Dharius Daniels - Rules of Engagement - Part 2

It’s going to engage you in the area, and if you don’t understand the rules of engagement, you will not maintain any gains that you made in the area of your mind. I want you to see what happened every time the devil talked to Jesus; Jesus talked back. If you’re going to win in your mind, every time the enemy engages you, you must talk back because the mood of your mind will be reflective of who you allow to have the last word. I must say that one more time: the mood of your mind will be reflective of who you let have the last word. If you allow the devil to have the last word, your mood will reflect it; but if you let God have the last word, your mood will reflect it. So when the devil talks to you, you better open your mouth and talk! Give somebody a high five and tell them to talk back, talk back, talk back! He’ll talk you out of your joy if you don’t talk back. He’ll talk you out of your sanity if you don’t talk back. He’ll talk you out of your set place if you don’t talk back. You better open your mouth and talk back! We’re going to talk back-to-back. Every time Jesus talked back, the first time the enemy came, he said, «Okay, y’all are not seeing this.» Look at this; I’m preaching the text. The text says in verse 3, «The tempter came to him and said.» But then the text says in verse 4, «And Jesus answered.» The text says in verse 6, «The enemy said, 'If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down.'» Verse 7 says, «And Jesus answered him.» Verse 9 says, «The enemy said, 'All this I will give you if you will bow down and worship me.'» Jesus said to him, «Away from me, Satan!» See, every time the devil spoke, Jesus answered. And verse 11 says, «Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended to him.» Could it be the devil has left because you aren’t talking back? Am I teaching the book? Somebody say, «Engage!» Yeah, because any gains in your mind have to be maintained by your engagement. Gains have to be maintained; gains have to be maintained; gains have to be maintained. There is no such thing as part-time in the kingdom; it’s only forward or reverse. You are hot or cold; if you are lukewarm, he spits you out. You have to maintain the gains; it’s mind maintenance. The Bible says when Israel came out of Egypt, Pharaoh followed. When your mind comes out, Pharaoh follows. You must engage because he will engage you wherever he has the opportunity. He will attempt to undermine God’s affirmation of you, saying, «If you are the Son of God,» as if it’s up for discussion after God said it. When God said it, it should have been settled, but the enemy tries to keep you unsettled in the area where God needs you to be settled. See, I can’t see, and all of this is prior to Jesus performing miracles. If Jesus isn’t settled in his identity, he will not be able to faithfully carry out his activity. If the enemy gets you unsettled in who you are, then you won’t be stable enough to carry out God’s assignment for your life. Are you here with me? So watch what happens, and I gotta go. In Matthew chapter 4, verse 2, it says after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. Then the tempter came and said, «If you’re the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.» Watch what he’s doing. Now I want you to see the significance of this engagement in this season of Jesus’s life. Jesus is hungry, so the enemy tempts him with something that will feed that appetite. He attempts to get Jesus to make a decision based on appetite and not assignment because you can’t chase assignment and be led by your appetite. The enemy wants to use appetite to lure you off the path of your purpose, so you’re attempting to carry out assignment while the devil says, «You know you’re hungry. I am hungry for attention, hungry with ambition, hungry for affection, hungry for affirmation, hungry for support. I’m hungry!» So he attempts him to do an illegitimate thing to meet a legitimate need because he wants you to make decisions based on your appetite, not your assignment. Quit this based on your appetite and this. When he sees he can’t get Jesus in the area of his appetite, the next engagement says the devil took Jesus to the holy city and made him stand on the highest point of the temple and said, «If you’re the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written.» So when he can’t get him in the area of appetite, he tries to pervert Jesus’s authority. Jesus says it is written, meaning that I make decisions not based on my appetite, but under the authority of the Word. So what the devil sees is, «I can’t get you this way, so the only way I can get you is with bad doctrine.» Let me sit down because I want that to sit on you for a minute. He says, «Okay, because you have such a high view of Scripture, Jesus, the only way I’m going to be able to undermine God’s intention for your life is to pervert the Word.» But Jesus said, «It is also written.» Somebody say, «Argue back!» You better argue back because whoever has the last word controls the mood of your mind. Jesus not only teaches us to argue back. Can I have three more minutes?