This is War: Stand Firm in the Lord’s Strength

• Spiritual Warfare [00:01:46 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defines spiritual warfare as a literal, actual battle rather than a metaphor, emphasizing the reality of the conflict.
• The Enemy [00:03:09 ▶️ 📄]
  > Identifies the enemy as the devil (the thief) whose goal is to steal, kill, and destroy, contrasting this with Jesus' purpose to give abundant life.
• Prayer [00:04:17 ▶️ 📄]
  > Describes prayer as a 'wartime walkie-talkie' for the church's mission against darkness, rather than a domestic intercom for personal comfort.
• Political Allegiance [00:08:35 ▶️ 📄]
  > Warns against making politics the ultimate answer or primary allegiance, citing C.S. Lewis to explain how the devil uses politics to confuse believers and turn Jesus into a 'lobbyist'.
• Strength in the Lord [00:07:13 ▶️ 📄]
  > Teaches that believers must rely on the Lord's strength, not their own, using the example of Joshua being told to be strong because God is with him, not because he is inherently strong.
• Victory and Assurance [00:11:02 ▶️ 📄]
  > Asserts that the battle has already been won through Christ's victory, comparing the Christian life to the period between David's anointing and his coronation—a time of conflict but assured victory.
• Spiritual Warfare and Victory [00:11:12 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that the period between justification and glorification is characterized by conflict, but believers are co-heirs with Christ and will ultimately win, as seen in the book of Revelation.
• Honesty and Light vs. Darkness [00:13:17 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that fighting the devil in the dark leads to defeat; believers must bring their shame, addiction, and sin into the light of Jesus to experience victory.
• The Nature of the Enemy's Tactics [00:18:02 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defines the devil's 'schemes' (methodea) as a misinformation campaign rather than a frontal assault, aiming to make believers question God's Word, Worth, and Work.
• World Systems vs. God's People [00:20:30 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor distinguishes between loving the 'world' (its systems and values) and loving the 'people' of the world, warning against adopting worldly values like money, sex, and power.
• Identity of the Enemy [00:21:42 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor clarifies that the battle is not against flesh and blood (people, politicians, media) but against spiritual forces, using people only as instruments of Satan.
• Spiritual Warfare vs. Human Conflict [00:22:36 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor clarifies that the enemy is not people, politicians, or systems, but spiritual forces, correcting the cultural tendency to view human opponents as the primary enemy.
• Existence of Demons [00:24:02 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defends the belief in demons by citing Jesus's belief in them and using examples of addiction and evil as evidence of demonic warfare.
• Church Response to Culture [00:25:33 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor critiques two wrong responses (fleeing into isolation like the Amish or conforming to progressive liberalism) and advocates for a third way: fighting from within the culture.
• Historical Christian Impact [00:29:01 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the Letter to Diognetus to illustrate how early Christians influenced the Roman Empire through radical generosity, pro-life ethics, and sexual purity, ultimately toppling the empire through countercultural love.
• Spiritual Warfare and the Nature of the Enemy [00:33:54 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defines the enemy as a personal entity (Satan/Lucifer) who seeks to corrupt humanity, contrasting the Christian call to fight with cultural misconceptions.
• The Fall and Human Responsibility [00:34:24 ▶️ 📄]
  > An analysis of Genesis 3, highlighting the serpent's deception, the woman's legalistic distortion of God's word, and Adam's failure to lead.
• The Origin and Fall of Satan [00:40:08 ▶️ 📄]
  > A detailed exegesis of Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14, describing Satan's original creation as a perfect, worship-leading cherub who fell due to pride.
• Victory in Christ [00:39:08 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that believers fight from a position of victory, citing Luke 10 and Revelation to show that the outcome of the spiritual war is already determined by Jesus.
• Spiritual Warfare and Victory [00:45:20 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor asserts that while believers are in a spiritual war, the ultimate victory is already secured by Christ, urging the congregation to fight from a position of victory rather than for it.
• Biblical Interpretation of Revelation [00:45:42 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor corrects the common fear-based interpretation of Revelation, stating its purpose is to reveal the ending of the story where God wins, using Revelation 12 and 20 to illustrate the cosmic conflict and final defeat of Satan.
• Church Complacency vs. Readiness [00:49:07 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor critiques the American church for being 'asleep at the wheel' and lulled by worldly comforts, calling for a 'wartime mindset' and active engagement in spiritual battle.
• Counter-Cultural Living [00:51:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that living the way of Jesus naturally invites conflict with the world, suggesting that a lack of 'bloody nose' (persecution or friction) may indicate a failure to live counter-culturally.

• Sermon Illustration [00:05:47 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the analogy of hand sanitizer to illustrate belief in the unseen world: just as people use hand sanitizer to protect against invisible germs, they should believe in the unseen spiritual world and the war within it.
• Sermon Illustration [00:07:41 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the biblical story of Joshua, who was told to be strong and courageous three times in Joshua 1 because he was weak and afraid after seeing the giants in Canaan, illustrating that strength comes from God's presence, not personal capability.
• Sermon Illustration [00:12:08 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his daughter Reagan and his own habit of only watching football games he won (erasing losses) and hunting shows because he dislikes stories with plots, using this to humorously illustrate his focus on the 'end of the book' where we win.
• Sermon Illustration [00:12:07 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about being a Bulldogs football fan who records games and erases losses, watching only wins like the 2022 National Championship. He uses this to illustrate that believers should not be troubled by current conflicts because they already know the ending (victory).
• Sermon Illustration [00:12:46 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor tells a story about his daughter Reagan not knowing when football season is, and him telling her 'do not let your heart be troubled' because he knows how the game ends, reinforcing the theme of knowing the outcome of spiritual warfare.
• Sermon Illustration [00:15:40 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the analogy of a 'sucker punch' in boxing to explain the danger of not believing in the devil; if you don't know the fight has started, you will be defeated unexpectedly.
• Sermon Illustration [00:18:57 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor compares the devil's inability to attack God directly to Canada attacking the US with horses and funny coats, illustrating that the devil uses indirect, deceptive 'misinformation campaigns' rather than frontal assaults.
• Sermon Illustration [00:22:05 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the movie Saving Private Ryan, specifically the scene where a German soldier shoves a knife through an American's chest, to illustrate the life-or-death seriousness of the spiritual 'wrestling' believers face, contrasting it with a sport.
• Sermon Illustration [00:23:07 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor humorously describes his ex-girlfriend as staring at puppies with laser beams coming out of her eyes to kill them, illustrating that while people can be difficult or hurtful, they are not the ultimate spiritual enemy.
• Sermon Illustration [00:22:11 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the movie Saving Private Ryan to illustrate the intensity of spiritual wrestling, then contrasts this with the reality that our enemy is not flesh and blood.
• Sermon Illustration [00:23:04 ▶️ 📄]
  > A humorous anecdote about a bad ex-girlfriend who 'stares at puppies and laser beams come out and catch them on fire' to illustrate why people might want to fight their exes, only to correct that the true enemy is spiritual.
• Sermon Illustration [00:25:46 ▶️ 📄]
  > A personal story about growing up in the 'extreme Baptist world,' avoiding places like Abercrombie and Fitch, and receiving a pamphlet comparing Run DMC to a bad Italian spoken-word artist named Carmen to illustrate the absurdity of fleeing culture.
• Sermon Illustration [00:26:50 ▶️ 📄]
  > A critique of the Amish for creating their own world and never complaining, used to illustrate the error of isolating from culture rather than engaging it.
• Sermon Illustration [00:29:01 ▶️ 📄]
  > A historical account of early Christians in the Roman Empire (c. 130 AD) who were radically diverse, generous, pro-life, and chaste, contrasting their behavior with Roman norms to show how they influenced society without using force.
• Sermon Illustration [00:34:24 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the historical/biblical account of the Fall in Genesis 3 to illustrate how the enemy corrupts truth, noting that the woman added legalistic restrictions ('neither shall you touch it') that God never commanded, and Adam's silence as a failure of leadership.
• Sermon Illustration [00:41:20 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor provides a vivid, imaginative description of Satan's original creation based on Ezekiel 28, depicting him as a cherub made of gemstones with appendages of pipe organs and tambourines, whose job was to lead worship for the heavenly hosts before pride corrupted him.
• Sermon Illustration [00:46:16 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references a previous Christmas series to explain the parallel between the heavenly war in Revelation 12 (Michael vs. Dragon) and the earthly events (Mary, Joseph, Herod).
• Sermon Illustration [00:51:30 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses a rhetorical analogy that if a believer hasn't had a 'bloody nose' lately, it may be because they are not living a counter-cultural life but just going with the flow.
• Sermon Illustration [00:52:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor quotes John Piper's book 'Don't Waste Your Life' to illustrate how believers naturally drift into loving the world's toys and luxuries, forgetting the war and sinking into a secular mindset.

• Pastoral Charge [00:09:42 ▶️ 📄]
  > Read C.S. Lewis's 'The Screwtape Letters', specifically chapter 23, to understand how the devil uses politics to confuse believers.
• Pastoral Charge [00:00:51 ▶️ 📄]
  > Pray for the country, specifically for former President Trump and the current sitting president.
• Pastoral Charge [00:13:26 ▶️ 📄]
  > Learn to be honest and transparent about one's struggles.
• Pastoral Charge [00:14:15 ▶️ 📄]
  > Actively bring hidden sins, addictions, and shame into the light.
• Pastoral Charge [00:17:24 ▶️ 📄]
  > Prepare for spiritual warfare by putting on the armor of God.
• Pastoral Charge [00:33:58 ▶️ 📄]
  > Commit to a nine-week study series on spiritual warfare.
• Pastoral Charge [00:36:55 ▶️ 📄]
  > Husbands are commanded to actively confront and defeat spiritual attacks on their wives.
• Pastoral Charge [00:40:09 ▶️ 📄]
  > Write down the scripture references (Ezekiel 28, Isaiah 14) for future study.
• Pastoral Charge [00:48:47 ▶️ 📄]
  > Get spiritually prepared and suited up for spiritual warfare.
• Pastoral Charge [00:55:30 ▶️ 📄]
  > Stand up physically as a sign of readiness to stand firm in faith.

[00:00:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:00:01] If you've got your Bibles, and I hope you do, grab them. We're going to be in Ephesians chapter 6 in what I believe is a very, very, very timely sermon because we are at war. We are at war. Hopefully you can agree that something has gone terribly wrong. And if you're like, no, it's pretty good, then you're too dumb to talk to, which makes it difficult to me because I can't disciple a demon, I can't cast out dumb, okay? Now, hopefully you can tell by things like the amount of
[00:00:36] of effort that goes into putting a video like that together, or the newspaper that you're going to get, that we did not put this together last night in response to the attempted assassination on former President Trump. This was planned out a year ago, and I believe it's by God's sovereign
[00:00:51] hand. And I wrote this message on Monday and delivered it already on Thursday. And we need to be in prayer for our country. Thank God President Trump wasn't killed. And we need to be in prayer for our current sitting president, because we are at war. Today's sermon isn't even
[00:01:13] really a sermon. Normally, I have three pages of notes, sometimes four. Today, I have 11.
[00:01:17] So, 1122 crowd, when they get here, they may have to sit in your lap. I don't know. We'll see. You have to listen faster than you normally do. But something has gone horribly wrong, and what I'm
[00:01:29] trying to do today, for the next nine weeks, between now and saturated, we are going to talk about spiritual warfare. That's what we're talking about. Now, don't get too excited. If you get overly excited about it, it says something about you. But what I need you to understand is this is
[00:01:46] an actual war. When the Bible talks about spiritual warfare, it's not a metaphor. It's an actual battle and we have an actual enemy. So today in our time together, I'm just going to, I'm going
[00:01:59] to set us up to understand that it's a real war and we have a real enemy. Currently right now, there are 13 major wars going on around the world.
[00:02:08] The United States, the majority of our time as a country, we have been involved in military conflicts.
[00:02:16] We've had 108 military conflicts as a country.
[00:02:20] They include major wars like the American Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the American Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, II, the Gulf War, Vietnam War, on and on and on.
[00:02:32] and you and I are currently involved in an actual war.
[00:02:39] The Bible means this literally, not figuratively.
[00:02:43] When the Bible says that our battle is not against flesh and blood, it's not using it like figurative language, like being a Christian is like being in a war.
[00:02:55] No, no, no, we don't have like a war, we have a war.
[00:02:58] And we have an actual enemy.
[00:03:01] And I think if we know who he is and we know his schemes will be better prepared to live in victory today over that enemy.
[00:03:09] We've been in this verse for two years.
[00:03:11] John 10, 10, the thief, that's our enemy, comes only to steal, kill, and destroy.
[00:03:18] It's the only thing he wants to do in your life is steal everything that God has for you.
[00:03:23] It's to not only kill you, but kill everybody that you love and the people that are most important to you.
[00:03:29] And he wants us to destroy everything that God has for you.
[00:03:32] That's the only thing he wants.
[00:03:36] And then Jesus says, but I came that you may have life and have it abundantly.
[00:03:39] I am the good shepherd, and the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
[00:03:42] John Piper says it this way in his book, Don't Waste Your Life.
[00:03:46] He says, life is war.
[00:03:47] That's not all it is, but it is always that.
[00:03:50] I don't even know what that means.
[00:03:51] That's the most John Piper thing I've ever seen in my life, man.
[00:03:54] Sometimes I'll be sitting on the beach with my earbuds in, listening to Piper.
[00:03:59] Gretchen, I'm just grinning.
[00:04:00] She's like, what are you listening to, Dr. Piper?
[00:04:02] What's he talking about?
[00:04:02] I have no idea, but I love Jesus so much right now.
[00:04:05] the glory of God. He's so far over my head, but I love it. Here's what he says. Life is war. That's not all it is, but it is always that. Our weakness in prayer is owing largely to our neglect of this
[00:04:17] truth. Prayer is primarily a wartime walkie-talkie for the mission of the church as it advances against the powers of darkness and unbelief. It is not surprising that prayer malfunctions when we try to make it a domestic intercom to call upstairs for more comforts in the den.
[00:04:35] God has given us prayer as a wartime walkie talkie so that we can call headquarters for everything we need as the kingdom of Christ advances in the world. Prayer gives us the significance of frontline forces and gives God the glory of limitless provider. The one who gives the
[00:04:52] power gets the glory. Does that sound like your prayer life? Or did you just bless the food and thank God for the day? You see, we are at war. My goal in this service and over the next nine
[00:05:07] weeks. For the next nine weeks, we're going to talk practically about the pieces of the armor of God and how we practically prepare for our enemies so that we can fight or stand firm against
[00:05:19] it. But my goal today is that you would wake up and realize the reality that we are at war and the enemy is trying to take us out. And the Bible has given us very clear instruction, very clear
[00:05:36] instruction on how to stand against the enemy. The Bible makes it very clear that there's an unseen world that affects our seen world. And if you're like, well, I don't know if I believe that.
[00:05:47] Yeah, you do, you dummy. You use hand sanitizer, don't you? I know you do. Regardless of what you believe about demons and the demonic, you save some dirty people's hands at church, which you're surrounded by plenty of them. And what does mama do? She brings out something like, put this on
[00:06:01] your hands, baby. Why? Because you believe there's a world you can't see that can make you sick.
[00:06:08] Well, it's even more real than hand sanitizer.
[00:06:10] There's a war and there's an enemy.
[00:06:13] Ephesians chapter six, beginning in verse 10, this is gonna be our anchor text for the next nine weeks, starts out this way.
[00:06:21] Finally, finally, and you know Paul's a preacher because even though he says finally, he still goes on for a whole nother chapter, but finally, here's what Paul has done.
[00:06:31] Paul has laid out the gospel in the book of Ephesians.
[00:06:35] I taught on it a bunch of years ago.
[00:06:36] You can go back and catch up on it if you want to.
[00:06:38] the first three chapters of the book of Ephesians Paul just lays out the gospel the gospel from above and the gospel on the ground that we are saved by grace through faith and this faith that we have is not even our own it is a gift from God and then chapters four five and
[00:06:54] half of six is how the gospel impacts and impacts our life and so what our life looks like in this world in our family at work and everywhere we go and then after he lays out the gospel now he says
[00:07:07] is finally be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
[00:07:13] Not your might, not your strength.
[00:07:17] You see, I know some of you are pumped right now.
[00:07:19] You charismatic types, you're pumped.
[00:07:20] You're like, finally, spiritual warfare.
[00:07:23] All right, settle down there, hot shot.
[00:07:25] Because sometimes what can happen is people get real excited, too excited about the fight.
[00:07:30] And when you do that, you can get excited about your own strength.
[00:07:34] But you don't have the strength.
[00:07:36] I don't have the strength.
[00:07:37] Our strength is found in the Lord.
[00:07:41] Remember Joshua chapter one.
[00:07:42] Three times in Joshua chapter one, God tells Joshua, be strong and courageous, be strong and courageous, be strong and courageous.
[00:07:49] Why?
[00:07:50] Because Joshua was weak and afraid, weak and afraid, weak and afraid.
[00:07:54] Why?
[00:07:54] Because Joshua was one of the spies.
[00:07:56] He went over to the land of Canaan and he saw these brothers over there, they're like giants and we're like grasshoppers and I'm sure he's a little nervous.
[00:08:04] And God does not say, be strong and courageous, Joshua, because you're good enough, you're smart enough, and doggone it, people like you.
[00:08:10] Nope, he's not like you're a skittle and you're a snowflake and just be you, Joshua.
[00:08:15] Nope, you gonna get you killed, Joshua.
[00:08:19] He says, be strong and courageous for I am with you.
[00:08:24] So our strength is in the Lord.
[00:08:27] Now hear this, man, especially.
[00:08:30] I mean, I think we are more aware of this today than we were two days ago.
[00:08:35] Politics is not the ultimate answer.
[00:08:38] It is a way to fight.
[00:08:39] We're going to talk about it in a few weeks.
[00:08:40] It's going to make everybody nervous.
[00:08:42] It is a part of the fight, but it is not our primary battle.
[00:08:47] Politics is not the ultimate answer.
[00:08:49] And listen, man, I know my crowd.
[00:08:53] If I wanted to get us all hyped up right now, it would make me feel better, man.
[00:08:57] I could put my Sean Hannity hat on here and say some things, and you guys would get all worked up.
[00:09:01] And here's how I know.
[00:09:02] The loudest ovation we've ever had in this place is that one time I told the Yankees, hey, listen, don't change here to there or we'll cast you out like a demon.
[00:09:10] And you clap so loud, everybody almost moved back to New York, okay?
[00:09:13] So don't clap right now, don't do it.
[00:09:15] If you're a Yankee, welcome.
[00:09:17] We're moving for all people, even you, okay?
[00:09:21] Just know where you are.
[00:09:24] So be very, very careful.
[00:09:28] You see, if you're more concerned about who will spend the next four years in the White House than who will spend eternity in heaven, then your primary allegiance may not be to the kingdom of God, but the kingdom of his world.
[00:09:42] Now it matters, those things matter for sure.
[00:09:46] A great way to prepare for this sermon is you ought to read the book, The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis.
[00:09:51] And if you hadn't read it in a while, you should pick it back up.
[00:09:54] And if you want to skip to chapter 23, chapter 23 is about how the devil uses politics to confuse believers.
[00:10:03] And basically what he says in there is he says if you can get your, so the screwtape letters is conversations between two demons.
[00:10:13] There's a senior demon training a junior demon on how to cripple this Christian that is his project.
[00:10:19] And he begins to tell him, if you can just get your project to see his faith as a means to a political end, then he'll begin to see Jesus, not as his Lord, but as his lobbyist.
[00:10:32] And Jesus will not be your lobbyist.
[00:10:33] That's not the game that he plays.
[00:10:36] That Jesus is our Lord and our Savior.
[00:10:39] So how are we to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might?
[00:10:43] Well, in just a second, he's gonna tell us the way we do that is we put on the full armor of God.
[00:10:49] We put on the full armor of God.
[00:10:52] And a couple of things that I want you to know in order for you to understand this spiritual warfare, you can never lose sight of these two things.
[00:11:02] Number one, you gotta know that the battle has already been won.
[00:11:07] It's already been won.
[00:11:08] I know it doesn't feel like it in this moment, but the battle has already been won.
[00:11:12] For you Bible nerds, if you go back to the Old Testament, me, you remember, when was David anointed king of Israel? He was anointed king of Israel on the battlefield against Goliath. He was a little kid. He was not appointed king of Israel for a couple
[00:11:27] of decades. And the point between his anointing and his appointing, the only thing that would describe that period was conflict and war. The same thing is true of you and me. The moment you surrendered your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, you were anointed co-heir with Christ
[00:11:43] and seated with him at the right hand of God.
[00:11:45] But you won't actually experience that in its full until either he returns to take us home or you breathe your last.
[00:11:52] And what will describe your life between that moment of justification and that moment of glorification is nothing but conflict and war.
[00:12:01] But the good news is, I've read to the end of the book, we're actually gonna read the end of the book today, and we win.
[00:12:07] I've told you this before, man.
[00:12:08] I'm a Bulldogs fan and I record all the games and I erase the losses.
[00:12:16] So yesterday, I watched the 2022 National Championship where we beat Alabama.
[00:12:24] Sometimes we'll watch it at home.
[00:12:25] I don't like to watch stories with plots and stuff.
[00:12:28] The devil's in charge of them anyway, and I can't stay awake, and my family won't wait on me to watch the next one, so they cheat, and they won't keep watching.
[00:12:34] It makes me mad.
[00:12:35] So all I do is watch hunting shows and old football games.
[00:12:40] And my daughter, Reagan, I love her, but she can't keep up when football season is, even though she was a cheerleader.
[00:12:46] Don't worry about that.
[00:12:46] So she'll come walking in and I'm watching the game and we throw an interception.
[00:12:53] She's like, oh no, daddy.
[00:12:55] And I go, do not let your heart be troubled.
[00:12:59] Why?
[00:12:59] Because I already know how it ends.
[00:13:02] I already know the end.
[00:13:06] And when you read the book of Revelation, you shouldn't be afraid.
[00:13:09] You should be encouraged because in the end we win.
[00:13:12] So you gotta know that before we get into this war.
[00:13:15] And secondly, this is so big.
[00:13:17] We talked about it quite a bit in the Galatians series.
[00:13:19] is if you fight the devil in the dark, you're gonna get your butt kicked.
[00:13:23] If you fight the devil in the dark, you're gonna get your butt kicked.
[00:13:26] If you wanna learn to be free, you gotta learn to be honest, because listen to me, darkness is his domain.
[00:13:32] We're gonna talk about it in a second, but a lot happens between Genesis 1-1 and Genesis 1-2.
[00:13:38] Genesis 1-1, it says, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
[00:13:41] Period, space.
[00:13:43] Verse two, and the earth was formless and darkness hovered over it.
[00:13:48] Where'd darkness come from?
[00:13:49] Because the Bible says that Jesus is light and in him there is no darkness at all.
[00:13:53] Well, what happened is, we'll talk about it in a little while, is that when the enemy was thrown out of heaven, darkness entered this experience that we know as life.
[00:14:02] And so if you try to fight the devil in the dark, that is his domain and you're getting his tail kicked.
[00:14:08] And what the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ invites us to do is to take those things that we're ashamed of, that we're embarrassed of, that sin that constantly wars at us, and instead of trying to fight him in the dark,
[00:14:21] you drag that addiction, you drag that sin, you drag that shame, you drag that condemnation out into the light and watch Jesus be victorious over the thing that he's already defeated.
[00:14:33] That's what I'm talking about.
[00:14:37] So if you wanna be free, you better be honest.
[00:14:39] And I am believing that in this series, there's some demonic strongholds that are gonna be broken down forever.
[00:14:46] There's gonna be some addictions that are gonna be broken.
[00:14:49] There's gonna be some shame that's gonna be put to death.
[00:14:51] there's going to be forgiveness that's going to be offered there's going to be some people and your childhood trauma and abuse is not going to define you anymore there's going to be some loneliness that's going to be taken care of there's going to be some people that have been
[00:15:06] tormented in their mental health and suicidal ideation and God is going to free you there's going to be general generational sin that's going to be broken forever because we are at war and Jesus is our victor now let me give you a warning there's two ways we could go there's at least two
[00:15:24] ways we could go wrong here is if we try to operate in either of the two extremes we're in trouble one is there's some people that don't even believe in the demonic and if listen man if you
[00:15:40] don't even believe that there is a devil you're dumb and done I'm just telling you you know what a you ever been sucker you probably have not okay yeah you know what a sucker punch is a sucker
[00:15:52] punch is when people start punching and you don't realize punching is starting you're the sucker so if you don't know you have an enemy and he's trying to steal kill and destroy you're gonna get sucker punched as you know I love to hunt September 9th deer season opens in Georgia
[00:16:09] I love it I love to hunt it's great you should hunt as long as you do it legal and ethical it's awesome okay I do find it always I kind of find it a little bit funny that they call it a sport
[00:16:19] because the other team doesn't know the game started.
[00:16:25] That's why I always win.
[00:16:27] I might not always get one, but they never get me.
[00:16:30] Why?
[00:16:30] Because they didn't hear that the kickoff had already started.
[00:16:34] Well, if you don't realize you have an enemy that's trying to steal, kill, and destroy everything in your life, then you're gonna be like that deer, man.
[00:16:40] You're helpless.
[00:16:43] The other extreme is if you think there's a devil behind every bush.
[00:16:48] Like you couldn't get your hair right this morning and you think it's demon-possessed.
[00:16:52] No, man, it's humidity.
[00:16:56] Relax.
[00:16:57] Or sometimes people will come to me, pastor, the devil's attacking my finances.
[00:17:01] Okay, tell me what's going on.
[00:17:03] I'm buying stuff with money I don't have.
[00:17:05] Well, I got good news and bad news.
[00:17:07] The devil's attacking you and you the devil because you're dumb, quit being dumb.
[00:17:12] So we don't wanna think there's no devil and we don't wanna just be looking for him everywhere.
[00:17:19] We just wanna be aware that there's a war so that we're ready.
[00:17:24] So verse 11, he says, put on the whole armor of God.
[00:17:28] Listen, you prepare for war before the fight.
[00:17:31] It's like if you play football, you put the pads on, you don't wait till the kickoff when they're running at you.
[00:17:37] You're like, I should probably get dressed.
[00:17:38] No, you prepare for war before the fight.
[00:17:41] Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
[00:17:45] That word stand is a military term.
[00:17:48] It doesn't mean just stand there.
[00:17:49] It means take a stand, stand up, stand your ground.
[00:17:53] It's fighting words.
[00:17:54] that you must fight or take a stand against the schemes of the devil.
[00:18:02] That word schemes is methodea.
[00:18:05] You see, the enemy is a liar.
[00:18:08] He's really good at it.
[00:18:10] He's been lying since the beginning of time.
[00:18:12] And his primary scheme to take us out is not, you can't think old school World War I or II.
[00:18:19] You can't, this isn't the force.
[00:18:21] This isn't like good guys versus bad guys and everybody lines up and just faces off.
[00:18:25] that's not how the enemy works man it's a dirty war campaign it's a misinformation campaign why because he's already defeated and he can't stand to toe to toe with God or the church so if if the
[00:18:38] devil manifests himself in your bedroom today and with like the pitchfork and the horns and the whole I'm the devil then kick his tail man says my house under the blood of Jesus get out you don't belong
[00:18:47] here because you can stand firm against the devil and his evil schemes but the devil knows that he can't do a full frontal attack against his enemy, God, because he'll lose. It would be like, imagine
[00:18:57] this. Imagine if Canada attacked us, like they're all mounted up with their horses and their funny coats. That's adorable. We just kill them in like one second. So the devil can't take that kind of
[00:19:10] attack against God. So what he does is a misinformation campaign of the mind. He gets in between your ears he begins to lie because that is who he is you see when God creates the
[00:19:26] enemy corrupts that's what he does God creates and the enemy corrupts and the lies of the enemy he always wants you to question at least three things the word of God the worth of God and the
[00:19:36] work of God he wants you to question the word of God did God really say in the moment you begin to look at God's word especially really it's the parts you don't like and be like God how are you
[00:19:47] going to tell me how to date? You don't even have a dating app. What do you know about dating a lot? He wants you to question the worth of God. Does he really love you? If he loved you,
[00:19:58] he'd take better care of you. Is he worthy of your worship if he's not going to give you what you want? And he wants you to question the work of God. Did it really count for you? Maybe God made
[00:20:09] a mistake when he made you. And I know when he died on the cross, he accounted for all those good church people. But did it really count for you? When you begin to have any of those thoughts,
[00:20:17] It is because the enemy is attacking you between the ears.
[00:20:22] Not only does he attack us personally, but the enemy uses systems of this world to try to corrupt what God has created.
[00:20:30] 1 John 2, 15, I talk about it all the time.
[00:20:32] It says this, do not love the world or the things of this world.
[00:20:35] If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
[00:20:40] For all that is in the world, now the ESV uses the word desire, the King James uses the word lust, I like that one better.
[00:20:47] All that is in the world is this, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world. You see, the Bible tells us that we're not supposed to love the world or
[00:20:58] the things of this world. And then if you've been around Bible study, you're like, but wait, John 3, 3, 16 says for God so loved the world. So which one is it? In John 3, 16, what God is
[00:21:06] saying is God loves the people of this world and not the systems and values. And what we are supposed to do as believers in Jesus is reject the systems and values of this world and love
[00:21:18] the people of this world that Jesus died for and what many many many many people that claim to be Christians do is invert those two and we adopt the systems and values of this world we do money
[00:21:29] sex and power just like this world and then stiff arm people that God died on the cross for and we reject those people because they don't align with us it's the opposite of what God has called us to
[00:21:42] do verse 12 for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood that that word wrestle is not a great translation. I mean, it is what the word means technically, but this isn't like wrestle in a
[00:21:56] wrestling match. This isn't like a sport, like two, take down. No, no, no, no. This is the kind of wrestling like people in a war are trying to kill one another. Think about that saving private
[00:22:11] Ryan in that scene upstairs where the German shoves the knife through the American's chest.
[00:22:15] It's more like that kind of wrestling match.
[00:22:18] We'll even adopt this kind of terminology to be in a disciple group.
[00:22:21] I'm just really wrestling with something.
[00:22:24] By wrestling, you mean the thing that snuck into your house in the middle of the night and has a stranglehold around your neck and doesn't wanna let go until you stop breathing?
[00:22:31] That kind of wrestle?
[00:22:32] Okay, that's what we are talking about here.
[00:22:36] He says, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood.
[00:22:40] We have an enemy.
[00:22:42] It's not other people.
[00:22:45] We have an enemy.
[00:22:46] It's not other people.
[00:22:48] Our enemy is not a politician or a political party.
[00:22:51] And you're like, well, it seems like it is.
[00:22:53] I'm not saying people and systems aren't used by them, but they are not our enemy.
[00:22:57] It's not your boss.
[00:22:58] Our enemy is not Putin.
[00:22:59] It's not the media.
[00:23:00] It's not people at Big Tech or Big Pharma.
[00:23:02] Your enemy is not your ex.
[00:23:04] And you're like, pastor, you hadn't met my ex.
[00:23:07] She stares at puppies and laser beams come out and catch them on fire and they die and go to hell, okay?
[00:23:11] I'm not saying you didn't choose poorly.
[00:23:13] That's not what I'm saying.
[00:23:15] I'm just telling you, people can be an instrument of Satan.
[00:23:20] However, our battle is not against people.
[00:23:23] It's not against flesh and blood.
[00:23:24] And by the way, our heroes aren't flesh and blood either.
[00:23:27] Our hero is Jesus alone, and he alone has the answer.
[00:23:32] Now, many systems and people can be used by the enemy, but our enemy is not flesh and blood.
[00:23:39] He says, for we do not fight or wrestle against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
[00:23:51] Sounds like rank and file, an order of military to me, which it is.
[00:23:58] Now, it's typically about this point where people will say, hold on one second, pastor.
[00:24:02] You mean to tell me in 2024, in the day of AI and the internet, you believe in demons?
[00:24:10] Uh-huh, I sure do.
[00:24:13] And if you don't, oh, help you.
[00:24:15] I believe in him because Jesus believed in him.
[00:24:18] So either you gotta think he was crazy or a liar.
[00:24:20] I think he's Lord.
[00:24:22] And have you lived in this world?
[00:24:27] How do you explain the things that are going on?
[00:24:29] Have you ever met somebody with an addiction and they don't wanna do this anymore, but there's this thing like it's not them that keeps dragging them down a road and they know if they keep going down that road,
[00:24:38] it's going to kill them.
[00:24:39] And no matter how many promises they make and no matter how many meetings they go to, it is dragging them to their demise.
[00:24:45] what do you call that yeah the bible will call that demonic war what do you call the evil in this world how do you explain human trafficking the mutilation and genocide of a generation and you realize man read the bible this stuff isn't new it's same demons different days
[00:25:05] we have been at war against demonic forces since genesis 3 until today so because of that verse 13 therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand that's fighting words
[00:25:20] in the able day and having done all to stand firm there it is again it's four times in this one passage that word stand means fight that we as a church are called to fight now there's typically
[00:25:33] been three responses from the church two and a half of them are wrong some churches just go well we're gonna flee like the word the world's so nasty and so dirty and so gross we're just gonna
[00:25:46] come way over here and create our own little world. Like I grew up kind of in the extreme Baptist world. Man, we were good at that. Like we didn't shop where they shop. Like you couldn't go
[00:25:57] to Abercrombie and Fitch. They had scantily clad girls in their catalog centers. So our shirt said a breadcrumb and fish. Got them. We had our own music. When I got saved, somebody literally hand me a pamphlet, and it said, if you like Run DMC, which I did, then you'll love Carmen.
[00:26:24] What? If you don't know who Carmen is, bless you, okay? Bless you. Have you heard my Adidas versus the Champion? I'm telling you, it ain't the same, man. He was an old Italian man doing
[00:26:38] spoken word over bebops from his keyboard. It's not good. The extreme of this is the group I like to make fun of the most, the Amish. They were like, hey, man, no, we're out. We're going to
[00:26:50] create our own world. And listen, do you know why I like to make fun of the Amish? They never complain about it. I've received zero emails from the Amish. Now, I get them from you like, hey,
[00:26:58] Zebs, I know a guy. Okay, cool, man. They got good butter and furniture and denim. I'm pro-denim, no problem. But the problem is, Jesus said, Jesus actually prayed, God, don't remove him from the world. You can't fight the battle if you ain't on the front lines. You know, there's some people
[00:27:15] that think it'd be real sexy to be a monk or live that monastic life and just separate yourself from the world. The problem with that is the Great Commission. How are you going to take the
[00:27:24] good news of the gospel to the edges of the earth if you ain't on this earth? So don't flee. That is not our answer. We don't run away from culture. The other extreme is some churches just follow
[00:27:34] the world. This is the progressive liberal church, which actually isn't a church. It's not a sad thing that churches close their doors. Read the book of Revelation. Jesus says, you move away from my Bible, you move away from me, I'm going to take the lampstand out. Praise God. We'll take your
[00:27:49] building, by the way, if any of you liberal churches want to, we need room. Because what happens is there's what is in our world and there's what's ought to be in the Bible. Instead of changing what is to what ought to be, they just take a highlighter and some scissors and
[00:28:07] clip out the things they don't like and match the Bible to this world. You can do that. You're just not a Christian. And then there's the fighters. We're supposed to fight, but we don't fight like
[00:28:16] the world fights. Remember Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane? He was going to fight like the world fights, pulls out a sword, chops a dude's ear off. Jesus is like, no, that's not the game
[00:28:24] we play. We fight differently. We're called to fight, but we fight differently. Second Corinthians 10, four says it this way, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. Do you know the most influential time in the history, the 2000
[00:28:42] year history of the church, the biggest impact that the church ever had on this society was not from a position of power, but a countercultural revolution that valued Christ and people more than the values of this world. A couple of generations after the life, death, resurrection
[00:29:01] of Jesus, a couple of generations after the apostles have died, there are Christians in the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was the biggest empire in the history of humanity, covered more ground. It ruled more people for longer than any other society. And they were
[00:29:21] trying to stop the spread of Christianity and they couldn't stop it. In 130 AD, there's this letter from a guy named Methodes to Diognetus. And neither of them are Christians, but the guy in charge is saying, what is going on in Rome with these Christians? And so Methodes goes and
[00:29:43] he studies them and he writes this letter from antiquity. These are not Christians. Here's what he says, for the Christians are distinguished from other men, neither by country nor language nor the customs which they observe. In other words, there was a radical diversity among Christians.
[00:30:02] It wasn't just like one race or one people group. It was people from every tribe, every tongue, every nation, and they were primarily identified by Jesus's blood, not the culture that they grew up in they were radically diverse for they neither inhabit the cities of their own or employ a
[00:30:20] peculiar form of speech nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity the course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men nor do they like some proclaim themselves to be advocates of any merely human doctrines
[00:30:35] but inhabiting greek as well as barbarian cities the core according as the lot of each of them has determined and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing food and the rest of their ordinary conduct.
[00:30:46] In other words, there was no like Christian uniform.
[00:30:50] They just lived in the culture that they lived in.
[00:30:53] And yet they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life.
[00:30:58] They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners.
[00:31:02] As citizens, they share in all things with others.
[00:31:05] They were radically generous.
[00:31:07] They were radically diverse.
[00:31:09] They were radically generous.
[00:31:10] And yet endure all things as if foreigners.
[00:31:13] Every foreign land is to them as their native country and every land of their birth as a land of strangers.
[00:31:19] They did not believe they were gonna spend forever here, but their citizenship was of another kingdom.
[00:31:24] They marry, as do all others.
[00:31:27] They beget children, but they do not destroy their offspring.
[00:31:30] They were radically pro-life.
[00:31:33] In the first couple of centuries in Rome, if you didn't want that baby, after mama had it, you would just lay it out on the rocks and expose it to death.
[00:31:40] It was their version of abortion.
[00:31:42] and Christians would come along and scoop up these aborted babies and raise them as their own.
[00:31:48] They were radically pro-life.
[00:31:50] They have a common table and not a common bed.
[00:31:54] They had a sexual ethic that was completely different than their culture.
[00:31:58] Listen, man, in 130 AD in Rome, a woman couldn't even be a citizen.
[00:32:01] She was known as a property of her husband.
[00:32:03] Imagine the Christian having a conversation about being married with a Roman citizen.
[00:32:07] He's like, what do you mean you only sleep with her?
[00:32:10] He's like, not only do I only sleep with her, but I love her like Christ loved the church.
[00:32:14] And the Roman would be like, no, no, no, man, she's property to be owned.
[00:32:16] He's like, no, dude, that's my bride to be loved and cherished and served.
[00:32:21] You don't get it.
[00:32:22] They had a radical sexual ethic.
[00:32:25] They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh.
[00:32:27] They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven.
[00:32:31] They knew that Jesus was their king.
[00:32:33] They obey the prescribed laws and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives.
[00:32:38] They love all men and are persecuted by all.
[00:32:41] They are unknown and condemned.
[00:32:43] They are put to death and restored to life.
[00:32:45] They are poor yet make many rich.
[00:32:48] They are in lack of all things and yet abound in all.
[00:32:50] Two times it mentions what they do with their money.
[00:32:54] They didn't think my money was mine.
[00:32:57] They leveraged their money for the kingdom of God.
[00:33:00] They are dishonored and yet in every dishonor they are glorified.
[00:33:03] They are evil spoken of and yet are justified.
[00:33:06] They are reviled and blessed.
[00:33:07] They are insulted and repay the insult with honor.
[00:33:10] they do good yet are punished as evildoers when punished they rejoice as if quickened into life they are assailed by the jews as foreigners and are persecuted by the greeks yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred and a few generations after this letter
[00:33:29] rome was toppled by christianity not by sword not by might not by any kind of human power but by Christians living out the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
[00:33:44] It was a counter-cultural revolution.
[00:33:47] Church, we are called to fight, but the ways that God has called us to fight are just different.
[00:33:54] And so we're gonna spend nine weeks on how to do that.
[00:33:58] But I need you to know that we're not just, again, our battle is not against flesh and blood.
[00:34:01] We have an enemy.
[00:34:03] And our enemy is an actual, personal entity.
[00:34:09] And it's better to know your enemy in order to be prepared to fight him.
[00:34:13] Our enemy has been at this from the very beginning, the very beginning of time and space.
[00:34:18] If you go back to Genesis chapter three, this is the first time in human history that our enemy shows up.
[00:34:24] It says this, now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
[00:34:29] And he said to the woman, did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?
[00:34:36] And the reality is that's not actually what God said.
[00:34:39] If you go back earlier when God tells Adam, first of all, he gives him a couple things to do, subdue and cultivate, be fruitful and multiply. And even the command about the tree in the middle of the garden, if you look at it in the New International Version, it says this,
[00:34:54] you are free to eat from every tree in the garden except don't eat from that tree. God doesn't start with a don't. He starts with you are free. But the enemy comes in and lies and tricks you and
[00:35:06] wants you to think that we serve a God that's trying to keep something from you. And the woman said to the servant, we may eat from the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, you shall
[00:35:15] not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it lest you die. This is classic legalism. God didn't say anything about touching it. If you're a
[00:35:24] legalist, here's your problem. You don't trust that God's word is enough. You think he needs your input to fulfill it. That's the problem. But the serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be open and you will be like God knowing
[00:35:39] good and evil. See everything God creates, the enemy tries to corrupt and he is still trying to corrupt us at every single level. He is trying to corrupt you personally, like he wants to kill you.
[00:35:50] He's trying to corrupt your relationship with God by getting you to distrust God's word.
[00:35:54] He's trying to corrupt your family, the building block of any society. He's trying to corrupt the church. He's trying to corrupt our culture. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.
[00:36:06] He's trying to corrupt our country. This is what he does. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food. That's lust of the flesh. She says, I deserve to feel a certain way. And that it was
[00:36:19] a delight to the eyes. That's lust of the eyes. She didn't even know she wanted it until she saw it. And the tree was to be desired to make one wise. That's the pride of life. I want to be like
[00:36:29] God. She took of his fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was, what does it say, fellas? Yeah, you're just as quiet as Adam. That's the problem. We're going to spend all next
[00:36:42] year prepping men to be godly men because when men lead and love well everybody flourishes this is the problem husbands jot this down if a serpent who is the devil tries to talk to your
[00:36:55] wife stomp on his head don't just stand there like an idiot then the eyes of both of them were open and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and they made themselves
[00:37:08] loincloths it's a terrible trade they go from naked and unashamed and again the older i get the more miraculous that idea is to me.
[00:37:18] They go from naked and unashamed to full of shame and hiding.
[00:37:22] It's not a good trade.
[00:37:24] Now listen, the reason that the devil wants to destroy us is because God has placed his love on us and he hates God.
[00:37:34] And not only does he hate God, he hates us because we have been created in his image and the throne that the enemy wants to sit on has been reserved for the children of God
[00:37:45] and that makes him hate us even more.
[00:37:48] But I got some really, really good news about this war from the beginning.
[00:37:54] That God comes in and because of his justice, he casts out Adam and Eve because sin separates.
[00:37:59] But in his mercy, he makes coverings for Adam and Eve that are better than their fig leaf covering.
[00:38:05] And not only that, he begins to share with them the perfect plan.
[00:38:09] He says to Eve, I'm gonna put enmity between your offspring and this enemy, this serpent, this Satan, this devil.
[00:38:14] and one day one is gonna show up from me through your line and this enemy is gonna bruise his heel and he's gonna get his head crushed.
[00:38:24] That from the beginning, Jesus was going to show up not only to save us from sin but also to crush the enemy and make all things new.
[00:38:34] But what we find out in the scriptures is that this did not begin at the beginning of human history.
[00:38:39] This began before human history even began.
[00:38:43] This is our enemy.
[00:38:44] I want you to know who the enemy is.
[00:38:46] The reason he's defeatable in your own personal life is because he's predictable and he's been doing the same thing for a long time.
[00:38:52] In Luke chapter 10, after Jesus sent out the 72 to share the gospel and cast out demons and do miracles, they all came back and they're doing a little report.
[00:39:01] In Luke 10, 17, the Bible says the 72 returned with joy saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in our name.
[00:39:08] See, we are fighting from victory.
[00:39:11] And Jesus said to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
[00:39:16] Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall hurt you.
[00:39:23] Now before you get too excited about the exorcism, nevertheless do not rejoice in this that the spirits are subject to you but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
[00:39:35] In other words, Jesus says keep this into perspective.
[00:39:38] You don't get pumped about the spiritual warfare, you get pumped about eternity.
[00:39:42] then everything we do is to leave that one more into the presence of Jesus.
[00:39:51] You see, there's a big difference between Satan and the devil.
[00:39:56] Satan was cast down like lightning, and Jesus comes on a rescue mission to make all things new.
[00:40:04] The Old Testament describes these events in at least two places.
[00:40:08] One is Ezekiel 28.
[00:40:09] You should write these down so that you can study them later.
[00:40:11] I'm gonna go real fast.
[00:40:12] but this is this is what Jesus was talking about in Luke 10 17 Ezekiel 28 beginning of verse 11 says this moreover the word of the Lord came to me son of man raised a lamentation over the king
[00:40:24] of Tyre and say to him thus says the Lord God now listen the king of Tyre was an actual man but this is commentary on the the enemy who was pulling the strings of this guy that thought he was in charge
[00:40:37] it says you were the signet of perfection here's why we know that the Bible's not talking about this king entire because this guy was not perfect but the enemy who was created as an angel this is
[00:40:49] the description of how he was created and what happened to him says you were the signet of perfection full of wisdom and perfect and beauty you were in eden the garden of god every precious
[00:41:01] stone was your covering sardius topaz diamond barrel onyx jasper sapphire emerald carbuncle sounds beautiful and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings the way the king james says that is the workmanship of your timbrels and pipes in other words the enemy
[00:41:20] the one that will become the enemy was created as a cherub or an angel and according to i think it's job 38 the angel's job was to worship and this this guardian cherub was created it sounds
[00:41:32] like that he was actually made up of gemstones and his appendages were pipe organs and tambourines and his job was to lead worship for the heavenly hosts.
[00:41:45] And the reason that he's made of these gemstones is because God is light.
[00:41:50] He has no source of light.
[00:41:51] The enemy has no source of light, but he can refract and reflect the light.
[00:41:56] And so he would stand before the angelic hosts and lead in worship.
[00:42:00] God was the source of light and he was supposed to point people to their creator, their king and their God.
[00:42:06] And then one day he got tired of being looked through and he wanted to be looked to and pride took over and that's what happened on the day you were created they were prepared you were an anointed guardian cherub I placed you you were on the holy
[00:42:23] mountain of God in the midst of the stones of fire you walked you were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you he got tired of being looked
[00:42:33] through wanted to be looked to in the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence in your midst and you sinned. So I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God. This is
[00:42:45] what Jesus saw, the enemy being cast down like lightning. And I destroyed you, O guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was proud because of your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground. I exposed
[00:43:01] you before the kings to feast their eyes on you. By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your trade you profaned your sanctuaries so I brought fire out from your midst it consumed you I turned you to ashes on earth in the sight of all who saw you all who know you
[00:43:18] among the peoples are appalled at you you have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever and this is when darkness enters our world Isaiah 14 describes the heart of Lucifer and it's for the
[00:43:36] first time in the Bible, we get his name. Isaiah 14 says it this way. How are you falling from heaven? Oh, day star. That's the Hebrews, day star. The Vulgate is the Latin translation of the Hebrew
[00:43:48] and the Latin translation of this word is the name Lucifer. It says, how have you fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of dawn? How were you cut down to the ground? You who laid the nations low,
[00:44:00] you said in your heart, he's going to make five statements from his heart that are all about him.
[00:44:04] this is the enemy I will ascend to heaven above the stars of God I will set my throne on high I will sit on the mount of the assembly in the far reaches of the north I will ascend above the
[00:44:15] heavens of the clouds and meets one more I will make myself like the most high but you are brought down to shield to the far reaches of the pit and from that day until now this being that the Bible
[00:44:31] gives all kinds of names to, Lucifer, the devil, Satan, the accuser of the brethren, serpent, dragon. He's only been trying to kill, steal, and destroy you. Why? Because God loves you, and he hates what God loves, and he is jealous of you, because if you were in Christ, you were
[00:44:49] seated at the right hand of God the Father, and he wants your seat, and it has not been given to him. But Jesus came. He didn't fall, but Jesus came. He didn't come with pride, but he humbled
[00:45:04] himself, made himself nothing and obedient, even all the way to the cross that he could rescue and redeem you and I and drag us out of the kingdom of darkness and transfer us to the kingdom of light.
[00:45:16] So while we are at war, it may seem like it's getting worse and worse and worse and worse.
[00:45:20] and personally your war may be feeling like you were underwater and it is out of control but I am here to tell you we win.
[00:45:32] That the battle has already been won.
[00:45:35] A part of the reason God gave the church the book of Revelation is not to make you nervous at night scared that you could get left behind.
[00:45:42] It's not the point.
[00:45:44] The point is so that we would know how the story ends and we win.
[00:45:51] and what we find several times in the book of Revelation is touch points between eternity and chronology, between what's happening in the heavenlies and what's happening here on earth.
[00:46:02] I know you remember every sermon I've ever given so I could just reference it and you're like, oh yeah, I remember that.
[00:46:06] But if you'll remember our Christmas series, one of the things we talked about is from Revelation chapter 12 and we talked about Christmas from a heavenly or eternal perspective.
[00:46:16] In Revelation chapter 12, verses one through six talks about that.
[00:46:19] there's a woman with stars and she's having a baby and a red dragon's trying to eat it.
[00:46:24] Meanwhile, here on earth, there's Mary and Joseph and Jesus and Herod's trying to kill all the babies and they're running to Egypt.
[00:46:31] That's what's happening.
[00:46:32] Just after that, the book says this.
[00:46:34] Now, war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon and the dragon and his angels fought back.
[00:46:41] See, there is a war, an actual war.
[00:46:44] But he was defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.
[00:46:48] And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent who was called the devil and Satan and the deceiver of the whole world, he was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him.
[00:46:58] And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, now the salvation and power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come down.
[00:47:05] For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down.
[00:47:09] He accuses them day and night before our God.
[00:47:12] And they, the church, believers, have conquered him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they love not their lives even unto death.
[00:47:20] Therefore, rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them, but woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath because he knows that his time is short.
[00:47:33] And then for the next eight chapters, it describes this war.
[00:47:39] And then when you get to the end of time in history as we know it, when you get to the end of the Bible, spoiler alert, we win.
[00:47:50] We win.
[00:47:52] So even if you're getting beat down, you ain't gonna be crushed.
[00:47:56] I would ask you to close your eyes and hear this, but you'll fall asleep, so keep them wide open.
[00:48:00] Revelation 27 says this.
[00:48:02] And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle.
[00:48:13] Their number is like the sand of the sea, and they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven
[00:48:22] and consumed them.
[00:48:23] And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beasts and the false prophets were and they will be tormented day and night forever.
[00:48:33] Here's the whole point of our spiritual warfare.
[00:48:36] We are at war, fact.
[00:48:39] Jesus has won, fact.
[00:48:41] Therefore, we fight from victory, not for victory.
[00:48:47] So church, this whole series, I dare you to come with me, to get suited up, to get prepared to go to war for the glory of God and the redemption of his people.
[00:48:58] And sadly, for a long time, man, the church, particularly the American church, has been asleep at the wheel.
[00:49:07] We've just been asleep at the wheel.
[00:49:11] And maybe individually you feel like you are being tormented.
[00:49:13] Well, your church is coming alongside of you so that you can experience deliverance, so that you can experience freedom, so that you can experience everything that God has for you and what he has for you is the abundant life
[00:49:24] that Christ purchased for you at the cross.
[00:49:27] But we will not lazily and sleepily find ourself in that place.
[00:49:31] We have to fight against the enemy.
[00:49:34] And here's what's at stake.
[00:49:36] When it's all said and done, here's what we have to look forward to, Revelation 20, 21.
[00:49:41] And then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.
[00:49:45] And the sea was no more.
[00:49:47] And I saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
[00:49:53] and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying behold the dwelling place of God is with man he will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as
[00:50:07] their God he will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more neither neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away and he who was seated on the throne said behold I am making all things new also he said
[00:50:25] write this down for these words are trustworthy and true and he said to me it is done literally it is finished I am the alpha the omega the beginning and the end to the thirsty I will
[00:50:35] give from the spring of the water of life without payment the one who conquers will have this heritage I will be his God and he will be my son church we win we win but the problem is the
[00:50:48] problem is the church has been asleep the church has never operated well from a place of power and honestly because of because of the fateful people and the and the and the and the christian
[00:51:03] injection that happening at the beginning of our country has protected us from a long for a long time those days are over man we are at war but listen we were made for this day here's what i
[00:51:14] need us to know as a church we were made for this i know it's dark outside but the darker the night the lighter the brighter the gospel shines in this world there's no more casual christianity
[00:51:23] There's no place for it.
[00:51:25] And if you live the way of Jesus, you're gonna get beat up a little.
[00:51:29] Get ready for the fight.
[00:51:30] In fact, if you haven't got a bloody nose lately because of the way that you're living, it could be because you're not living a counter-cultural life.
[00:51:36] You're just kind of going with the flow and you wanna pay attention by whose rules you're playing.
[00:51:42] So church, my hope and my prayer in this series is that we would wake up, that we would not be lulled to sleep by the comforts of this world, that we would be more concerned
[00:51:52] about where our friends and loved ones would spend eternity than where we're going to spend our next vacation. That we would not be lulled to sleep by just scrolling about nothing from people that we don't even know. That we would
[00:52:03] be rescued from spending more money on stuff that we don't need and that we would pour our resources into the advancement of the kingdom of God. That we would be rescued from treating other people
[00:52:14] like the enemy and that we would get focused on knowing that our battle is not against flesh and blood. Dr. Piper says this also in the same book, Don't Waste Your Life. He says, I am wired by
[00:52:25] nature to love the same toys that the world loves. I start to fit in. I start to love what others love. I start to call earth home. And before you know it, I am calling luxuries needs and I'm using
[00:52:35] money just the way unbelievers do. I begin to forget the war. I don't think much about people perishing missions and unreached people groups drop out of my mind. And I stopped dreaming about the triumphs of grace. And I sink into a secular mindset that looks first to what man can do,
[00:52:49] not what God can do it is a terrible sickness and I thank God for those who have forced me again and again toward a war wartime mindset my hope is to force you to realize that we are at war and my
[00:53:05] hope and my prayer for you is this that finally we would be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might that we would put on the whole armor of God that we would be able to fight against the
[00:53:15] schemes of the devil because our fight is not against flesh and blood but it's against the rulers and authorities and against the cosmic powers over this present darkness is against spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places
[00:53:26] and may you and I take up the whole armor of God that we would be able to fight or withstand the evil day and having done all to stand firm, we would know that our victory is in Jesus
[00:53:36] and we fight from victory, not for victory.
[00:53:40] And you say, well, how do we fight?
[00:53:41] Well, again, next eight weeks we're gonna teach you but it starts right now.
[00:53:44] The way we end every service is with kingdom warfare.
[00:53:50] As you know, we don't pass plates around I'm trying to get you to give anything to God.
[00:53:54] What you gonna give God?
[00:53:54] It's all his anyway.
[00:53:56] But it's this time in the service we invite you to bring your first and best.
[00:54:02] And then we dedicate this to God and say, God, would you use it to fight back the kingdom of darkness?
[00:54:08] It's why we plant campuses.
[00:54:09] It's why we launch churches.
[00:54:10] It's why we send missionaries.
[00:54:12] It's why we do all the ministries that we do.
[00:54:15] And a part of the war is looking at the enemy and saying, I'm not trusting this.
[00:54:19] I'm using this.
[00:54:19] I'm bringing it to the Lord.
[00:54:21] And I'm gonna be more excited about what he can do with it than what I can do with it.
[00:54:25] That's why we bring our first in mass.
[00:54:29] And we sing.
[00:54:31] I've told you this before, but worship is war.
[00:54:34] Every time you worship God in spirit and truth, you are looking at that Lucifer, that devil, that prideful one that wanted to sit on the throne and be like, Scooter, you ain't on the throne.
[00:54:45] You ain't worthy of my worship, but he is.
[00:54:49] Worship is war.
[00:54:50] You need some breakthroughs in your life?
[00:54:52] You got addiction problems and mental health problems?
[00:54:54] Try worshiping.
[00:54:56] I'm just telling you, it's got to be a part of the equation for your health.
[00:55:01] And we pray because without prayer, this is all an exercise in futility.
[00:55:06] It's just me yelling at you for an hour and you get all pumped up and forgetting in a second.
[00:55:13] Because of the cross of Jesus Christ, we get to walk into the commander of the king's army, stand before the king of kings and the Lord of lords and make our requests known to him.
[00:55:25] And if it's important to you, it's important to him.
[00:55:28] And so we pray.
[00:55:30] So if you were ready to stand firm, would you please stand to your feet?
[00:55:34] And we're gonna sing and we're gonna bring and we're gonna pray like we are at war because we are.
[00:55:40] Our good and gracious heavenly Father God, we love you more than anything.
[00:55:43] And Lord, I pray for every man, every woman, every student in here.
[00:55:46] However the enemy and his schemes are coming against them, Lord, I pray they would put on the full armor of God.
[00:55:53] God, I pray that we can go to war because you came on our behalf and rescued us and you have put to death once and for all our enemy and though it feels like and it seems like he has control over our lives he doesn't
[00:56:06] he's a dog on a chain and he only gets to be around until you send him to the hell that you created for him and God it is for freedom that we have been set free so Lord I pray that no one
[00:56:17] would fight the devil in the dark they would drag that stuff they would drag those temptations they would drag that sin they would drag it here to the altar to the feet of the cross of Jesus Christ
[00:56:28] and watch you be victorious in our very lives.
[00:56:33] God, I thank you that you sing over us, you delight over us, and you fight for us.
[00:56:40] We pray this in the good, strong name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
[00:56:43] Amen.
[00:56:44] So church, we're gonna sing, we're gonna bring, we're gonna pray, we're gonna fight.
[00:56:48] Let's respond.