion, this isn't a, you know, tell me what you think, don't do it. Don't turn to mediums or seek out spiritists for you will be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God. Jump now just a page or two over to Leviticus chapter 20 verse 27.

Here's what it says, a man or woman who is a medium or a spiritist among you must be put to death. You are to stone them, their blood will be on their own heads. You say, look, look, this is so dark. This has such dangerous potential. Don't even allow somebody who's practicing the dark arts.

Don't even allow them in your community because there's just too much downside. There's too much danger to this. It's playing in the polar bear pit.

Dabbling in the supernatural, dabbling with the satanic is not a little thing. Let's talk about potential consequences. What could happen if I step beyond the hedge? The first thing is this, you open yourself to demonic oppression.

In other words, Satan now has new influence on you because you stepped out from behind the protection of God and now he's able to do more. He's able to oppress you. So this can be multiple things. It can be, some of those strange occurrences that, you know, we see in movies and on TV and

things moving or sounds or appearances of apparitions. I'm not telling you that everything Hollywood says is true, but you understand they got their ideas from somewhere. And that can be part of demonic oppression. Part of demonic oppression can be destructive thoughts for yourself or for others

because Satan would love nothing more than to destroy the children of God, right? And you gotta be careful on this because there is mental health that can lead people to suicidal thoughts or hurt, but also the the converse of that is it could be demonic influence going on in their lives. We don't you're right? And then

thoughts that absolutely violate your morals. What happens is you're like, why am I thinking about doing that? That's something I would never consider. It's so dark, it's so, why am I now thinking about that horrible thing? Well, you've stepped outside the hedge. It's part of the oppression that's happening in your life.

And then finally, people under demonic oppression usually have this violent aversion to Christianity. I'm not talking about an atheist who says, oh, that's humbug and it's junk. I'm talking about someone who literally gets physically angry and violent when you start talking about Christianity.

All of those things are marks of oppression and when I live outside the hedge, I potentially expose myself to that. The second thing we expose ourselves to is the potential of demonic possession.

Here's what you need to know, demon possession is real. Matter of fact, as you read scripture, there's 12 different instances in the bible where Jesus cast demons out of somebody. And you might ask, hey, why why why do why do we not see that more? If it's real, how come? You realize Satan changes his tactics.

And in a country where there's at least Christian underpinnings, where people have at least been exposed to the idea of God and that there is a devil, if he were to reveal himself by demon possessing person,

then there would probably be this move where people go, woo, I don't want anything to do with that, and they'd start coming to Christ saying, man, I I've seen darkness, I want light in my life. His tactic, I believe, is to be undercover and not show himself in full exposure.

But go to third world countries where Christianity hasn't been exposed to them so greatly and you will find more and more and more demon possession going on because they don't know where to turn.

I'm gonna tell you about a moment in which I ran into someone who was you can do whatever you wanna do with this story, it's my story. The real thing is, as scripture talks about it 12 times, but I'm a young man, I'm 16 years old, and my youth pastor and I would go out together after events

and we would just talk bible. And so we had done this on this night and we'd gone to Denny's and he had to pay because I was this broke 16 year old and I come walking out first and there was this homeless guy sitting on a bench

and he says, hey, do you have any money? And I went, well, no, I don't have any money, but I'll tell you what I do have, I have Jesus. And so I started witnessing to him.

By this time, my youth pastor Wayne comes out, he's standing there watching me, witness to this guy. And as I'm going through witnessing with him, you know, I start talking about, hey, Jesus died on the cross for you, he forgave your sins, he shed his blood so that you could be forgiven.

And all of a sudden this gentleman went into convulsions. His jaw was popping sideways and out of joint, all of his limbs tightened up and he began to shake. And my first impression was this guy's just done a lot of drugs and he's really, really messed himself up. The convulsions kind of subsided

and then as I continued, to witness to him, I circled back on, hey, you know, Jesus actually died on the cross so that all of us can be forgiven. He shed his blood so that all of our sins would be white as snow and again he goes right back into the convulsions. The jaw is going out and

limbs are tightening and his body is shaking and I'm just gonna tell you that on that second pass, it was as if the spirit of God said to me, Lynn, this isn't drugs, this is darkness. And it was just And

so then I'd be literally said to the man, hey, you're possessed by a demon. And he he didn't say anything back, he didn't refute it, he didn't tell me I was a crazy Christian. And then I began to say, in the power of the blood of Jesus Christ, tell me your name.

And as I did that, he started yelling back to me, it isn't that it isn't. I thought in that moment he's just saying, hey, you're lying about Jesus, it's not real, it's not true.

And over and over again I kept saying, hey, in the power of Jesus and in his blood, tell me your name. And he kept yelling at us, it isn't that it isn't, it isn't that it isn't. And this goes on for like ten minutes and finally Wayne and I said, we're not getting anywhere with this man. We get in the car and we leave.

And as we're driving away, it hits me. Hey, when Moses got ready to go back to the children of Israel, he said, hey, when I tell them God sent me, they're gonna say what is your name? And God said you tell them I am that I am. And then I remembered he had said it isn't that it isn't.

And I believe by allah he was telling us his name in that moment. I am literally the opposite of God. It isn't that it isn't.

You can take that for whatever you want. Here's what I'm just gonna tell you. I was there and I don't, I have no desire to be around that again. The darkness was so heavy and

it breaks my heart that anyone would be exposed to that.

So let's talk, here's the good news about demonic possession. If you are a Christian, you cannot be possessed by a demon. It's not possible. Matter of fact, grab your Bibles real quick, go with me to the book of Romans. Remember I told you a lot of scripture today.

And if you're not familiar, go to back of your Bible, work to the left. It's Romans chapter eight

verse nine. Here's what it says, Romans chapter eight verse nine, you however are not of the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the spirit. If indeed the spirit of God lives in you

and if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. So here's I'm saying. If you're a Christ follower, if you're a believer, if you put your trust in Jesus, the holy spirit resides in you. And Satan and the holy spirit cannot coexist.

There is no room for Satan to inhabit you. So if you're a Christ follower, the good news is you can never be demon possessed because the holy spirit already inhabits your life. He's already inside of you. Here's the bad news. You can step out from the hedge and you can live in such disobedience even as a Christian

that there are Christians who become so oppressed by Satan that you can hardly tell the difference.

So here's the question.

Every single movie you've watched, they get into a gunfight and in the middle of the gunfight, there's one guy. Right? There's this one guy who steps out from the protection of the wall

And you know the minute you see him do that, two seconds later, he's gonna be dead. And you're like, why did you step out from behind the wall? That was stupid. Don't be that guy. Don't be the Christian who says, hey, I'm gonna flirt with this, I'm gonna step out from behind God's protection,

I'm just gonna dabble a little bit and see what, don't be that guy.

There's some of us in the room who'd say, hey, Lynn, I think I might have already. And you know, I was at an office party and they had that little gal with tarot cards and I thought, hey, it's fun, right?

Or you know, hey, you know, we were out on vacation and they said palm reader and I thought, that's kind of funny. Let's just see what this and we I I didn't think about what it meant. I I I potentially have put myself in a place of what do I do? You repent.

You you just say what do you God, was completely wrong. It was it was something I never never should have involved my life in. And I just wanna state out loud that that was darkness and I want nothing to do with darkness. And I'm asking, would you put me back behind your hedge of protection again?

Remove any exposure that I brought into my own life.

So here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna pray together and I'm gonna lead you in a prayer if you're someone who says, man, I'm a little bit concerned that maybe I've stepped up from buying the hedge, you can just pray that quietly with me. And then after we get done praying,

there'll be people here at the front if you need to talk some more or need to pray some more. But here's the prayer I would pray if I was concerned about being beyond the hedge. Let's bow our heads. Hey, dear lord Jesus,

I was curious. I I thought it was just fun. And so I did. I I participated in something that probably removed me from your protection, put me in the polar bear pit, and I'm just saying out loud, I should have never done that. It was it was completely wrong for me to consult something supernatural other than you.

So I'm asking you to forgive me, and God, would you place me back behind your hedge of protection? Would you keep me in safety, and would you bar the evil one from taking advantage? And this I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.