Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God
Transcript
Good morning. My name's Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. Do you mind grabbing your Bibles and go to Ephesians chapter 6? We've been walking through the book of Ephesians. We've got this week and next week.
And we'll be moving on to another series. And so we're going to pick up in Ephesians chapter 6, starting in verse 10. One, my great uncle, my dad's uncle, was a minor league baseball player in 1941. And he was pretty good. He was doing well in 1941. He was getting close to and looking like he was going to be called up to the majors.
And then December 7, 1941, the Empire of Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor. On December 8, Franklin Delano Roosevelt stood before a joint session of Congress and declared that he wanted Congress to make it clear that war had begun the day before and that we were officially at war with the Empire of China. And on that same day, my great uncle signed up and joined the Marines. Within a year, he was in the Guadalcanal. And in no uncertain terms, in a moment, the United States was at war and everything changed. For my uncle, for my granddad, for many of your relatives, for our entire nation, we were plunged into war.
And because we were at war, everything was different. And the way we had to approach life and the way that the world would be from then on was different. And as we read this text today, we're going to see that Paul, to the Ephesian church, says, we are at war. He declares the same way that Franklin Roosevelt did. We are at war. We have an enemy and we have to act and think and work and live accordingly.
So we're going to pick up in verse 10. Let's pray before we do that. And let's see what Paul is talking about and how we can learn and grow from that. God, we ask that your word would speak powerfully today. And that your Holy Spirit would be actively present. That we might feel you at work.
We pray specifically that as we learn about and speak about our enemy, that we would approach the subject appropriately, not flippantly, in giving all the glory to you. In Jesus' name, amen. So Paul, as he's finishing up his letter to the church in Ephesus, in verse 10 of chapter 6, he says, finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God. Okay. So he says, be strong and put on the armor.
Get geared up. Now, if I burst into your house and said, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, I need you to eat a good meal tonight. I need you to go to bed early. I need you to be well rested tomorrow. I need you to wake up early. I need you to put on some good clothes, some shoes you can run in or some boots or something.
I need you to load every weapon you have. And I don't care if that's just a stick. I need you to sharpen it up and be ready in the morning. Now, your immediate next question is, why? Like, Paul just looked at us and said, you need to be strong and you need to be wearing armor. And I think our next question is, but why?
Like, what are we needing to be strong wearing armor for? It feels like this just got intense. And it did. So let's see what he says. Verse 11, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. So Paul said, you need to be prepared to stand against the devil.
That we actually, as Christians, believe that there is a devil, a real spiritual being that is at work for harm, at work for evil. He keeps going. He says, you may be able to stand against the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. So he says, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood.
That word wrestle means hand to hand combat to the death. It is if you were in a fight and you got all the way down to the end, no one had a weapon anymore, but somebody is still going to walk away and somebody is going to be laying in the dirt. That's the word he uses there. So it's not a kind word. It's not play wrestling. He's saying our battle, our war, our fight to the death is not with flesh and blood.
When you became a Christian, if you are a Christian, when you became a Christian, you were not commissioned to what Christians don't band together to get a bunch of guns and go conquer nations and make them follow Christ. That's not what happened. We were transitioned from a kingdom of darkness that belongs to the enemy. The devil into a transferred into the kingdom of Christ, into his beloved son, a kingdom of light that we might live out our days following Jesus in his kingdom. And it is a spiritual war, a spiritual battle that we have been called into. That's what Paul just said.
Now we believe that this is true. That we fight a cosmic battle against cosmic, powerful enemies. That's the story of the Bible. That God created the world and he created heavenly beings. And he made them powerful and beautiful and gave them jobs and poured a lot of himself into them. A lot of goodness.
And that there was a spiritual being that rebelled against God, that led other angels astray. And that he has been actively at work to fight against God since before creation. We know that when we were created and God created the earth and Adam and Eve and he placed them in a garden that a serpent came along and began to whisper to Eve. To try to sow dissension and make her doubt God. And that we're told is that serpent is the devil. That that is Satan.
That he's a real being who has been at work since the beginning of humanity to draw us away from God. We're told in the book of Revelation that he's a great dragon that actively opposes God and his people. We see him at work throughout the scriptures. I think one of the questions that immediately arises, and we don't have full answers to this, but if God created the devil, how is he evil? Why would God create something that was evil? But see, God created humans and he created angelic beings and he poured a lot of good things in them.
And the more God put in you, the more beauty he put in you, the more strength he put in you, the more capable of good or evil you are because we have free choice. Let me give you an example. My brother has a saltwater fish tank. And it's pretty cool. It's got saltwater fish in it, if you didn't pick up on that. And here's the thing.
If there's a fish in there, if you looked at his fish tank and you picked the kindest, most loyal, most loving fish in that fish tank that defended my brother's honor and looked forward to seeing his distorted face through the glass every day. And then you took the other fish, the most evil, conniving, sneaky fish in the tank, who hates my brother and his evil, distorted, creepy face, and actively seeks to destroy my brother. The difference between those two fish is very, very small. I think this one can bite this one. That's about it. They're not staging an uprising.
They're fish. They can only be so good or so bad because they're not so much poured into them. They're not that big. They're not that smart. Now, he has two dogs. If one of them was perfectly loyal and one of them was sneaky and evil and was attempting to overthrow the household, now I'd actually watch this movie.
This sounds interesting. Because there's a little more to a dog. They're a little smarter. They can bite. They can do these different things. And we know that when God pours a lot into someone, into a creature, it has more capabilities for good and for evil.
That the more intelligent a human, the more in place they have, the more power they have, the more money they have, the more evil they can do. And so he took a spiritual being and he poured a lot of power and a lot of energy and a lot of beauty and that spiritual being decided that he wanted to rebel against God, that he wanted to fight against God, and he's very powerful. He's existed for a long time and he's actively at work for evil in the world. Now, I realize that some of you want to go. Time out. Real quick.
Did you for real just say the devil was real? In 2018, in the United States? You know they just said that stuff because they didn't know science, right? Like someone would be sick and they would just be like, he's puking out demons. And we now know, no, he's got strep. He's going to be okay if we give him some medicine.
Like there's, some of us want to say, like, I just don't, like are you really saying there's like a red person who you can't see, but he's red, and he's got like a pitchfork and like comes along to you and is like, you should drink more alcohol. Is that what we're talking about? This exists? It's actually a lot worse and a lot more scary and a lot more fearful than that. And I will say that we've gathered this morning because we believe, and I would say maybe you're here because you believe or you want to believe or you're interested in the idea that there is a good spiritual being that you can't see, that loves you and is at work for your good.
And it's not that far-fetched or unreasonable to think that if there are good spiritual beings that we can't see that are working for our good, that there would be evil spiritual beings that are fighting for our harm. C.S. Lewis, who's a thinker from the last century, said there is no neutral ground in the universe. Every square inch, every split second is claimed by God and counterclaimed by Satan. That Satan is at work to lead people away from God, to lead people to hell. The Bible tells us that hell was created for Satan and his demons, and Satan knows his fate, that he will one day be judged for all of his actions and his rebellion against God.
And so he is actively trying to lead as many people astray as possible. One of the things that I've had people say to me on a regular basis when we talk about this stuff, they go, you believe in a real devil? And I'm like, yeah, I believe in a real devil. I believe Satan's real. And they say, okay, well, if he's real, why don't he just show himself? And it's like, because he's not stupid.
Y'all ever watched a horror movie? As soon as they find out there's a ghost, who's the first person that shows up at the house? A priest. He never does well because the horror movie isn't going to end with the priest. Usually. But if Satan showed up at your house and was like, I'm Satan, worship me.
You'd be like, that doesn't sound good. And if you're real, then maybe, let me look, what's this say? Oh, it says Jesus wins. Let me follow him. And he might immediately make a whole bunch of people run to Christ rather than being fine with heading to hell and not knowing it. The truth is, there are a lot of people who are going to hell and they're going to hell because they're very comfortable.
They have enough money. They're enjoying life just fine. They don't know they need grace. They haven't seen their sin and the enemy's fine with that. He's playing the long game. You're only here for a little bit and then there's an eternity.
He's fine with you being comfortable now. Everything working on him just fine now. Having no need for Christ now because there's an eternity you'll get to spend in punishment where you are separated from the love of Christ and where you don't get to enjoy all the good things that Jesus died for. We have an actual enemy who is actively at work to destroy, to harm. So he says this, verse 13.
I'm going to read 12 again. He says, For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. So we know they have force. We know that they have power. We know that they have authority. We know that they rule and we know that they're evil and that we're in a death match with them.
Therefore, because that's true, take up the whole armor of God. So he's saying completely cover yourself with what he's about to talk about. That we would be completely covered with the armor of God. That we would take all of this together. That you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand firm. So that was verse 13.
Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand firm. I want to talk about that phrase, the evil day. I think it means this general time where evil is at work. I also think it means specific times when you are under attack. that you would actually be able to stand firm when the enemy begins to attack you. See, if you believe, if you're a Christian in the room and you believe basic Christian doctrine, you believe that God created the world good and that the enemy came in and led us astray into sin. And therefore, all humanity had fallen away from God and deserves because we joined the rebellion with Satan to have his same fate.
To be cast into hell for our unwillingness to love and follow God who deserves all love and worship. But that God loved us enough that he did not leave us there but he came in the person of Christ that we might know him and that we might have our sin paid for. That if you believe that, that you've placed your faith in Jesus because you knew you were going to go to hell, you knew that you were going to pay for your sin and you knew that there was no way that you could be good enough or holy enough or beautiful enough to stand before him and say, judge me on my account, I'm great. But that you knew you would stand before him and that he would see all that was vile and sick and twisted in you and that you would have to be held accountable for your rebellion against him.
So you placed your faith in Christ that he might die for you and that he might rise for you and that you might be clothed in him. If you believe that, then you signed on in the midst of this conflict because you were in the midst of this conflict. If you and I joined the military, we went to basic training. We had some people yell at us. We had them teach us the schemes of the enemy. We had them give us weapons that were designed to harm others.
We had them teach us how to fight. We had them teach us how to swim, how to handle emotional, mental stress while they shouted at us and almost drowned us. And then they said, okay, time for y'all to go. You're headed to Afghanistan. And we showed up and we went on our first patrol wearing our helmets, riding in our tank or our Humvee or whatever. And we rode around and then we came back and you and I came back and we're just in a tizzy.
We're flustered, you guys. Our little hearts are pounding. And we said, we need to talk to the commander. And we just bust up in his office or whatever he's got and we say, hey, excuse me, sir, buddy. We need to talk, right? Right, we need to talk.
We just went on patrol like you told us. And there are people out there, I'm not kidding. Don't forget my kid. No, they shot at us with missed rockets and guns. And we got the distinct impression that they did not like us. And I'm sorry.
This is not what we signed up for. We would like to go home. Now, your commanding officer would look at you like bugs had just crawled out of your ears because there's something wrong with you. How on earth had you not picked up on that's what was going on? And one of the problems is that we as Christians, specifically Western Christians, have this idea that spiritual realm stuff doesn't affect us, it has nothing to do with us, that we signed on for something different. That we have no category whatsoever for being attacked.
It's bizarre to us. We have no way to handle it. So what we usually do is we medicate or we hide. I believe wholeheartedly because I've been a pastor for long enough and it's not very long but I've been a pastor for long enough to know that some of you are under spiritual attack and you have told no one because you're ashamed and you're believing lies that the enemy's telling you. Because you have no category for a healthy conflict that we've been invited into. Maybe you think you're going crazy.
Maybe you think you need different or new medication. Maybe you think you need to change your scenario. Maybe some of you think it's just your job or it's just you need to move and maybe some of that is true. We're going to get to some of that in a minute. But maybe it's not.
Maybe you have a real enemy who's attacking you. Some of you will acknowledge that it's a real attack and this terrifies you as if something crazy has happened but Paul says it's not crazy. We're in a war. If you lace up your boots and you head out there it's not crazy that they attack. If you actively join a community group and you say we're going to be on a mission to see more people meet Jesus which means that we're going to walk with Jesus to confront the kingdom of darkness and snatch people out of the enemy's hands so that they might know Christ and they might spend an eternity in Him of course you're going to face opposition.
Some of you became a Christian and you suddenly felt like I thought this was going to be good and now life is way worse. It's like right because the enemy was fine with you when you were headed to hell. Now he's got a problem because you've joined the conflict. While you were pretending that you had flat feet and stayed home wasn't a big issue. When you geared up put a helmet on there was a reason for it. You have a real enemy who's actively at work.
So Paul tells us what to do. Verse 14 He says Stand therefore having fastened on the belt of truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness and as shoes for your feet having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. All the words he uses here in the Greek are specific words that have to do with armor. So the belt was a big leather belt that had like leather strap things that covered your thighs so if someone tried to hit you it would block that. The breastplate is a piece of armor that would cover your back and your front and would guard your heart that would shield you from attack and the shoes he uses are a specific type of cleat that had big spikes that were designed for the people who had the largest shields to plant their feet and not go anywhere.
So what he just said was put on truth to guard yourself. Put on righteousness to guard yourself and plant your feet firmly in the gospel. And I think the best way to understand what he means by truth and righteousness and standing firm in the gospel is to think about what he said at the beginning of this when he says be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. That's an interesting command. He says be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might and I think that applies to how we understand the rest of this text which is that you would be strong you would actually be strong but you would be strong in Christ and in his might.
Meaning that the strength is both your strength in truth that you know the truth your strength in righteousness that you repent of sin that you follow Christ your strength in the gospel that you know and believe the gospel but it's also his strength that you're strong in him in his strength. That it's not just that you're honest but it's that you know that Christ is the truth and you've clothed yourself with him. We're going to keep going because he pulls all this together. There's an interesting thing I want us to see. 16. In all circumstances take up.
So he changed he said put on earlier having fastened he uses a verb that means dress and then he changes the verb to pick up to hold. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith. They had two words for shield one was a small one one was a big one this is a big one. You don't necessarily need to know that but I thought our faith is a big shield you might want to know that. With which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. What he means is there were times when they would shoot flaming arrows they had big shields that they would soak with stuff so that even when the arrow stuck in the shield eventually the shield would put it out.
With which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. You have an evil one there is an evil one who shoots at you and you can take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. So what he says is that we would hide behind our faith that our faith is in Christ and that is our shield that we would place on our head salvation to guard our minds and that we would take up in our hand the sword which is the only offensive weapon here the only thing that we can use to actually attack which is the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. That we would know the word that we would know the Bible and that when we were under attack we would wield it but the truth is he says it's the spirit's sword so that when we were under attack we would know the Bible and we would watch the spirit wield it.
That we can use to actually attack which is the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. That we would know the word that we would know the Bible and that when we were under attack we would wield it but the truth is he says it's the spirit's sword so that when we were under attack we would know the Bible and we would watch the spirit wield it. This is what Jesus does when he's tempted by Satan at the beginning of his ministry
He quotes Deuteronomy three times that we would know the Bible run to the Bible when things got bad we would grab the Bible we would read it out loud we would quote it out loud that we would trust in it that we would believe it that we would soak in it and here's what I want you to see in this passage that I think is so encouraging he says stand therefore having fastened on the belt of truth having put on the breastplate of righteousness and as shoes for your feet having put on
The readiness given by the gospel of peace in the circumstances in all circumstances take up the shield of faith the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God there is not an item here that is not connected directly to Christ in the scriptures that Jesus is the truth that he is our righteousness that the gospel is brought to us only through Christ that he is our faith that he is our salvation and that he is the word of God what he says is
That when the enemy attacks stand firmly in Christ and that's the other thing he says he says stand stand withstand that you may be able to stand that our job our role the way we defend ourselves against the enemy is that we plant ourselves in Christ in his gospel and we don't move that this is what guards us against attack because here is the thing we are told in scriptures that the enemy is a liar we are told that he is an accuser we are told that he is an attempter
We are told that he is a murderer so let me tell you things he does he shows up to you and begins to convince you that sin will bring you joy begins to convince you that sin will give you happiness he begins to convince you that the reason God has told you no to that is because he is not really trustworthy he is not really loving he does not want what is good for you what is great for you and he begins to convince you that you ought to chase after something he begins to tempt do this do this
Chase this you will love this this will be good for you you will enjoy this everybody else is doing this he begins to attempt and then he accuses see he has schemes so once he tempts you and once you sin then he says you are not a Christian look at you you make God sick you don't actually believe this he begins to draw you away from if you are in a community group or walking with church family or you have Christian friends he begins to draw you away from them he begins to say you can't be around them acting like this do you know how ashamed
They would be of you if they knew this was true you know none of them struggle with this you know that they will see you are a fake if they find out you are a sinner he is accusing you are the worst he lies nobody loves you nobody wants you around if you quit hanging out with your group you know what it will do if your group does not contact you well they will say see they do not even notice you are there they do not even notice you are gone nobody cares about you
You might as well just go back to your old friends you might as well just go back to your old ways you are not really a Christian anyway this is what brings you most joy anyway and he will go back and forth he will go back and forth on this is what will make you happy and he will use it to accuse you if your group does a good job of contacting you you know what it will say they are just doing that because they have to they don't really care about you or they are just doing that because they are legalistic and you can't show back up now because they are holding it against you that you haven't been there and if you go back and confess this
You can't tell anybody this you are going to have to take this with you to the grave and it is all lies how did you become a Christian in the first place you were the worst and if you don't know that you are not a Christian if you think you became a Christian by being moral and standing in your own righteousness you don't have Christ but if you know that you came saying I am a sinner who needs Jesus because all I have ever done is messed this up and all I can ever bring is what nailed him to the cross and I have nothing to offer and if you show back up to your group and say hey guys I have been running after
All sin that I have ever chased before and I need Jesus again do you know what your group says yes we need Jesus too do you know how good he is do you know how much he forgives do you know how much hope is in him it is a lie nobody loves you a lie Jesus Christ died for you you were purchased with blood we have a breastplate of righteousness when he comes to you and says you did this it pings off our chest you're right I did that but I'm covered by Christ his righteousness for me when I stand before Christ when I stand before God I am clothed in righteousness not my own but Christ
Tell me some more stuff I did that was messed up let's keep talking about how good Jesus is I'm glad you brought this up let's spend the rest of the day praising him what else did I do come on tell me I did do that Jesus is good he forgave me of that that's like a scene from Oh Brother Where Art Thou where he goes and gets baptized and he comes out and he says he forgave me of all my sins even that piggly wiggly I knocked over in Yazoo and looked at him and said I thought you said you were innocent of those charges
Well I lied and that's forgiven too the enemy comes along and tries to accuse you of something if you're in Christ it's forgiven there's hope there's freedom there's truth there's salvation that guards your head you stand firmly behind faith you plant your feet in the gospel and you're not going anywhere and you grab a hold of the Bible because that's what moves and works and fights and defends that you might know the truth and you might know Christ and you might have him dwell in you and you might be saved now his children
This is why so often we say and we so often forget we want to talk about good news before we talk about good advice and we want to talk about Jesus before we talk about you what that means is that when you're in the middle of sin I don't want to come and say well here's a good way to stop looking at porn or here's a good way to I got over my addiction to that here's how like we don't want to do that what we want to come along and say is Jesus is good because the truth is we stand firm in the gospel and in nothing else our hope is Jesus
And nothing else and in the midst of attack we plant ourselves in Christ and his righteousness and his goodness and his salvation and his truth and we don't go anywhere so often even as a pastor I'll be talking to somebody specifically when I've been walking with somebody for a couple weeks or months and something and I just am like I just want something so good to say to them I really want to help them and the truth is what I ought to help them with is knowing the truth knowing their salvation knowing where their righteousness comes from
Knowing that they don't have to go anywhere they can plant in the gospel and they can't be uprooted that I would point them to Christ and nothing else and no one else so we believe this church we believe that we have a real enemy throughout the new testament if you'll read the gospels you'll see that Jesus interacts with demons that demons actively harm people he interacts with sick people and there are actually just sick people there are people that it says are epileptic which means they have seizures all the time and he heals them but then there's also a time
Where he heals a boy who has seizures and the seizures are caused by a demon I know this messes with us but if we believe it and know that this is what we got called into we got to realize this is true that in the new testament we'll see that demons cause mental issues emotional issues self harm issues physical issues and we believe as a church that you're a whole person and if you're struggling with any of this here's what we think let's address the whole person so if you came to me
And said I'm really struggling with depression what we would do is we'd ask some questions because you're a whole person what's your sleep like what's your diet like what's your exercise like because those affect you depression makes you want to do none of the things that would help you not be depressed we ask questions has the sun seen your face in a while but then we also ask if you've seen the sun's face in a while have you gotten in your bible are you looking at Jesus are you running to him we ask questions about I had somebody come in
And say I think maybe I'm dealing with some spiritual warfare every time I try to read my bible I fall asleep I said okay where do you read when do you read your bible at night where do you read your bible in my bed okay we'll pray about the spiritual warfare because it could be that also read it at your kitchen table during the middle of the day and see how that goes or at least read it at your table before you go get in your bed at night you're a whole person we also had someone say when every time I try
To read my bible I'm just overwhelmed at like cussing at Jesus like I just can't think clearly because all I'm doing is cussing Jesus if I close my bible it stops okay let's pray about that because that sounds spiritual so let me just throw some things out there for us to start thinking through this and be aware do you deal with consistent nightmares as a normal part of life that most of these things you have been told by the enemy if he's attacking you to just accept this
This is how life's going to work for you consistent nightmares specifically where you see similar characters that do weird things sometimes you'll wake up and go I think that was a demon in my dream consistent unexplained anxiety anger sadness riding along normal day sad riding along normal day panic attack in a conversation and suddenly your heart rate's way above
Where it should be again we believe you're a whole person this can be caused by different things but we also believe the enemy can do stuff one of the ones that we've seen a good bit of is that you have consistent negative thoughts about you or others sometimes in your brain is not even if you were to be honest and really think about it it's not exactly really even your voice it's inside your head but it's not your voice
It's not really you talking one of the ways to know this is you are telling it to shut up and it won't stop I don't want to think about this stop stop stop shut up and it's accusing you it's saying things to you that maybe your parents said to you it's saying things to you that maybe you heard in middle school it's saying things to you repeatedly about how no one loves you Jesus doesn't love you nobody wants you around
You come in here on a Sunday and it sits and says you don't belong here nobody wants to talk to you you ought to just leave you can hang out with your group you can't even hang out with them because you just feel overwhelmed and feel anxious and as soon as you leave you feel better that sounds like a scheme I'm going to let you be happy as long as you're away from all the things that God loves and all the people that love you and all the things
Where Jesus is at work and I'm going to mess you up when you get around so that I can trick you into thinking the best place for you to be is away from these people that sounds like a scheme and we believe that the enemy actively does that we know that the enemy actively does that and it's not weird and you shouldn't be ashamed here's one of the things that he comes along and does some of you right now are talking yourself out of telling anybody this stuff and here's for a few reasons
Why consistently he comes along and says no no no you're in your head going no no that's not it that's not it the reason I talk bad about myself is just something I've done forever can I just pause you for a second if you sit and consistently say negative things about yourself who cares where it comes from let's stop that it's not true it's not true in the gospel
You have been redeemed you are a beloved child of God you are welcomed into his kingdom you belong to this family you've been purchased with blood you have new blood pumping in your veins you will have an eternal kingdom that you exist with Jesus in don't sit and tell yourself lies some of you are going to say no no no that's not it and you're going to try to defend not having to pray about this
Not having to walk through this some of you are going to think maybe this was spiritual maybe the enemy is at work and you're going to immediately feel this shh that's one I've dealt with something weird will happen I'll get in an argument and suddenly be way too angry I'm a sinner and if I'm going to be something
It's going to be too angry just so y'all know I'm way too angry I'll think I need to pray about this and then I'll immediately think no no shh don't pray about this that'd be weird don't do that and let me tell you something
Holy Spirit has never come along and told me not to pray about something enemy might my sin might but all I know is when that comes along oh it's praying time another one that we've seen is the enemy tells you you're crazy you can't tell anybody this and here's the thing from Grecian
Times on up until like the 1800s doctors used to do a practice called bloodletting which was you would go to them and say you were sick and they would drain some of your blood it was not a helpful practice if you went to a doctor now and they were
Like what's going on I have anxiety and I've been throwing up and they were like hmm probably too much blood let's just pop a hole in you squeeze some of that out and you'll be fine you would say you know what I'm gonna go get a new doctor and check out
Yelp later can you Yelp doctors because I'm gonna I'm going to here's the thing if you're dealing with spiritual issues Jesus is the only doctor there's only hope in Christ if you're under attack by an
Enemy he's the only one who defeats it so you can go to a psychologist you can go to a psychiatrist we recommend some different counseling centers because we believe you're a whole person there may
Be some things you need to talk through but we also want to pray with you we also want to walk with you and what's true in the gospel we also remind you
Who Christ is because the best thing that our culture can give you is medication because they can't do this if they don't have Christ because only Christ does this so here's what Paul says 18 praying at all times in the spirit with all prayer and
Supplication to that end keep alert with all perseverance making supplication for all the saints so what he just said was put on all this armor be very strong and immediately we want to think okay we're going to fight and what's
He say get geared up be really strong put on the armor of God stand firm in the gospel and let's pray one of the quotes from one of the commentaries I was reading on this text said nuclear wars cannot be won with rifles likewise
Satanic wars cannot be won by human energy you can't be strong enough you can't be good enough you can't be smart enough so you stand in Jesus and you pray we ask Jesus to go
To work and can I tell y'all something about Jesus if you read your Bibles something is imminently predominantly beautifully clear Jesus is terrifying let me tell you about someone who's terrifying if you're behind him and he stands in front of you
That's beautiful and amazing and if you're in front of him and he's coming at you it's terrifying there's a story that's told in all three of the synoptic gospels it's in Mark Luke and Matthew Jesus and his disciples show up on a boat and they go to an area where there are tombs it's this whole kind of cliffside
Area near this town where they bury all the people which was weird Jewish people shouldn't be hanging around tombs that's where they land their boat and they show up and while they're there there is a crazy naked guy we're told in the Bible that he's a demon possessed or demon afflicted
One of the questions that comes along with that sometimes is like can they completely take over you like the Bible doesn't really make all that clear we know that as Christians you belong to Jesus so they can't but let me tag
This real quick you ever had a really terrible friend who just when you got around them made you depressed or sad or angry or whatever like every time you hung out with them they just made you feel bad about yourself
It's a bad friend you guys they talked you into doing stupid things it's a bad friend imagine demonic activity sometimes is like having a bad friend you can't see and since you can't see him you don't ever tell him to
Go away but in Christ you can't so anyway there's this guy who's got demonic stuff going on so much so that he is naked he's withdrawn from society he cuts himself with rocks so he's got mental issues he's got social issues he's got self harm issues he cuts
Himself at different times this part of the city has gone out and sent men to get him they capture him they chain him up they put guards on him he breaks the chains and busts out and stays naked and lives in the tombs so he may
Have shackles still on him he may have broken them off we know he's naked we know he cuts himself this guy looks scary they get out of the boat they start walking we're told that he like runs towards Jesus he's yelling he falls on his knees before Jesus now if you're one of the
Disciples you just got off the boat you're in a tomb area maybe you're one of the disciples that was a little bit creeped out by tombs but you weren't going to tell anybody we don't know which one this was or if any of
Maybe they were all really brave but I'm thinking one of them was like I don't really like graveyards you guess there's a naked guy so now you're a little more uncomfortable he's yelling he's running and I think there was this moment where the disciples are like we fighting
We running we can get back on the boat I'm gonna go over here just in case like I'll sneak around him Jesus just stands there he falls on his face before Jesus and he begs for mercy and all
Jesus did was show up Jesus is terrifying at the end of scriptures he rides in on a horse he uses his sword which comes out of his mouth it's the word of God and he slays his enemies at some point the enemy
Satan holds another uprising and we're told he's just snatched up and killed tossed into the lake of fire at some point God's had enough and let me explain something to you the reason why we're
Told in this text to stand firm in Christ is because if we're in Christ nothing can assail us nothing can get to us nothing can harm us we don't stand firm in ourself and our own strength we stand firm in Christ and Jesus is terrifying
But if he's the shield in front of you the helmet on your head he's guarding your heart then you in Christ are terrified and have nothing to fear we have a real enemy who actively works to harm so we remember the gospel
And we pray and if you are struggling with any of this do not get talked out of it grab some Christians and say we need to pray then he's tricked me he's blinded me he's led me astray I've bought into his lies I believe
I'm not welcome I believe I'm not loved he's been telling me lies about y'all and what y'all are thinking that's one of the best ways to know the enemies at work he's reading other
People's thoughts and telling them to you it's nonsense here's why she looked at you like that here's why he said that you were unintentionally they on purpose didn't invite you to that they don't want you around you don't belong here
They wish you weren't here you make everybody uncomfortable nonsense we belong to Jesus so we belong to each other we walk in the hope that he offers Matt's gonna come back up here and we're gonna do that as a group of people
Who stand firm in the gospel that Jesus Christ is our righteousness that he alone is truth and that truth shatters the lies of the
Enemy and we're going to as we belong to him we're going to stand up in a moment we're going to take communion which is that his blood was poured out for us his body was broken for us
And that we hide behind that the enemy has no claim on us Colossians 2 says that the enemy was disarmed when Jesus was nailed to the cross because the only claim he had on us was our sin and Jesus paid for
Our sin the only power he had over us was sin and Jesus paid for our sin and we have an eternal hope in Christ we'd love to talk with you we'd love to set up some pastoral stuff we'd love for you to go
Talk to your group leaders we'd love for you to talk to some other people in your group if they're uncomfortable or don't know quite keep walking until you find somebody who says yeah let's pray about this let's walk
Through this we're gonna take communion Matt's gonna play give us a little bit of time to pray you need to move around the room right now and just grab someone you can go grab him right now and say I just need to not chicken out later I need you to
Pursue me later so that we can talk about some stuff I don't want to talk about it right now but I know if I don't talk about it right now I won't talk about it ever and I need as redeemed victorious
People who are covered by Christ let's pray God we thank you that in Jesus we have nothing to fear but we have everything to be ready and guarded up against that you have given us the full armor and that we might put it on I pray
That we would be a people that know the truth that are clothed in righteousness that are guarded by your salvation that stand firm in our faith in the gospel and that love and know the word of God we ask that the gospel
Would cover us and that we would actively pursue being strong in you that we would cease to be strong and all the other things that we've put a lot of time in and we would start being strong in Christ that we might stand firm and that we might be
Actively a part of your mission to see more people come to know you and the freedom and the hope and the life that's in you so that there would be fewer people that live in Columbia South Carolina that go to hell that Columbia would start
Looking a little more like heaven and heaven would start looking a little more like Columbia that you'd be actively at work in us we pray for those that are struggling with enemy attack that they would not feel weird that they would not believe the lies of the enemy that they're
Crazy or that they can't talk about this that they would cease today to be attacked and not fight back standing firm in the gospel this would be a place of freedom and joy and life because all of those are given to us in Jesus Amen he Oo dangers
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