1 00:00:03,160 --> 00:00:05,840 I feel good today, guys. Yeah. 2 00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:07,280 I thought I'd feel a little nervous. 3 00:00:08,080 --> 00:00:10,120 I don't. I'm not nervous to speak 4 00:00:10,120 --> 00:00:12,520 publicly. I I do that frequently. 5 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:16,480 I used to, as a youth pastor, get really excited when it was 6 00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:20,440 time to preach about spiritual warfare because seems really 7 00:00:20,440 --> 00:00:23,320 exciting to talk about, like the demonic manifestations and the 8 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:24,360 different things that would happen. 9 00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:27,960 What I found is when you're really digging into it and 10 00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:30,000 you're really hearing from the Lord and you're really preaching 11 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:32,920 it, you also open yourself up to different attacks. 12 00:00:33,720 --> 00:00:35,840 The enemy doesn't like it when you expose the tactics. 13 00:00:36,840 --> 00:00:39,560 But we're starting a new series that is called Things Unseen. 14 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:41,440 You need to know that for the rest of August, we're going to 15 00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:44,160 run through this series, but there are going to be two other 16 00:00:44,160 --> 00:00:47,360 significant chunks of teaching on spiritual warfare that 17 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:49,000 happened throughout much of the end of the year. 18 00:00:50,040 --> 00:00:53,200 At the end of this month, I'll be accompanying a a team of 18 19 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:54,920 people to Guatemala on the mission field. 20 00:00:55,160 --> 00:00:57,240 When I come back, we'll be diving deep into the Holy 21 00:00:57,240 --> 00:00:58,720 Spirit. We'll talk about tongues. 22 00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:01,000 We'll talk about the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the gifts of 23 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:02,800 the Holy Spirit, all sorts of things. 24 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:06,240 And then finally, the the last section that we'll cover will be 25 00:01:06,240 --> 00:01:09,840 how to battle and fight against the demonic or the oppressive or 26 00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:12,080 things like this. But we're not going to even talk 27 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:14,640 about that until the Lord has gotten his due and we've talked 28 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:17,240 about his plan and how glorious and powerful he is. 29 00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:20,720 This is coming. As a matter of fact, it's 30 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:23,800 already here. How many of you came up in a 31 00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:26,360 faith tradition that never talked about spiritual warfare? 32 00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:29,840 OK, how many of you came up in a faith tradition that probably 33 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:31,960 talked about spiritual warfare more than it should have? 34 00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:36,520 Because that exists, too. And one of the dangers you can 35 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:38,840 make is to believe there's a demon around every sort of 36 00:01:38,840 --> 00:01:40,960 issue. And another mistake you can make 37 00:01:40,960 --> 00:01:43,000 is to say that there's no real demonic. 38 00:01:43,520 --> 00:01:45,760 I've had people ask before, don't you think that demons is 39 00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:48,520 sort of like a metaphor for like our personal struggles? 40 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:52,400 And I don't know, you just have to read the gospel one time to 41 00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:55,880 know that that's not true. You know, when somebody sees 42 00:01:55,880 --> 00:01:58,280 Jesus approaching and they start screaming out, I know who you 43 00:01:58,280 --> 00:02:00,960 are, Son of God. That's not indicative that 44 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:03,000 somebody is dealing with a mental health crisis. 45 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:07,440 It's just not. These are genuine real 46 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:11,200 manifestations that happened. And as far as we can tell, every 47 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:13,080 single one of them was somebody who believed in God. 48 00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:17,240 So then we assume that there's really nothing that can affect a 49 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:19,840 believer when it comes to spiritual warfare, when it comes 50 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:22,040 to the demonic. And that's a lie. 51 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:25,240 Now, you can't be completely controlled by the demonic if you 52 00:02:25,240 --> 00:02:27,960 belong to the Lord, but you can sure be influenced. 53 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:30,960 And I know this because I've been there. 54 00:02:31,720 --> 00:02:33,080 I've been there. I've been there to be the 55 00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:35,880 recipient of these whispers that make you second guess yourself 56 00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:39,120 and make you go down a dark rabbit hole of anxiety or 57 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:42,360 trepidation. This first series is called 58 00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:44,080 Things Unseen. We're going to talk about things 59 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:47,040 that we can't see. And so over the next 4 weeks 60 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:49,800 we're going to talk about a part of reality that most of us don't 61 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:53,280 think about a whole lot. We spend nearly all of our lives 62 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:55,840 paying attention to the things that we can see and hear and 63 00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:58,440 touch and measure and the stuff that we can explain. 64 00:02:59,640 --> 00:03:01,960 By the end of this series, you will not be able to explain 65 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:03,920 everything that happens biblically or in the spiritual 66 00:03:03,920 --> 00:03:06,680 realm. I don't know all those answers 67 00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:10,200 and I'm not meant to, but you need to know about this. 68 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:13,320 Think about the things that you do notice throughout the, the 69 00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:15,640 the week. You notice things at work, you 70 00:03:15,640 --> 00:03:18,280 notice what's happening in your home most of the time. 71 00:03:19,400 --> 00:03:22,160 You notice what's happening in your body or your bank account. 72 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:24,840 You notice your relationship. You notice the world around you. 73 00:03:25,080 --> 00:03:26,920 How many of y'all have already seen a couple headlines on the 74 00:03:26,920 --> 00:03:28,800 news this morning before you came to church, right? 75 00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:30,800 So we notice a lot of things, don't we? 76 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:34,840 And we start to look for a visible explanation every time 77 00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:38,440 something goes wrong, we want to know who caused it, what broke, 78 00:03:38,600 --> 00:03:40,440 what changed, and what we can do to fix it. 79 00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:43,720 And the Bible describes a world that is so much larger than the 80 00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:46,080 part that you and I can see. I would actually go as far as to 81 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:48,840 tell you I believe the spiritual realm is more diverse, more 82 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:51,800 colorful, and bigger than even what we can see. 83 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:54,000 There's colours that exist that we haven't seen. 84 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:56,480 And I know this to be true because there's colours that 85 00:03:56,480 --> 00:03:58,480 exist that we literally can't see. 86 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:01,040 But a mantis shrimp can see them, and they live in the 87 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:03,680 ocean. There are color spectrums that 88 00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:06,200 your eyeball and my eyeball just can't perceive. 89 00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:07,600 It doesn't mean those colors don't exist. 90 00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:09,400 It means that we can't take them in. 91 00:04:10,240 --> 00:04:14,400 I think that God's spiritual realm is just as diverse, just 92 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:17,640 as robust, if not more so, than this one. 93 00:04:19,079 --> 00:04:22,120 And you and I are unique because the physical realm is made and 94 00:04:22,120 --> 00:04:24,760 the spiritual realm is made. And you guys are a dirt that has 95 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:26,200 the breath of God blown into you. 96 00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:30,120 You're a hybrid, and this is something that the angels long 97 00:04:30,120 --> 00:04:34,200 to look into, that we are this blended spiritual, wrapped in 98 00:04:34,200 --> 00:04:40,760 flesh, created reality. And so we somewhat have a foot 99 00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:42,720 in both of these realms. We just only pay attention to 100 00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:46,240 one of them. So Scripture teaches us that 101 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:48,720 there are spiritual realities that surround our physical 102 00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:50,440 lives. It talks about things like 103 00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:53,800 angels and demons and heavenly beings, sons of God. 104 00:04:54,120 --> 00:04:57,240 It talks about spiritual authorities, the kingdoms of 105 00:04:57,240 --> 00:04:59,840 God, the Kingdom of God. It talks about principalities, 106 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:02,480 and it talks about the Kingdom of darkness. 107 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:04,720 It tells us that there are battles that we can't see. 108 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:08,520 So for Christians, the entire part of our faith that is 109 00:05:08,520 --> 00:05:10,960 spiritual tends to get pushed into a corner. 110 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:13,360 We believe it because of the Bible. 111 00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:15,440 Most Christians, if you talk to them and say, do you think Jesus 112 00:05:15,440 --> 00:05:17,000 really walked on water? We'll say yes. 113 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:19,560 A lot of Christians you grew up in church will say, do you 114 00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:21,440 really believe a donkey talked in the Old Testament? 115 00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:24,120 We'll say yes, because we know what we're supposed to say. 116 00:05:24,240 --> 00:05:26,120 Do you really believe there were demons that got cast out? 117 00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:27,560 Yes. Do you believe a donkey could 118 00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:30,160 talk today? Well, I've known a couple. 119 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:35,760 I'm just kidding. I got to make it a little 120 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:42,120 lighter, OK? Do you really believe that God 121 00:05:42,120 --> 00:05:44,520 could create a moment where somebody could walk on water 122 00:05:44,520 --> 00:05:46,000 again? Do you think that God can 123 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:48,000 miraculously heal somebody in a moment? 124 00:05:48,120 --> 00:05:51,320 We know the right thing to do and to say yes, but we're so out 125 00:05:51,320 --> 00:05:53,560 of touch with the spiritual realm that we don't even expect 126 00:05:53,560 --> 00:05:54,920 it. And there we are hedging our 127 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:57,160 bets again, because we know that God can. 128 00:05:57,160 --> 00:05:59,960 We just don't think He will. So we don't even try. 129 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:02,720 I'm sorry, let me rephrase it. So we don't even participate. 130 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:06,600 We don't even do our part and then wonder why He doesn't show 131 00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:10,480 up the way we want Him to. So I want to show you what I 132 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:12,600 mean. So I needed somebody who would 133 00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:14,400 trust me enough to come and help me for a moment. 134 00:06:15,160 --> 00:06:19,080 And I took somebody who who went through the youth group for many 135 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:21,280 years and I've known for well over a decade. 136 00:06:21,280 --> 00:06:22,920 I'm going to ask Emily to come on up here. 137 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:30,360 Yay. Oh, they're clapping for you and 138 00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:31,680 you really haven't even done anything yet. 139 00:06:33,640 --> 00:06:42,000 You guys are so loving. Here is a blindfold now, Emily. 140 00:06:42,280 --> 00:06:43,360 It's really weird calling you Emily. 141 00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:45,760 Can I just call you Chuck? I call her Chuck because her 142 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:48,640 nickname in the youth group was Chuckles or Up Chuckles, 143 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:50,080 depending on what she had done recently. 144 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:54,720 So you're welcome. What? 145 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:56,040 What did I ask you to do? You asked me. 146 00:06:56,920 --> 00:06:58,400 To put that blindfold. On I asked you to put a 147 00:06:58,400 --> 00:07:00,480 blindfold on. And did I ask anything else of 148 00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:01,840 you? You don't know anything else 149 00:07:01,840 --> 00:07:08,760 that's going to happen to you. Some parts of being a pastor are 150 00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:10,960 really hard. Some of them are just really 151 00:07:10,960 --> 00:07:13,200 fun. We tested this out. 152 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:15,360 This is like it's it completely blocks out the light. 153 00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:16,600 So go ahead. Oh, on me, I thought. 154 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:17,480 I. Was putting. 155 00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:19,200 It on you? Oh, no, not on me. 156 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:24,080 No, this is on you. But you already said yes. 157 00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:25,960 Let your yes be yes and your no be no. 158 00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:34,040 All right, this is good. Can you see any light? 159 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:36,320 Great. So I'm just going to talk to you 160 00:07:36,320 --> 00:07:38,400 for a minute. Scale from one to 10. 161 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:43,200 How would you rank your morning? What's a 7A7A7? 162 00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:46,600 That's decent. OK, so let me ask you, what is 163 00:07:46,600 --> 00:07:51,040 one of your biggest fears? I just want you to expose it in 164 00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:52,000 front of this room full of people. 165 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:56,240 You. Know well hi friends, probably. 166 00:07:56,480 --> 00:07:57,120 Failing. Failing. 167 00:07:57,640 --> 00:08:00,440 You're afraid of failing. Usually just in general or any 168 00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:03,960 specific. What's your favorite color? 169 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:05,840 Yellow. Yellow. 170 00:08:05,840 --> 00:08:07,800 Yes man, you almost never hear that. 171 00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:10,240 What else? What's your favorite food? 172 00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:14,680 Chocolate, Mostly chocolate. That's crazy. 173 00:08:14,680 --> 00:08:17,720 I'm very uncomfortable. Why? 174 00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:19,240 Because every hear. Things moving. 175 00:08:19,640 --> 00:08:20,480 What's moving? I don't. 176 00:08:20,960 --> 00:08:22,320 Know. People, people it. 177 00:08:22,480 --> 00:08:25,200 Sounds like people. Chuck, who was up here? 178 00:08:25,200 --> 00:08:26,880 I don't. Know what you've. 179 00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:29,760 Done, she said. I don't know what you've done. 180 00:08:32,440 --> 00:08:35,240 How many, how many people do you think are on the stage right 181 00:08:35,240 --> 00:08:37,320 now? I don't know. 182 00:08:37,320 --> 00:08:38,799 I know that it's just me and you, but I hear everything. 183 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:42,360 God bless, Oh my God. What do you see a lot? 184 00:08:42,840 --> 00:08:44,880 Of people I was. Correct. 185 00:08:44,880 --> 00:08:52,480 Your own father. Hey, hold on to this. 186 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:54,240 That's a souvenir for you. I hope you sleep better. 187 00:08:54,360 --> 00:08:59,080 Listen, just because you couldn't tell they were here 188 00:08:59,480 --> 00:09:03,680 doesn't mean that they weren't here right Today. 189 00:09:03,720 --> 00:09:05,320 We're talking about the unseen realm. 190 00:09:05,320 --> 00:09:07,800 And you need to understand that just because you can't see them 191 00:09:07,920 --> 00:09:09,400 doesn't mean that they're not there. 192 00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:13,760 I'm telling you right now, God is my witness. 193 00:09:13,800 --> 00:09:15,920 I believe in my heart. This would be controversial to 194 00:09:15,920 --> 00:09:17,920 some of you. I think there are good spirits 195 00:09:17,920 --> 00:09:20,120 in this building. I think there are probably evil 196 00:09:20,120 --> 00:09:23,000 spirits in this building. Thank you, guys. 197 00:09:24,720 --> 00:09:33,660 Thank you. Why would why would I think that 198 00:09:33,660 --> 00:09:34,940 there are evil spirits in this building? 199 00:09:34,940 --> 00:09:38,680 This is a church, well, because in a church, what we do is we 200 00:09:38,680 --> 00:09:41,720 ask for everybody to come. We want you to hear the gospel, 201 00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:44,600 right? And so don't let Hollywood fool 202 00:09:44,600 --> 00:09:45,600 you. You're not going to have like a 203 00:09:45,600 --> 00:09:48,280 ring of salt or sprinkle holy water on a door. 204 00:09:48,280 --> 00:09:50,440 And all of a sudden you do have authority in your home. 205 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:52,160 And we have authority and we pray over this building. 206 00:09:52,400 --> 00:09:54,600 The, we have a, we have a prayer team that meets throughout the 207 00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:55,880 week. And they prayed over me this 208 00:09:55,880 --> 00:09:56,760 week. I'm so grateful. 209 00:09:56,760 --> 00:09:58,600 And one of the things they did was they just prayed and 210 00:09:58,600 --> 00:10:01,120 anointed in advance of this building because they said, we 211 00:10:01,120 --> 00:10:03,160 know that not everybody who comes into a church building has 212 00:10:03,160 --> 00:10:06,160 good motives or good intentions. And this is true. 213 00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:08,680 And Jesus didn't chase them away. 214 00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:12,040 He brought them in. This matters. 215 00:10:12,160 --> 00:10:14,720 If you feel like wherever you go, you're in God's special 216 00:10:14,720 --> 00:10:17,600 little bubble and nothing can touch you, you're wrong. 217 00:10:19,360 --> 00:10:23,520 Those weapons don't prosper, but sometimes they do still come for 218 00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:27,880 you and they do still hit you. Just because Chuck could not see 219 00:10:27,880 --> 00:10:30,920 what was around her, it didn't change the reality. 220 00:10:30,920 --> 00:10:32,360 The reality didn't change either. 221 00:10:32,360 --> 00:10:35,640 When the blindfold came off, all of a sudden she could see 222 00:10:35,640 --> 00:10:37,440 something that she couldn't see before. 223 00:10:38,280 --> 00:10:40,320 So for everybody that when I said I just need you to come up 224 00:10:40,320 --> 00:10:42,440 and be creepy and stand near somebody when I do a thumbs up. 225 00:10:42,440 --> 00:10:43,840 Thank you for being willing to do that. 226 00:10:45,320 --> 00:10:48,160 In just a moment, we're going to be in Second Kings chapter 6. 227 00:10:49,880 --> 00:10:51,320 But I want you to understand this. 228 00:10:52,080 --> 00:10:54,120 You and I are only seeing part of this reality. 229 00:10:54,120 --> 00:10:57,800 And even if you have seen into the spiritual realm before, we 230 00:10:57,800 --> 00:11:00,560 never see all of it. We never get to see all of it. 231 00:11:00,560 --> 00:11:02,760 That's OK. It would make your head explode. 232 00:11:02,760 --> 00:11:05,880 We don't need to see all of it. We need to see what the Lord has 233 00:11:05,880 --> 00:11:09,320 for us. I wonder how often our true 234 00:11:09,320 --> 00:11:12,840 spiritual existence is happening where we're going through life 235 00:11:12,840 --> 00:11:15,320 and we're surrounded by all of these things that are happening 236 00:11:16,040 --> 00:11:18,840 and we don't know it, but then all of a sudden we get into a 237 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:21,840 fight at work and we're like, that guy is a Jack wagon. 238 00:11:22,960 --> 00:11:27,160 Now, that guy might be a Jack wagon, but is he being 239 00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:29,760 influenced by something? Are you being influenced by 240 00:11:29,760 --> 00:11:32,080 something? Is there all of a sudden a 241 00:11:32,080 --> 00:11:35,200 spirit that's coming up and saying, man, he's always going 242 00:11:35,200 --> 00:11:37,560 to be like that man. They're never going to see you. 243 00:11:37,560 --> 00:11:39,160 They're never going to understand what's happening. 244 00:11:39,600 --> 00:11:41,560 You've been married. How long you still fighting over 245 00:11:41,560 --> 00:11:44,080 that? All it takes is just one little 246 00:11:44,080 --> 00:11:47,520 whisper, 1 little doubt and these spirits are all around us 247 00:11:47,720 --> 00:11:49,520 and we'll talk about how to fight back about this. 248 00:11:49,520 --> 00:11:51,920 But today is all about understanding how diverse and 249 00:11:51,920 --> 00:11:55,200 robust the spiritual realm is. I want to be really careful 250 00:11:55,880 --> 00:11:57,120 before I start reading the scripture. 251 00:11:57,120 --> 00:12:00,560 OK, guys, the goal here is not to make you suspicious of 252 00:12:00,560 --> 00:12:01,960 everything. We're not going to start blaming 253 00:12:01,960 --> 00:12:04,000 a demon every time the Wi-Fi stops working. 254 00:12:04,760 --> 00:12:06,800 We're not going to blame a demon every time somebody does 255 00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:09,040 something that bothers us. And we're also not going to 256 00:12:09,040 --> 00:12:12,160 become frightened or superstitious or fascinated with 257 00:12:12,160 --> 00:12:14,600 darkness. But we are also not going to 258 00:12:14,600 --> 00:12:17,400 ignore an entire dimension of reality just because we can't 259 00:12:17,400 --> 00:12:22,440 see it. So what we have right here is a 260 00:12:22,440 --> 00:12:24,760 man who woke up one day believing he understood exactly 261 00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:28,560 what was happening around him. In Second Kings chapter 6, 262 00:12:28,560 --> 00:12:31,840 starting in verse 8, it says this. 263 00:12:32,400 --> 00:12:36,080 When the king of Aram was at war with Israel, he would confer 264 00:12:36,080 --> 00:12:39,360 with his officers and say we will mobilize our forces at such 265 00:12:39,360 --> 00:12:41,680 and such a place. I've been there. 266 00:12:42,160 --> 00:12:45,240 If you have you ever been at such and such a place, lots of 267 00:12:45,240 --> 00:12:48,480 war happens there. But immediately Elisha, the man 268 00:12:48,480 --> 00:12:51,640 of God would warn the king of Israel, do not go near that 269 00:12:51,640 --> 00:12:53,680 place, for the Arameans are planning to mobilize their 270 00:12:53,680 --> 00:12:56,200 troops there. So the king of Israel would send 271 00:12:56,200 --> 00:12:58,280 word to the place indicated by the man of God. 272 00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:01,120 And time and again Elisha warned the king so that he would be on 273 00:13:01,120 --> 00:13:03,400 the alert there. Elisha is getting some spiritual 274 00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:07,320 discernment, some wisdom here, and he's not allowing harm to 275 00:13:07,320 --> 00:13:09,880 befall these people. How is he doing this? 276 00:13:09,880 --> 00:13:12,600 Well, the king of Iran is trying to wage war against Israel, and 277 00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:15,560 every time he comes up with a strategy, Elisha knows exactly 278 00:13:15,560 --> 00:13:18,160 what is going to happen. So what would you assume if you 279 00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:21,680 were the king of Iran? You would assume I got a spy. 280 00:13:22,120 --> 00:13:25,240 You would look for the natural conclusion somebody's leaking 281 00:13:25,240 --> 00:13:26,720 something. We need to figure out what this 282 00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:29,800 is. It never crosses his mind that 283 00:13:29,800 --> 00:13:32,000 God is simply revealing what nobody else can see. 284 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:34,800 So listen to this. In verse 11, the king of Iran 285 00:13:34,800 --> 00:13:37,320 became very upset over this. He called the officers together 286 00:13:37,320 --> 00:13:40,560 and demanded, which of you is the traitor who has been 287 00:13:40,560 --> 00:13:42,480 informing the king of Israel of my plans? 288 00:13:42,880 --> 00:13:45,840 It's not us, my Lord, the king, one of the officers replied. 289 00:13:46,200 --> 00:13:48,640 They said, Elisha, the prophet in Israel tells the king of 290 00:13:48,640 --> 00:13:51,680 Israel even the words you speak in the privacy of your bedroom. 291 00:13:53,040 --> 00:13:54,880 That's a little scary, isn't it? You can tell the truth. 292 00:13:54,880 --> 00:13:58,400 That's all right. Go and find out where he is. 293 00:13:58,400 --> 00:14:01,120 The king commanded so I can send troops to seize him. 294 00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:04,000 And the report came back. Elisha is at Dolphin. 295 00:14:05,040 --> 00:14:08,000 So one night the king of Iram sent a great army with many 296 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:09,560 Chariots and horses to surround the city. 297 00:14:09,560 --> 00:14:12,240 So now the plan has changed. Instead of this repeated attempt 298 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:16,760 to attack Israel, now he's going to go and attack the prophet. 299 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:19,480 Because now he figures out if I take out the prophet, I can then 300 00:14:19,480 --> 00:14:22,760 take out Israel. So that's what he does. 301 00:14:22,760 --> 00:14:24,960 He sends them there. And everything about this 302 00:14:24,960 --> 00:14:27,040 situation would point to an obvious conclusion. 303 00:14:27,040 --> 00:14:28,960 But check this out just verse 15. 304 00:14:29,240 --> 00:14:32,640 When the servant of the man of God, the servant of Elijah, he 305 00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:34,920 got up early the next morning and he went outside and there 306 00:14:34,920 --> 00:14:37,520 were troops and horses and Chariots everywhere. 307 00:14:37,800 --> 00:14:41,440 And he said, oh Sir, what will we do now? 308 00:14:41,960 --> 00:14:43,600 Says the young man cried to Elijah. 309 00:14:43,680 --> 00:14:46,400 It's terrifying. I want you to a picture walking 310 00:14:46,400 --> 00:14:49,480 outside of your your house this morning and all of a sudden 311 00:14:49,560 --> 00:14:53,120 you've got FBI cars and the police and state troopers and I 312 00:14:53,120 --> 00:14:54,840 don't know, a helicopter or whatever. 313 00:14:54,840 --> 00:14:56,560 You've got all the stuff outside of your house. 314 00:14:56,720 --> 00:14:58,040 You wouldn't be like, oh, that's weird. 315 00:14:59,800 --> 00:15:02,240 You'd freeze up. What is happening? 316 00:15:02,960 --> 00:15:06,160 So he goes to his boss. He goes to this prophet Elisha 317 00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:08,400 that he's serving. And Elisha says this in verse 318 00:15:08,400 --> 00:15:09,960 16. Don't be afraid. 319 00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:13,200 He says there are more on our side than on theirs. 320 00:15:14,560 --> 00:15:18,120 And I just got to imagine that his servant goes what? 321 00:15:20,560 --> 00:15:22,920 Where? Look at this. 322 00:15:23,440 --> 00:15:27,000 Then Elijah prayed. Lord, open his eyes and let him 323 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:29,080 see. And the Lord opened the young 324 00:15:29,080 --> 00:15:33,440 man's eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside 325 00:15:33,440 --> 00:15:36,720 around Elijah was filled with horses and Chariots of fire. 326 00:15:36,920 --> 00:15:38,760 Yes, that's where the movie got its name from. 327 00:15:40,040 --> 00:15:43,120 As the army and army advanced towards him, Elijah prayed, 328 00:15:43,120 --> 00:15:46,840 Lord, please make them blind. So the Lord struck them with 329 00:15:46,840 --> 00:15:49,040 blindness as Elijah had asked. Now listen to me. 330 00:15:49,840 --> 00:15:52,440 First of all, you've probably heard this. 331 00:15:52,440 --> 00:15:55,520 The Lord can open doors that no man can shut, and he shuts doors 332 00:15:55,520 --> 00:15:57,800 that no man can open. Well, he does the same thing 333 00:15:57,800 --> 00:15:59,400 with eyes. All of a sudden, now you've got 334 00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:01,560 Elijah and his servant. Now they can see things they 335 00:16:01,560 --> 00:16:05,440 couldn't have seen before. And for this army, he's like, 336 00:16:05,520 --> 00:16:08,320 shut their eyes. The Lord said, got you 337 00:16:08,720 --> 00:16:13,280 paraphrase mine. I don't think due to what we're 338 00:16:13,280 --> 00:16:15,160 going to read next, I don't think that it's a literal 339 00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:17,240 blindness. I think it was a confusion. 340 00:16:17,480 --> 00:16:22,400 OK, so check this out. So he said let them be blind. 341 00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:24,680 It says Elisha went out and he told them you've come the wrong 342 00:16:24,680 --> 00:16:26,200 way. This isn't the right city. 343 00:16:26,360 --> 00:16:28,440 Follow me and I'll take you to the man you're looking for. 344 00:16:28,440 --> 00:16:31,360 And then he led them to the city of Samaria, which is in Israel. 345 00:16:31,680 --> 00:16:35,320 So as soon as they had entered Samaria, Elisha prayed, Oh, 346 00:16:35,320 --> 00:16:37,840 Lord, now open their eyes and let them see. 347 00:16:38,080 --> 00:16:40,440 And the Lord opened their eyes, and they discovered they were in 348 00:16:40,440 --> 00:16:43,520 the middle of Samaria. Ladies and gentlemen who have 349 00:16:43,520 --> 00:16:46,080 served, I want you to imagine that you're being sent to France 350 00:16:46,760 --> 00:16:48,240 and you're walking around France. 351 00:16:48,240 --> 00:16:51,320 And then all of a sudden, you blink and you go, I think I'm in 352 00:16:51,320 --> 00:16:55,880 Afghanistan, OK? This is what happened to them. 353 00:16:56,720 --> 00:16:59,200 This was a very rude awakening because now they're in enemy 354 00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:02,080 territory. As a matter of fact, when the 355 00:17:02,080 --> 00:17:05,160 king of Israel verse 21 saw them, he shouted to Elisha, My 356 00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:07,200 father, should I kill them? Should I kill them? 357 00:17:07,200 --> 00:17:09,319 He asked twice. He's really excited about this. 358 00:17:10,319 --> 00:17:13,240 Elisha said, of course not. Do we kill prisoners of war, 359 00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:15,839 give them food and drink and send them home again to their 360 00:17:15,839 --> 00:17:18,680 master? This was a power play and the 361 00:17:18,680 --> 00:17:21,119 king made a great feast for them and sent them home to their 362 00:17:21,119 --> 00:17:23,599 master. After that, the Aramean Raiders 363 00:17:23,599 --> 00:17:25,319 stayed away from the land of Israel. 364 00:17:25,560 --> 00:17:28,319 I bet I would have too. I've been like, I want nothing 365 00:17:28,319 --> 00:17:32,680 to do with this again, Elisha responds with one of the 366 00:17:32,680 --> 00:17:34,720 simplest prayers in all of scripture. 367 00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:36,800 He doesn't ask God to move the army. 368 00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:38,520 He doesn't ask him to smite them. 369 00:17:38,680 --> 00:17:41,680 He doesn't ask God to change the circumstances that he's found 370 00:17:41,680 --> 00:17:43,920 himself in. He doesn't even ask God for the 371 00:17:43,920 --> 00:17:48,040 reinforcements. He just prays God open his eyes 372 00:17:48,040 --> 00:17:50,800 and let him see. Let me ask you something. 373 00:17:51,120 --> 00:17:53,960 He sees the armies of the Lord, the Chariots of fire up in the 374 00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:54,840 sky. What did they do? 375 00:17:55,680 --> 00:17:57,040 They didn't come down and battle them. 376 00:17:57,960 --> 00:18:02,760 He saw something that nobody else could see and because of 377 00:18:02,760 --> 00:18:06,880 it, he had confidence. Christians, I want you to start 378 00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:08,440 seeing things that nobody else can see. 379 00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:10,680 And maybe it won't be literal like this, but I want you to see 380 00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:13,360 things and hear things and understand things from the Lord. 381 00:18:13,360 --> 00:18:15,600 That will give you confidence that when the enemy comes 382 00:18:15,600 --> 00:18:18,120 against you, you'll be like, there's way more that's for me 383 00:18:18,120 --> 00:18:21,160 than are against me. I don't know how this is going 384 00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:24,280 to go, but the goal, even that day you can see God in his love 385 00:18:24,280 --> 00:18:25,920 and his mercy. He doesn't even let them kill 386 00:18:25,920 --> 00:18:27,960 this army, this army that's tried to kill them. 387 00:18:28,360 --> 00:18:32,560 He's like, make them dinner, so they make them a feast. 388 00:18:32,560 --> 00:18:34,400 It says they even give them rations. 389 00:18:34,400 --> 00:18:37,200 They gave them a feast. So these guys went back with the 390 00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:40,280 story that not only did we end up in the wrong area, we were 391 00:18:40,280 --> 00:18:41,920 shown mercy. We were fed really well. 392 00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:43,280 They have really good food over there. 393 00:18:43,760 --> 00:18:45,400 I mean, we were taken really good care of. 394 00:18:45,560 --> 00:18:47,680 So now they don't want to come back because they know they're 395 00:18:47,680 --> 00:18:49,520 messing with the Lord. They know that Elisha is not 396 00:18:49,520 --> 00:18:52,040 somebody to mess with. And I'm betting that some of 397 00:18:52,040 --> 00:18:54,520 them kind of like those people that fed them really well. 398 00:18:54,840 --> 00:18:56,840 You really want to make a good impression, feed somebody. 399 00:18:56,840 --> 00:19:00,680 Well, ask me how I know. Let me ask you this before we 400 00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:02,200 move on. What if the greatest thing that 401 00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:04,080 God wants to do in your life isn't to change your 402 00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:07,000 circumstances first? What if He just wants to open 403 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:09,040 your eyes to more than what you can see? 404 00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:13,160 So today I'm going to push you. This is hard, and I'm being 405 00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:14,600 pushed too. So if I'm getting pushed, you're 406 00:19:14,600 --> 00:19:15,880 getting pushed. We're all getting pushed. 407 00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:20,080 OK, the first thing I have to say to you today is this. 408 00:19:20,160 --> 00:19:25,200 Wake up, Wake up. And I mean this from the bottom 409 00:19:25,200 --> 00:19:28,600 of my heart. You have got to wake up the 410 00:19:28,600 --> 00:19:30,440 servant of the Lord. His name, you'll find out in 411 00:19:30,440 --> 00:19:33,800 later stories, his name is Geheza his his problem isn't 412 00:19:33,800 --> 00:19:36,600 that he lacked courage and it wasn't that he didn't love God. 413 00:19:36,920 --> 00:19:40,040 There's many people that are in the the struggle bus of the Lord 414 00:19:40,040 --> 00:19:42,160 and they love God and they are courageous. 415 00:19:42,360 --> 00:19:44,680 And you're normally the people that go to and say, wow, you 416 00:19:44,680 --> 00:19:46,920 overcome everything. Wow, you've survived all of this 417 00:19:46,920 --> 00:19:48,320 stuff. You must be really strong and 418 00:19:48,320 --> 00:19:51,520 you're like, I don't want to be strong, OK? 419 00:19:51,960 --> 00:19:54,640 It had nothing to do with Ghazi's strength or his courage 420 00:19:54,640 --> 00:19:57,640 or his love for God. He didn't even doubt Elisha, his 421 00:19:57,640 --> 00:20:00,120 master. His problem was much simpler 422 00:20:00,120 --> 00:20:01,440 than that. It was this. 423 00:20:01,680 --> 00:20:04,640 He woke up 1 morning believing he could see everything with his 424 00:20:04,640 --> 00:20:07,320 physical eyes that he needed to to understand the story. 425 00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:11,560 Is that not you and I? We wake up and we're like, oh, I 426 00:20:11,560 --> 00:20:14,960 got a lot to do today. And we feel like we understand 427 00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:17,800 it, But the truth is, a lot of us live exactly like Ghazi. 428 00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:20,280 We wake up every morning and we start thinking about our 429 00:20:20,280 --> 00:20:22,920 schedule and our responsibilities and our bills 430 00:20:23,600 --> 00:20:26,720 and our jobs and our families and everything we have to 431 00:20:26,720 --> 00:20:28,160 accomplish before the day is over. 432 00:20:28,160 --> 00:20:32,000 Some of us wouldn't say it out loud, but we feel like if we 433 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:33,480 don't do it, nobody else is going to do it. 434 00:20:33,480 --> 00:20:36,160 So we have to. And then we take on too much and 435 00:20:36,160 --> 00:20:38,120 then blame other people for letting us do it. 436 00:20:40,040 --> 00:20:44,280 It's just very unhealthy. In case you're curious, it can 437 00:20:44,280 --> 00:20:46,360 become very easy to live as though these are the only 438 00:20:46,360 --> 00:20:48,200 realities that exist. And I'm not telling you they're 439 00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:50,720 not important, but I'm just telling you that if you begin 440 00:20:50,720 --> 00:20:53,640 measuring your lives by only what you can see and what you 441 00:20:53,640 --> 00:20:55,280 can touch and explain, you're going to forget. 442 00:20:55,280 --> 00:20:57,800 The Scripture repeatedly reminds you that there is so much more 443 00:20:57,800 --> 00:21:00,320 than what you can see. Think about the ways that we 444 00:21:00,320 --> 00:21:01,960 prepare for danger. I want you to think about what 445 00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:03,840 you do to make sure that you stay safe. 446 00:21:04,240 --> 00:21:06,480 Most of us lock our doors before we go to bed. 447 00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:11,000 I lock my car door three times when I walk away from it. 448 00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:14,440 It's also probably my OCD, but if I do it three times, I'm sure 449 00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:16,520 that at least one of those button pushes has worked. 450 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:20,640 We buy insurance because you never know. 451 00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:23,440 We save for retirement because we never know. 452 00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:26,040 We go to the doctor when something doesn't feel right. 453 00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:27,880 Well, not all of us. Some of us are stubborn. 454 00:21:30,120 --> 00:21:32,560 We teach our children to look both ways before crossing the 455 00:21:32,560 --> 00:21:35,720 street if we let them cross the street. 456 00:21:36,800 --> 00:21:39,400 We understand the importance of preparing for dangers that we 457 00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:42,160 can see. But so many of us give almost no 458 00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:44,480 thought to the spiritual battle that Scripture says is right in 459 00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:47,440 front of us every single day. And most of us don't wake up 460 00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:51,000 expecting temptation. We don't wake up expecting that 461 00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:52,840 the devil's going to do something that deceives us 462 00:21:52,840 --> 00:21:54,760 today. We don't wake up and say, I 463 00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:57,160 wonder how the enemy's going to attack my marriage or my mind or 464 00:21:57,160 --> 00:21:58,920 my witness or even my church today. 465 00:21:59,080 --> 00:22:01,960 We just drift into another day, assuming that everything happens 466 00:22:02,440 --> 00:22:04,360 for some reason that can be explained by what we see in 467 00:22:04,360 --> 00:22:05,400 front of us. But we're going to see this 468 00:22:05,400 --> 00:22:09,040 story from the Gospel of Matthew in Matthew chapter 26. 469 00:22:09,360 --> 00:22:12,680 This is Jesus praying in Gethsemane, right? 470 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:14,880 We're familiar with this. He's sweating blood. 471 00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:17,120 He's crying out to the Father. I just referenced it earlier. 472 00:22:17,120 --> 00:22:21,080 God, if there's any other way, but if not, your will be done, 473 00:22:21,080 --> 00:22:24,840 not mine. Listen, it says in verse 36, 474 00:22:24,920 --> 00:22:27,960 Jesus went with them, his disciples to the olive Grove 475 00:22:27,960 --> 00:22:32,240 called Gethsemane, and he said, sit here while I go over there 476 00:22:32,240 --> 00:22:34,920 to pray. So he took Peter and Zebedee's 477 00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:38,840 two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed. 478 00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:42,040 He told them, my soul is crushed with grief to the point of 479 00:22:42,040 --> 00:22:44,200 death. Stay here and keep watching with 480 00:22:44,200 --> 00:22:45,640 me. Think about one of the most 481 00:22:45,640 --> 00:22:47,840 important people in your life. Should you imagine that? 482 00:22:47,840 --> 00:22:50,880 They say to you, my soul is overwhelmed with grief to the 483 00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:54,320 point of death and they look at you and they say, I need you to 484 00:22:54,320 --> 00:22:56,760 pray with me. What would you do? 485 00:22:58,360 --> 00:23:00,280 Pray with him? That's certainly the right 486 00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:01,440 answer, and I hope that we would. 487 00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:08,120 So what happens here? Jesus goes down a little 488 00:23:08,120 --> 00:23:09,440 farther. He bows with his face to the 489 00:23:09,440 --> 00:23:11,480 ground, praying. My father, if it's possible, let 490 00:23:11,480 --> 00:23:13,400 this cup of suffering be taken away from me. 491 00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:15,800 Yet I want your will to be done, not mine. 492 00:23:16,040 --> 00:23:17,880 You see a difference there? A lot of times we're like, well, 493 00:23:17,880 --> 00:23:19,960 if you can't do what I want, then let your will be done. 494 00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:22,120 He says, I want your will to be done. 495 00:23:23,280 --> 00:23:25,600 Christians, we got to get to the place that we want His will done 496 00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:28,640 in our life so much more than we want our will to be done. 497 00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:31,360 Now a cool little cheat code is this. 498 00:23:31,360 --> 00:23:33,440 The closer you get to the Lord, the more that your will will 499 00:23:33,440 --> 00:23:35,040 become His will. But it takes time. 500 00:23:35,160 --> 00:23:37,560 And this is a refinement process as He takes you from glory to 501 00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:41,360 glory. Now he returns to the disciples 502 00:23:41,360 --> 00:23:44,640 and he finds them asleep. Don't you picture that? 503 00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:47,160 You go into the other room. You're like, hey, are you still 504 00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:50,480 praying for? And they're asleep. 505 00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:52,960 You just said you might feel like you could die. 506 00:23:52,960 --> 00:23:54,440 You're so overwhelmed with grief. 507 00:23:56,200 --> 00:23:58,600 He returns and this is Jesus. He says to Peter, couldn't you 508 00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:01,680 watch with me even one hour? Keep watching. 509 00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:04,120 Pray so that you'll not give into temptation. 510 00:24:04,120 --> 00:24:06,280 For the Spirit is willing, but the body is weak. 511 00:24:07,320 --> 00:24:09,200 I don't know what you live in, but I live in a body. 512 00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:15,200 My body's weak, my spirit can be strengthened over and over 513 00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:18,000 again, but the body is still something that is in the game 514 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:21,720 where this hybrid of spiritual and flesh rolled into one, and 515 00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:24,480 sometimes the weakness of the body plays a part in this. 516 00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:27,840 Now then Jesus left them a second time and prayed. 517 00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:31,040 My Father, if this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, 518 00:24:31,520 --> 00:24:34,040 your will be done. And he returned to them again 519 00:24:34,040 --> 00:24:36,400 and found them sleeping, for they couldn't keep their eyes 520 00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:39,120 open. And he went to pray 1/3 time, 521 00:24:39,400 --> 00:24:42,120 saying the same things again. And as he came to the disciples 522 00:24:42,440 --> 00:24:45,760 this third time that he says, go ahead and sleep, have your rest. 523 00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:50,440 But look, the time has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into 524 00:24:50,440 --> 00:24:51,880 the hands of sinners. Up. 525 00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:54,320 Let's be going. Look, my betrayer is here. 526 00:24:56,920 --> 00:24:59,040 I don't think it's an accident that on the night before the 527 00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:02,480 cross, Jesus doesn't tell his disciples to sharpen their 528 00:25:02,480 --> 00:25:07,920 swords. He doesn't tell them to do 529 00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:09,320 anything other than to stay awake. 530 00:25:09,920 --> 00:25:12,040 He wanted them to be in the loop. 531 00:25:12,040 --> 00:25:14,280 He wanted them to be active. He wanted them to be 532 00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:16,480 participating. He wanted them to be engaged. 533 00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:18,960 And he comes back and he finds them. 534 00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:22,120 What? He's sleeping, He's sleeping. 535 00:25:22,840 --> 00:25:25,600 They're not wicked people. That's not why they're sleeping. 536 00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:28,000 To my knowledge, I don't think evil makes you sleep any better 537 00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:30,640 or worse. They just don't understand the 538 00:25:30,640 --> 00:25:33,680 moment that they're in. I think they understood that 539 00:25:33,680 --> 00:25:35,240 Jesus was overwhelmed with a lot of grief. 540 00:25:35,240 --> 00:25:38,840 I think they were just so used to Jesus fixing things that they 541 00:25:38,840 --> 00:25:42,120 said, well, we're here. They probably, to be honest with 542 00:25:42,120 --> 00:25:44,160 you, I don't have Scripture to prove this, but based on other 543 00:25:44,160 --> 00:25:45,800 conversations I saw, the disciples have. 544 00:25:45,800 --> 00:25:48,280 I bet you Peter, James and John, they just felt really good. 545 00:25:48,880 --> 00:25:50,640 Oh, can't wait to see the rest of the guys tomorrow. 546 00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:53,840 We went praying with Jesus in the garden. 547 00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:55,640 They're going to be so jealous of us. 548 00:25:55,920 --> 00:25:58,480 Yeah, they weren't jealous that they were here to experience 549 00:25:58,480 --> 00:26:01,240 this, but they're sleeping because they don't understand 550 00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:03,760 what's happening. And that is one of the greatest 551 00:26:03,760 --> 00:26:06,120 deceptions, one of the greatest spiritual battles of their lives 552 00:26:06,120 --> 00:26:07,840 was happening feet away from them. 553 00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:11,080 Jesus said watch and pray so you won't enter into temptation. 554 00:26:11,080 --> 00:26:12,920 In other words, he's telling them wake up. 555 00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:16,120 There is something that is so important here, and if it felt 556 00:26:16,120 --> 00:26:17,720 important to you, you would stay awake. 557 00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:20,400 There's more happening than you realize. 558 00:26:20,640 --> 00:26:22,640 And I wonder if Jesus would say the same thing to his church 559 00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:26,000 today. By the way, like I said before, 560 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:28,560 you do not need to be suspicious over every inconvenience or 561 00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:30,520 become fascinated with anything that's a cult. 562 00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:33,200 The enemy doesn't have to convince us to stop believing in 563 00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:35,680 Jesus if he can just convince us to stop paying attention. 564 00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:38,080 If we expect that God's going to handle it, He's our fairy 565 00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:39,680 godmother. He's going to take care of it. 566 00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:42,440 We won't participate, we won't be alert, and we are going to be 567 00:26:42,440 --> 00:26:44,760 numb to the things that happen around us, both positive and 568 00:26:44,760 --> 00:26:48,080 negative. The apostle Peter, he understood 569 00:26:48,080 --> 00:26:50,160 that lesson better than anybody. Why? 570 00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:52,800 Because he was there that night. As a matter of fact, the first 571 00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:54,760 time Jesus comes back, it doesn't even say that he wakes 572 00:26:54,760 --> 00:26:56,440 up James and John. It says he woke up Peter. 573 00:26:57,000 --> 00:26:59,000 And he said, could you not even stay awake with me for an hour? 574 00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:03,120 Peter? Peter, Peter's the knucklehead 575 00:27:03,120 --> 00:27:07,680 who said, man, I'd die for you. And he's like, well, actually, 576 00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:10,080 you're going to betray me. But listen to this. 577 00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:13,520 The words of Peter in first Peter chapter 5 verses 8:00 and 578 00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:15,800 9:00. Peter learned from his mistake. 579 00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:22,720 Here's what he writes. Stay alert, he says. 580 00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:25,200 Stay alert and watch out for your great enemy, the devil. 581 00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:28,600 He prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to 582 00:27:28,600 --> 00:27:30,320 devour. So what does he say? 583 00:27:30,320 --> 00:27:33,880 He says stand firm against him and be strong in your faith and 584 00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:36,600 remember that your family of believers all over the world is 585 00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:38,440 going through the same kind of suffering you are. 586 00:27:39,600 --> 00:27:41,640 I'll be honest with the first several years that I read this 587 00:27:41,640 --> 00:27:44,560 scripture as I was going through this, I read it through a filter 588 00:27:44,560 --> 00:27:48,480 of guilt when I said, and don't forget, everybody around the 589 00:27:48,480 --> 00:27:50,120 world is suffering the same way you are. 590 00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:52,120 You know how I heard that? I heard that so many people have 591 00:27:52,120 --> 00:27:53,320 it worse than you. Suck it up. 592 00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:56,360 I don't think that's what Peter's saying. 593 00:27:56,760 --> 00:27:58,960 He's saying be alert. You need prayer. 594 00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:02,040 You need protection. By the way, pray for the other 595 00:28:02,040 --> 00:28:04,280 believers because they're going through the same thing you are. 596 00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:07,320 Don't become obsessed with self. Talked a lot about pride last 597 00:28:07,320 --> 00:28:10,160 week. Do not let yourself become the 598 00:28:10,160 --> 00:28:13,000 main character you're not. Now. 599 00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:16,800 Peter doesn't write those words as a man speaking and trying to 600 00:28:16,800 --> 00:28:18,560 write some theology. He writes them as someone who 601 00:28:18,560 --> 00:28:20,720 knows exactly what happens when you're not paying attention. 602 00:28:21,760 --> 00:28:24,840 For many of us, we would see him write that because we are so 603 00:28:24,840 --> 00:28:27,080 insecure today. Today's culture is probably the 604 00:28:27,080 --> 00:28:30,840 least secure one that has ever existed, and we would probably 605 00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:34,640 read that from Peter and be like Peter says, stay awake, like 606 00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:36,680 he's the guy to be given advice on staying awake. 607 00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:40,840 It was years since that had happened. 608 00:28:41,200 --> 00:28:42,960 Whatever happened to our grace for people? 609 00:28:43,280 --> 00:28:45,440 Whatever happened to the fact that we could look at somebody 610 00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:47,080 and say, I know they went through that, but I know they 611 00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:49,400 can change and they have changed and they are growing. 612 00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:52,600 But for most of us, we would look at that and we would think 613 00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:56,040 otherwise. I think this is where the series 614 00:28:56,040 --> 00:28:58,560 has to begin today because before we talk about angels or 615 00:28:58,560 --> 00:29:01,720 demons or answer the difficult questions about the unseen realm 616 00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:05,400 or discuss our spiritual gifts or demonic oppression, we have 617 00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:07,120 to ask ourselves a personal question. 618 00:29:07,800 --> 00:29:09,480 And I really want you to ask this of yourself. 619 00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:12,760 Are you asleep? Are you ignoring things that are 620 00:29:12,760 --> 00:29:15,880 happening around you because you can't prepare for a battle that 621 00:29:15,880 --> 00:29:16,920 you don't believe that you're in? 622 00:29:17,120 --> 00:29:19,400 And you'll never fight an enemy that you don't believe exists. 623 00:29:19,600 --> 00:29:22,040 Gehezai was not prepared to fight the enemy because he 624 00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:24,040 didn't even know the armies of the Lord that were standing 625 00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:26,440 there for him. My prayer for you is the same 626 00:29:26,440 --> 00:29:28,280 prayer that Elisha prayed for Gehezai. 627 00:29:28,520 --> 00:29:31,960 Lord, would you open their eyes? Lord, would you open my eyes? 628 00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:37,360 One of the strangest things the human body can do is sleepwalk. 629 00:29:37,840 --> 00:29:40,120 Any sleepwalkers here? You don't have to admit it, but 630 00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:44,320 I haven't done it in a while. But yeah, it'll leave you in 631 00:29:44,320 --> 00:29:47,360 some awkward situations. I I remember one time waking up 632 00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:50,840 downstairs where the Christmas tree was when I was growing up. 633 00:29:50,840 --> 00:29:53,640 And I lived upstairs. So somehow I made it down the 634 00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:55,920 stairs. And it's very disorienting to 635 00:29:55,920 --> 00:29:57,440 wake up somewhere that you didn't fall asleep. 636 00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:01,320 But sleepwalkers can do incredibly complex things. 637 00:30:01,320 --> 00:30:03,800 It can be hilarious and unsettling at the same time. 638 00:30:04,320 --> 00:30:06,280 Some can wander into another room and have an entire 639 00:30:06,280 --> 00:30:09,840 conversation with somebody that they don't remember OK. 640 00:30:10,560 --> 00:30:12,520 Others have been known to. This is real. 641 00:30:12,680 --> 00:30:15,760 Other sleepwalkers have been known to make a sandwich while 642 00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:18,440 they're asleep, or to fold laundry. 643 00:30:18,520 --> 00:30:24,280 I can't imagine they do it well but rearrange furniture or even 644 00:30:24,280 --> 00:30:26,920 try to leave the house only to wake up later with no memory of 645 00:30:26,920 --> 00:30:29,040 it. I'm just talking about in the 646 00:30:29,040 --> 00:30:31,120 physical realm, things that we can accomplish while we're 647 00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:34,560 asleep. So think about this on the 648 00:30:34,560 --> 00:30:36,760 spiritual scale. But you should also know this. 649 00:30:36,760 --> 00:30:38,800 There are parents who have found their children sleeping in 650 00:30:38,800 --> 00:30:40,920 closets because they wandered in there in the middle of the 651 00:30:40,920 --> 00:30:42,600 night, and they're scared because they go to the bed and 652 00:30:42,600 --> 00:30:44,840 their child's not there. There are stories of people that 653 00:30:44,840 --> 00:30:47,280 have woken up outside on their front porch, wondering how they 654 00:30:47,280 --> 00:30:50,400 got there. And as amusing as those stories 655 00:30:50,400 --> 00:30:51,800 can be, here are some statistics. 656 00:30:51,800 --> 00:30:54,320 I just want to drive this home. Sleepwalking can also be 657 00:30:54,320 --> 00:30:56,520 dangerous. About 7% of people will 658 00:30:56,520 --> 00:31:01,880 sleepwalk at some point in their lives, but about 17% of adult 659 00:31:01,880 --> 00:31:04,280 sleepwalkers have suffered injuries that have required 660 00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:07,960 medical attention because of sleepwalking, Something that 661 00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:10,560 they did unconsciously, weren't aware that they were doing, and 662 00:31:10,560 --> 00:31:13,000 it caused them damage. Some of them, they walk out to a 663 00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:15,520 street, they're not awake, they're not alert, or they fall 664 00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:18,960 down the stairs or they grab a knife the wrong way because 665 00:31:18,960 --> 00:31:21,640 they're somewhat conscious, but they're somewhat unconscious. 666 00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:24,600 And there's a great inherent danger when you're walking that 667 00:31:24,600 --> 00:31:27,720 line. You and I have a responsibility 668 00:31:27,720 --> 00:31:30,560 because we are spiritual beings inside of a body and there's a 669 00:31:30,560 --> 00:31:34,280 war that's being waged around us and we would prefer to be over 670 00:31:34,280 --> 00:31:36,720 here just on the physical side because we understand it better. 671 00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:39,160 And I get it. A lot of us, we don't want to do 672 00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:41,920 something new because something new is something we might fail 673 00:31:41,920 --> 00:31:44,000 at. Emily, when I asked you earlier, 674 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:45,920 what are you afraid of, and you said failing. 675 00:31:46,320 --> 00:31:47,520 I mean, we talked about this recently. 676 00:31:47,520 --> 00:31:49,920 We're all afraid to fail. And so for some of us, we're 677 00:31:49,920 --> 00:31:52,160 just scared that if we dip our toe into something that's in the 678 00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:55,360 realm of spiritual, spiritual warfare, we're going to fail at 679 00:31:55,360 --> 00:31:58,480 it. You're not the main person 680 00:31:58,480 --> 00:32:00,520 fighting, but you are a participant. 681 00:32:00,920 --> 00:32:04,440 OK, So what does it actually look like to wake up? 682 00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:05,720 I don't want to just tell you to wake up. 683 00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:08,520 I need you to hear me on this. It does not mean trying to find 684 00:32:08,520 --> 00:32:11,440 a demon everywhere you go. Maybe you all like Christian 685 00:32:11,440 --> 00:32:12,760 rock. Anybody ever listen to that band 686 00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:14,240 Demon Hunter? You've heard of them? 687 00:32:14,520 --> 00:32:16,840 Yeah, I'm sure they're great. I don't like, I don't like heavy 688 00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:19,840 rock. I'm sure you can tell by looking 689 00:32:19,840 --> 00:32:20,960 at me. I'm more of a hip hop guy. 690 00:32:21,120 --> 00:32:26,960 But some of you are laughing because you know it's true. 691 00:32:26,960 --> 00:32:28,160 And some of you are like, ha ha ha. 692 00:32:28,160 --> 00:32:29,360 No, you aren't. I am. 693 00:32:31,960 --> 00:32:35,960 But I have always thought, I've always thought that Demon Hunter 694 00:32:36,120 --> 00:32:39,600 is a bad name. There is not one scriptural 695 00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:43,080 mandate for you to hunt for them, not because they're hard 696 00:32:43,080 --> 00:32:46,920 to find, but because every time that you go and you take 697 00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:51,520 something and put it in your own hands, especially something in 698 00:32:51,520 --> 00:32:53,440 the spiritual realm. Somebody I used to work with in 699 00:32:53,440 --> 00:32:56,960 ministry, he told me a story where he got so fired up for the 700 00:32:56,960 --> 00:33:00,360 Lord he walked outside of his college dorm room, shook his 701 00:33:00,360 --> 00:33:03,480 first at the sky, pointed a finger and started rebuking the 702 00:33:03,480 --> 00:33:06,960 principalities and saying I'm coming against you and all it 703 00:33:06,960 --> 00:33:10,200 like he started rebuking them and I said, what happened? 704 00:33:10,240 --> 00:33:13,680 He said, well, he said that night I went to go to sleep and 705 00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:15,800 I heard this weird sound and it sounded like breathing. 706 00:33:15,800 --> 00:33:19,360 And when I opened my eyes, there was this thing that looked like 707 00:33:19,360 --> 00:33:23,040 a, an enormous wolf head that was coming through the wall with 708 00:33:23,040 --> 00:33:24,840 just drool, like coming off of it. 709 00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:25,840 And I was like, what did you say? 710 00:33:25,840 --> 00:33:27,520 And he's like, I couldn't say anything. 711 00:33:27,800 --> 00:33:30,320 I was so scared. When he eventually did, he 712 00:33:30,320 --> 00:33:33,800 rebuked it in the name of Jesus because that's where the real 713 00:33:33,800 --> 00:33:37,480 power is. And it went away, but it was 714 00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:40,360 paralyzing. That's how scary it was to him. 715 00:33:40,800 --> 00:33:43,800 And a lot of times we're like, oh, I'm on God's side, so I'll 716 00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:46,960 go, I'm God's little special agent, right? 717 00:33:48,960 --> 00:33:50,480 You might feel like you're double O 7. 718 00:33:50,480 --> 00:33:56,160 You're more like Perry the Platypus right out there trying 719 00:33:56,160 --> 00:33:59,080 to rebuke things that you got no business dabbling into. 720 00:33:59,600 --> 00:34:02,880 Your job is to be obedient to what God tells you to. 721 00:34:03,040 --> 00:34:06,240 If a principality comes against you, he shall not prosper. 722 00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:09,199 If a demon comes against you, he shall not prosper. 723 00:34:09,320 --> 00:34:11,679 You don't need to insert yourself into places where that 724 00:34:11,679 --> 00:34:15,400 war is not yours, right? By the way, for those of you who 725 00:34:15,400 --> 00:34:18,520 have served, do you respect the people who don't follow orders 726 00:34:18,520 --> 00:34:20,600 and decide to take into their own hands and go and do their 727 00:34:20,600 --> 00:34:21,840 own thing when you're out in the field? 728 00:34:22,560 --> 00:34:24,520 My experience from talking to you is no. 729 00:34:25,800 --> 00:34:27,719 As a matter of fact, you'd probably have choice words about 730 00:34:27,719 --> 00:34:30,199 such a person. This week. 731 00:34:30,199 --> 00:34:33,239 I want to challenge every single one of us online and here this 732 00:34:33,239 --> 00:34:35,840 morning. I want you to start every 733 00:34:35,840 --> 00:34:38,960 morning with one simple prayer before you check your phone. 734 00:34:39,239 --> 00:34:42,080 Don't you dare check your phone before you do this, Before you 735 00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:44,480 turn on the news, before you look at your calendar, before 736 00:34:44,480 --> 00:34:45,760 you look at your first text message. 737 00:34:46,120 --> 00:34:49,520 I want you to pray. Lord, open my eyes today and I 738 00:34:49,520 --> 00:34:53,199 want you to mean it. I want you to mean it because 739 00:34:53,199 --> 00:34:56,360 words have power, but it's the meaning that you put behind the 740 00:34:56,360 --> 00:34:57,800 words. That's why lies are such a 741 00:34:57,800 --> 00:35:00,720 grievous sin when we have intent to deceive somebody that we love 742 00:35:00,720 --> 00:35:02,560 and care about. It's why it's so grievous 743 00:35:02,560 --> 00:35:05,480 because you use a life giving ability that God has given you 744 00:35:05,760 --> 00:35:10,200 and you code it in yourself. Lord, open my eyes today. 745 00:35:10,520 --> 00:35:13,240 I want you to ask Him to help you notice where the Lord is 746 00:35:13,240 --> 00:35:14,880 working in your life. Help. 747 00:35:15,360 --> 00:35:18,040 Just say, help me recognize where the enemy might be trying 748 00:35:18,040 --> 00:35:20,400 to distract me or deceive me or divide me. 749 00:35:21,160 --> 00:35:24,040 Could you imagine on top of that, if everywhere that you 750 00:35:24,040 --> 00:35:27,080 went for this week, this next week, you would also ask, what 751 00:35:27,080 --> 00:35:30,680 can I see right now? In the same way that we had 752 00:35:30,680 --> 00:35:33,800 Emily up here surrounded by, I don't know, what was that, 1214 753 00:35:33,800 --> 00:35:36,640 people, something like that. What can I see right now? 754 00:35:36,640 --> 00:35:39,520 The next time you get into a fight with your spouse, before 755 00:35:39,520 --> 00:35:43,280 you respond, All right, Lord, what am I not seeing? 756 00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:46,840 And He may not answer you, but I want you to understand this. 757 00:35:46,960 --> 00:35:49,680 He will answer you if you need it to overcome the situation. 758 00:35:49,920 --> 00:35:53,480 He will give you the insight you need if you are submitted to His 759 00:35:53,480 --> 00:35:56,360 will, if you're submitted to His battle, if you're submitted to 760 00:35:56,360 --> 00:35:58,680 His kingship, He'll give you the wisdom, the discernment, the 761 00:35:58,680 --> 00:36:00,840 words that you need. And if He doesn't give you 762 00:36:00,840 --> 00:36:02,440 something, you don't need something from Him. 763 00:36:03,040 --> 00:36:05,880 But you better check. Lord, what can I see right now? 764 00:36:05,880 --> 00:36:11,040 The next time your kids act up? Lord, what can I see right now? 765 00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:13,280 Because maybe beneath the attitude is fear. 766 00:36:14,280 --> 00:36:17,000 Maybe it's insecurity. Maybe it's a lonely kid. 767 00:36:17,520 --> 00:36:19,640 Maybe it's a heart that really needs more grace than another 768 00:36:19,640 --> 00:36:23,480 lecture. When someone at work lashes out 769 00:36:23,480 --> 00:36:26,440 at you, before you decide that they are just rude or impossible 770 00:36:26,440 --> 00:36:28,200 to deal with, ask the same question. 771 00:36:28,440 --> 00:36:30,400 You don't know what burdens they carried into the office. 772 00:36:30,760 --> 00:36:33,280 Or maybe when temptation comes in and it seems stronger, and 773 00:36:33,280 --> 00:36:35,080 maybe you think, I thought I already beat this. 774 00:36:36,760 --> 00:36:40,320 Well, instead of asking how close can I get to this without 775 00:36:40,320 --> 00:36:42,960 falling into temptation, Which is kind of what most of us do. 776 00:36:43,520 --> 00:36:47,120 Lord, what can I see right now? Why is this temptation so 777 00:36:47,120 --> 00:36:49,320 appealing today? Where am I vulnerable? 778 00:36:50,720 --> 00:36:52,400 And maybe it doesn't have anything to do with somebody 779 00:36:52,400 --> 00:36:53,960 else. But when anxiety starts to take 780 00:36:53,960 --> 00:36:56,640 over your heart and you start to feel discouraged because you 781 00:36:56,640 --> 00:36:59,200 feel anxious and afraid or bitterness starts coming in. 782 00:36:59,640 --> 00:37:03,040 Lord, what can I see right now? There may be a a battle taking 783 00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:05,600 place just beneath the surface of the reality. 784 00:37:05,600 --> 00:37:09,640 You can see one prayer and one question have the potential to 785 00:37:09,640 --> 00:37:12,120 change the way that you walk through every day of this next 786 00:37:12,120 --> 00:37:16,080 week and probably beyond. My prayer is that for every one 787 00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:18,320 of us is that God would answer that same prayer that he 788 00:37:18,320 --> 00:37:22,160 answered for Elisha's servant. You got to wake up. 789 00:37:22,680 --> 00:37:25,440 We've got to wake up, but that's not enough. 790 00:37:25,640 --> 00:37:27,440 Sorry. Actually, I'm not. 791 00:37:28,680 --> 00:37:30,800 We have to wake up. The other thing we have to do is 792 00:37:30,800 --> 00:37:33,640 we have to grow up. We have to grow up. 793 00:37:33,640 --> 00:37:38,680 We have to start maturing. Have you noticed that in this 794 00:37:38,680 --> 00:37:41,520 country we don't, we don't take 11 year olds and put them into 795 00:37:41,520 --> 00:37:44,560 the military. I don't know if you've ever 796 00:37:44,560 --> 00:37:46,800 stopped to think about it. Maybe you're like, oh, I've 797 00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:47,800 never noticed that. That's true. 798 00:37:47,800 --> 00:37:49,640 We don't. You know why? 799 00:37:49,640 --> 00:37:52,680 They're not mature yet. They're not mature enough to 800 00:37:52,680 --> 00:37:55,640 handle it. When you go to war, you have to 801 00:37:55,640 --> 00:37:58,040 be trained. Knowledge alone is not enough to 802 00:37:58,040 --> 00:38:00,440 defeat temptation. So if waking up is about 803 00:38:00,440 --> 00:38:02,760 becoming aware that there's a battle, growing up is about 804 00:38:02,760 --> 00:38:06,080 becoming prepared for it. One of the greatest mistakes 805 00:38:06,400 --> 00:38:09,120 that you and I can make is believing that simply knowing 806 00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:11,960 spiritual warfare exists somehow prepares you for it. 807 00:38:12,120 --> 00:38:13,920 It doesn't. How many wars do you think are 808 00:38:13,920 --> 00:38:15,120 happening on this planet right now? 809 00:38:16,600 --> 00:38:18,640 A lot, right? We could probably list five of 810 00:38:18,640 --> 00:38:21,160 them just real quick. But that doesn't mean you're 811 00:38:21,160 --> 00:38:24,360 equipped to go fighting them. It just means you know they're 812 00:38:24,360 --> 00:38:27,760 happening. So knowledge itself doesn't 813 00:38:27,760 --> 00:38:29,480 defeat temptation. But God isn't looking for 814 00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:32,120 Christians who know more. He is looking for Christians who 815 00:38:32,120 --> 00:38:35,080 are actively working on becoming more like Jesus in Hebrews 816 00:38:35,080 --> 00:38:38,040 chapter 5. Most, by the way, we don't 817 00:38:38,040 --> 00:38:39,600 really know who wrote the book of Hebrews. 818 00:38:39,840 --> 00:38:42,600 Later on this fall when we return to midweek Bible studies 819 00:38:42,600 --> 00:38:44,840 and renewed my Bible studies, it'll be the book of Hebrews. 820 00:38:45,760 --> 00:38:47,920 My personal opinion, I think it's Apollos. 821 00:38:48,120 --> 00:38:51,160 I could be wrong, but I think it's Apollos that wrote this. 822 00:38:51,160 --> 00:38:53,000 But whoever they are, they're not playing games. 823 00:38:53,640 --> 00:38:57,520 So listen to this. In Hebrews 5 verse 11, they 824 00:38:57,520 --> 00:38:59,040 write this. There's so much more we would 825 00:38:59,040 --> 00:39:02,160 like to say about this, but it's difficult to explain, especially 826 00:39:02,160 --> 00:39:04,440 since you're spiritually dull and don't seem to listen. 827 00:39:05,920 --> 00:39:07,520 Could you imagine getting this letter in the mail? 828 00:39:08,360 --> 00:39:10,480 Man, I'd like to tell you a lot more, but you're kind of dumb. 829 00:39:10,480 --> 00:39:13,800 I mean, that's what he's saying. He's like, man, you should be 830 00:39:13,800 --> 00:39:17,920 ahead of this verse 12. You've been believers so long 831 00:39:17,920 --> 00:39:19,520 now that you ought to be teaching others. 832 00:39:19,520 --> 00:39:22,080 Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things 833 00:39:22,080 --> 00:39:26,240 about God's Word He writes. You're like babies who need milk 834 00:39:26,280 --> 00:39:30,440 and can't eat solid food. I'm sorry. 835 00:39:30,440 --> 00:39:33,240 This is really funny. Listen, when I was in Top 40 836 00:39:33,240 --> 00:39:35,840 Radio One time, they kept spilling drinks on the Control 837 00:39:35,840 --> 00:39:38,520 Board, which is bad electronics liquid bad. 838 00:39:38,960 --> 00:39:42,160 OK, so at one point, at one point they made this rule where 839 00:39:42,160 --> 00:39:43,320 everybody had to have a sippy cup. 840 00:39:45,200 --> 00:39:47,520 And if you only knew what it was like to have a room full of like 841 00:39:47,520 --> 00:39:54,240 4 grown men, you know, right here on the hot FM like that's 842 00:39:57,000 --> 00:40:00,240 it only lasted a few weeks, but the message was received. 843 00:40:00,240 --> 00:40:02,000 It was like, look, if y'all are going to act like kids, we're 844 00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:04,960 going to treat you like kids. When they lifted that rule, 845 00:40:04,960 --> 00:40:07,160 nobody spilled anything else as far as I knew the rest of the 846 00:40:07,160 --> 00:40:09,240 time I worked there. I'm sorry, I just had to shit 847 00:40:09,240 --> 00:40:10,720 that wasn't in my notes. All right. 848 00:40:11,960 --> 00:40:14,320 He says you're like babies, you need milk and can't eat solid 849 00:40:14,320 --> 00:40:16,240 food. He said someone who lives on 850 00:40:16,240 --> 00:40:18,800 milk is still an infant and doesn't know how to do what is 851 00:40:18,800 --> 00:40:22,840 right. Babies don't know how to do what 852 00:40:22,840 --> 00:40:24,440 is right. Children are being taught what 853 00:40:24,440 --> 00:40:25,640 is right. Adults. 854 00:40:28,520 --> 00:40:32,520 Verse 14 says solid food is for those who are mature, who 855 00:40:32,520 --> 00:40:35,160 through training have the skill to recognize the difference 856 00:40:35,160 --> 00:40:39,120 between right and wrong. The writer here in Hebrews is 857 00:40:39,120 --> 00:40:41,360 frustrated. He's not frustrated because 858 00:40:41,360 --> 00:40:43,800 believers don't know enough, but because they haven't grown 859 00:40:43,840 --> 00:40:46,360 enough, he said. You've been believers so long 860 00:40:46,360 --> 00:40:47,800 that you ought to be teaching others. 861 00:40:48,240 --> 00:40:50,880 In other words, time has passed, but transformation hasn't kept 862 00:40:50,880 --> 00:40:53,680 the pace. So they're still going over the 863 00:40:53,680 --> 00:40:55,760 basics over and over and over again. 864 00:40:55,880 --> 00:40:57,800 They're not even using their God-given gifts to make an 865 00:40:57,800 --> 00:40:59,400 impact in the life of somebody else. 866 00:41:00,280 --> 00:41:02,680 And if you feel like, man, this is like hitting me a little bit 867 00:41:02,680 --> 00:41:04,880 because I've been a believer for several years and I'm not doing 868 00:41:04,880 --> 00:41:06,480 anything with my gifts, that's not fair. 869 00:41:06,920 --> 00:41:11,640 Yes, it is, yes it is. We are called to equip and 870 00:41:11,640 --> 00:41:15,440 mature others. Chris, you served when you were 871 00:41:15,440 --> 00:41:18,600 being trained basic training. Were you trained by somebody who 872 00:41:18,600 --> 00:41:21,120 was brand new or by somebody who had more experience than you? 873 00:41:22,800 --> 00:41:25,600 More experience. I don't know what else I was 874 00:41:25,600 --> 00:41:29,560 expecting to hear. If you have more experience, 875 00:41:29,560 --> 00:41:31,320 share it. Equip somebody. 876 00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:34,320 War is at their doorstep. Don't you care? 877 00:41:35,160 --> 00:41:38,400 Do you care that the people that you love and are invested in 878 00:41:38,680 --> 00:41:42,400 have demonic entities who are working towards their downfall? 879 00:41:43,360 --> 00:41:46,520 That's how serious this is. And you may say, well, I'm good. 880 00:41:46,520 --> 00:41:48,120 I've made my my peace with the Lord. 881 00:41:48,280 --> 00:41:50,760 I've prayed to salvation prayer. I took communion this morning. 882 00:41:50,840 --> 00:41:53,160 I sang every word to every song. I'm good. 883 00:41:53,160 --> 00:41:55,440 I'm glad you're good. The war is still happening. 884 00:41:58,240 --> 00:42:01,760 Mature believers are those who have trained themselves to 885 00:42:01,760 --> 00:42:03,320 distinguish between right and wrong. 886 00:42:03,720 --> 00:42:06,000 That very last verse, he says solid food is for those who are 887 00:42:06,000 --> 00:42:08,880 mature who through training have the skill to recognize the 888 00:42:08,880 --> 00:42:11,280 difference between right and wrong trained. 889 00:42:11,360 --> 00:42:14,440 What does train mean? It means repetition. 890 00:42:14,440 --> 00:42:17,040 It means challenging yourself. It means pushing yourself. 891 00:42:18,320 --> 00:42:20,960 Athletes train. They have to. 892 00:42:21,560 --> 00:42:23,520 Trust me. I have a brand new program that 893 00:42:23,520 --> 00:42:26,840 starts tomorrow with an official trainer, and I'm scared. 894 00:42:29,400 --> 00:42:34,400 Marines train. Yeah, I was waiting for it. 895 00:42:37,240 --> 00:42:41,280 Cassie, this worship team, do they train, they practice over 896 00:42:41,280 --> 00:42:43,720 and over again. One time I made the the mistake 897 00:42:43,720 --> 00:42:46,920 of posting on, on social media, I said, I said, I'm going to 898 00:42:47,280 --> 00:42:49,160 worship team practice. And somebody wrote and they 899 00:42:49,160 --> 00:42:51,720 said, I thought worship was just something that happened. 900 00:42:51,720 --> 00:42:53,000 I don't think it's something you trained in. 901 00:42:53,240 --> 00:42:54,200 And I used to think it was funny. 902 00:42:54,200 --> 00:42:55,800 I was like, oh, I meant it's band practice. 903 00:42:56,080 --> 00:42:57,800 No, worship is something you train into. 904 00:42:58,520 --> 00:43:01,000 Because I showed up at this church back at the end of 2004 905 00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:02,880 and I was like, man, these people put their hands up a lot. 906 00:43:02,880 --> 00:43:06,600 And it's weird. It's not weird. 907 00:43:07,560 --> 00:43:08,840 It's not weird to put your hands up. 908 00:43:09,520 --> 00:43:11,360 Why don't you just do a quick Google search and find out? 909 00:43:11,360 --> 00:43:12,960 I don't know, ask your best friend, the one that always 910 00:43:12,960 --> 00:43:16,560 agrees with you, ChatGPT. Why don't you ask them how many 911 00:43:16,560 --> 00:43:19,880 times the scripture says to lift holy hands and then tell 912 00:43:19,880 --> 00:43:21,240 yourself why you don't ever lift them? 913 00:43:28,370 --> 00:43:30,290 Doctors train. Aren't you glad? 914 00:43:32,090 --> 00:43:33,970 Are you glad that the last time you went into a doctor's 915 00:43:33,970 --> 00:43:36,210 appointment, they didn't say? Well, I'm not really sure, but 916 00:43:36,210 --> 00:43:42,050 hang on on Web MD, Let me see. Let me compare it to this 917 00:43:42,050 --> 00:43:44,880 picture. Doctors have to train. 918 00:43:45,720 --> 00:43:47,680 If you want to become stronger physically, you train. 919 00:43:47,680 --> 00:43:49,680 If you want to master an instrument or another language, 920 00:43:49,680 --> 00:43:51,880 you have to train. If you want to compete at the 921 00:43:51,880 --> 00:43:55,080 highest level, you train. The Olympics aren't volunteers. 922 00:43:56,480 --> 00:43:58,720 Why would you assume that spiritual maturity happens any 923 00:43:58,720 --> 00:44:01,280 differently? Too many Christians want the 924 00:44:01,280 --> 00:44:03,560 strength of a mature believer without ever embracing the 925 00:44:03,560 --> 00:44:05,400 habits that will actually produce maturity. 926 00:44:06,160 --> 00:44:07,720 We'll be in Ephesians 6 in a second. 927 00:44:09,040 --> 00:44:10,760 Think about this. We want to have a peaceful life. 928 00:44:10,760 --> 00:44:12,680 We just don't want to put the time in with prayer. 929 00:44:13,080 --> 00:44:14,520 Well, I do pray. I just don't feel like I hear 930 00:44:14,520 --> 00:44:16,880 from God. So I don't pray. 931 00:44:17,040 --> 00:44:19,920 That's what you're saying. And I know this because these 932 00:44:19,920 --> 00:44:21,600 are things I've said. So if you're like, man, he's 933 00:44:21,600 --> 00:44:22,960 coming at me. Yeah, I'm coming at you because 934 00:44:22,960 --> 00:44:25,320 I'm coming at myself. I've been there. 935 00:44:26,360 --> 00:44:28,280 We want wisdom. We just don't want to know the 936 00:44:28,280 --> 00:44:30,000 Scriptures. It's kind of hard to have that 937 00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:31,880 wisdom though. We want to have victory. 938 00:44:31,880 --> 00:44:32,960 We just don't want to be obedient. 939 00:44:32,960 --> 00:44:35,720 And the really hard things that the Lord requires of us, we want 940 00:44:35,720 --> 00:44:37,560 discernment. We just don't want time in God's 941 00:44:37,560 --> 00:44:39,280 presence. And that's the only way you get 942 00:44:39,280 --> 00:44:42,400 discernment. When our life falls apart or 943 00:44:42,400 --> 00:44:45,080 temptation comes or suffering arrives, we wonder why our faith 944 00:44:45,080 --> 00:44:46,800 feels fragile. It's because we haven't trained. 945 00:44:48,000 --> 00:44:50,280 We've skipped spiritual leg day and now we're paying for it. 946 00:44:51,640 --> 00:44:54,040 Listen to this Ephesians 6 starting in verse 10. 947 00:44:54,040 --> 00:44:56,320 It's well known, but listen, a final word. 948 00:44:56,320 --> 00:44:58,400 Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. 949 00:44:58,840 --> 00:45:02,480 Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand 950 00:45:02,480 --> 00:45:04,480 firm against all the strategies of the devil. 951 00:45:07,160 --> 00:45:09,200 Paul says this. He says we are not fighting 952 00:45:09,200 --> 00:45:12,680 against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and 953 00:45:12,680 --> 00:45:17,080 authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this 954 00:45:17,080 --> 00:45:20,280 Dark World, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. 955 00:45:21,720 --> 00:45:25,240 Now we get to VBS, right? Therefore, put on every piece of 956 00:45:25,240 --> 00:45:27,640 God's armor so that you'll be able to resist the enemy in the 957 00:45:27,640 --> 00:45:30,240 time of evil. Then after the battle, you'll be 958 00:45:30,240 --> 00:45:33,040 standing firm. Stand your ground, putting on 959 00:45:33,040 --> 00:45:35,560 the belt of truth and the body armor of God's righteousness. 960 00:45:35,560 --> 00:45:38,880 For shoes, put on the piece that comes from the good news so that 961 00:45:38,880 --> 00:45:41,200 you'll be fully prepared. In addition, all of these hold 962 00:45:41,200 --> 00:45:44,160 up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. 963 00:45:44,680 --> 00:45:46,480 I've heard people make fun of that before because sometimes 964 00:45:46,480 --> 00:45:49,040 the translation is like fiery darts and they're like a dart. 965 00:45:49,040 --> 00:45:51,080 Doesn't sound too dangerous. You want to get hit with a 966 00:45:51,080 --> 00:45:54,080 flaming dart. It doesn't sound like a good 967 00:45:54,080 --> 00:45:57,480 time to me. Put on salvation as your helmet 968 00:45:57,480 --> 00:45:59,600 and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of 969 00:45:59,600 --> 00:46:01,040 God. And then a lot of people end 970 00:46:01,040 --> 00:46:03,240 their Bible study right there, which is really a shame because 971 00:46:03,240 --> 00:46:06,960 right after that it says pray in the Spirit at all times and on 972 00:46:06,960 --> 00:46:09,160 every occasion. It's prayer. 973 00:46:09,320 --> 00:46:11,120 And by the way, it's prayer in the Spirit. 974 00:46:11,520 --> 00:46:14,160 I believe he's talking about tongues and we'll get to that in 975 00:46:14,160 --> 00:46:17,800 due time. Stay alert there that that is. 976 00:46:17,800 --> 00:46:20,400 Again, stay alert. That means wake up and be 977 00:46:20,400 --> 00:46:22,960 persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. 978 00:46:23,280 --> 00:46:25,000 And then he says this and pray for me too. 979 00:46:26,440 --> 00:46:28,160 I'm not honest. Paul writes to them, He's 980 00:46:28,160 --> 00:46:29,320 encouraging them, he's pushing them. 981 00:46:29,320 --> 00:46:30,960 He's like, hey, and could you say prayer for me? 982 00:46:31,200 --> 00:46:33,520 Ask God to give me the right word so I can boldly explain 983 00:46:33,520 --> 00:46:36,480 God's mysterious plan that the good news is for Jews and 984 00:46:36,480 --> 00:46:39,120 Gentiles alike. He says, I'm in chains now, 985 00:46:39,120 --> 00:46:41,400 still preaching this message as God's ambassador. 986 00:46:41,600 --> 00:46:44,120 So pray that I'll keep on speaking boldly for him as I 987 00:46:44,120 --> 00:46:47,080 should. I'm not going to unpack all the 988 00:46:47,080 --> 00:46:48,960 armour that's been done a million times. 989 00:46:48,960 --> 00:46:50,360 I'm sure I'll do it again one day. 990 00:46:51,000 --> 00:46:52,480 But what I do want to say is this. 991 00:46:54,720 --> 00:46:58,680 He says this in verse 13. Put on every piece of God's 992 00:46:58,680 --> 00:47:01,160 armor so that you'll be able to resist the enemy in the time of 993 00:47:01,160 --> 00:47:03,200 evil. I would venture to say that most 994 00:47:03,200 --> 00:47:06,560 Christians have at least one of these pieces of armor down pat. 995 00:47:08,080 --> 00:47:10,520 Maybe you've got great faith, cool, you've got an awesome 996 00:47:10,520 --> 00:47:13,320 shield. But there's righteousness in 997 00:47:13,320 --> 00:47:14,800 here. There's truth, there's peace, 998 00:47:14,800 --> 00:47:18,520 there's salvation. He said put on every piece so 999 00:47:18,520 --> 00:47:20,680 that you will be equipped to stand against the enemy in the 1000 00:47:20,680 --> 00:47:22,920 day of evil. And for many of us, we're like, 1001 00:47:22,920 --> 00:47:24,520 well, I got a couple pieces of the armor. 1002 00:47:24,640 --> 00:47:28,200 I'm a work in progress, aren't we all? 1003 00:47:28,920 --> 00:47:33,520 Get dressed, get dressed, put on the armor. 1004 00:47:33,960 --> 00:47:36,760 It's time to grow up. You would not do this out at 1005 00:47:36,760 --> 00:47:38,000 war. Those of you that have been 1006 00:47:38,000 --> 00:47:39,400 there, I'd never served in the military. 1007 00:47:39,400 --> 00:47:43,720 But you wouldn't go out to war and say, I don't want to carry 1008 00:47:43,720 --> 00:47:44,800 that. That pack's heavy. 1009 00:47:47,400 --> 00:47:49,360 Yeah, there's some in that pack that might save your life. 1010 00:47:50,160 --> 00:47:51,920 You're going to bundle up and you're going to trudge right 1011 00:47:51,920 --> 00:47:54,240 through the mud. You're going to get it done. 1012 00:47:54,920 --> 00:47:56,480 Why? Because you know what's at stake 1013 00:47:56,480 --> 00:47:58,120 there. But we act like we don't know 1014 00:47:58,120 --> 00:48:00,640 what's at stake here. Notice what Paul doesn't say. 1015 00:48:00,640 --> 00:48:02,200 He doesn't say. When the battle comes, hurry and 1016 00:48:02,200 --> 00:48:06,320 build some armor. That is what we do normally. 1017 00:48:06,320 --> 00:48:07,800 We try to borrow it from somebody else. 1018 00:48:07,840 --> 00:48:09,440 Hey, I'm really worried this is all going to work out. 1019 00:48:09,440 --> 00:48:10,520 You. You're a man of God. 1020 00:48:10,760 --> 00:48:12,240 You've got faith. Can you tell me this is all 1021 00:48:12,240 --> 00:48:15,840 going to work out? Well, I'm at my own war. 1022 00:48:16,600 --> 00:48:19,120 I can't promise you what's happening over there, but we try 1023 00:48:19,120 --> 00:48:20,600 and borrow it from somebody else. 1024 00:48:21,800 --> 00:48:24,360 Paul doesn't say when Satan attacks, then it's time to learn 1025 00:48:24,360 --> 00:48:26,880 to pray. Could you imagine that? 1026 00:48:27,280 --> 00:48:29,880 Could you imagine that right? Like you've got, you've got the 1027 00:48:29,880 --> 00:48:33,240 enemy firing at your building and you're like, quick Google 1028 00:48:33,240 --> 00:48:36,920 how to fire a gun. It's not the time. 1029 00:48:39,160 --> 00:48:40,840 It doesn't say when temptation shows up. 1030 00:48:41,160 --> 00:48:43,040 That's the time to start reading the scriptures. 1031 00:48:43,400 --> 00:48:46,040 You need to already have those scriptures in there so that as 1032 00:48:46,040 --> 00:48:48,280 the temptation is rising, and it will, it doesn't matter how long 1033 00:48:48,280 --> 00:48:49,960 you've served the Lord, you'll still get tempted. 1034 00:48:50,280 --> 00:48:53,120 So don't feel shame over that as temptation wells up. 1035 00:48:53,120 --> 00:48:56,360 You know what else wells up? The Scripture because you've 1036 00:48:56,360 --> 00:48:58,080 read it, you've been in it, you understand it. 1037 00:48:58,280 --> 00:49:00,160 So at the same time, you're like, well, I could look at 1038 00:49:00,160 --> 00:49:01,320 that. It's coming up here and it's 1039 00:49:01,320 --> 00:49:02,560 like, make a covenant with your eyes. 1040 00:49:02,680 --> 00:49:03,920 Oh, that's a really good scripture. 1041 00:49:06,560 --> 00:49:09,680 Pastor Marshall, when she was alive, I know that my wife went 1042 00:49:09,680 --> 00:49:11,760 to her for counsel one time and she told her the importance of 1043 00:49:11,760 --> 00:49:13,680 reading the Scripture because she said one day when you're in 1044 00:49:13,680 --> 00:49:16,160 a crisis, you have to pull from the well that's inside of you, 1045 00:49:16,520 --> 00:49:18,480 and you can't pull something out of the well that's not there. 1046 00:49:19,400 --> 00:49:21,960 It's like a lot of us are trying to pull water out of a dry well. 1047 00:49:22,440 --> 00:49:24,200 We just haven't been filling it. We haven't been paying 1048 00:49:24,200 --> 00:49:27,720 attention. Church, I just think it's time 1049 00:49:27,720 --> 00:49:29,960 that we stop asking how close can I get to God without 1050 00:49:29,960 --> 00:49:32,880 changing my life. I think we have to start asking 1051 00:49:32,880 --> 00:49:35,200 what kind of man or woman does Jesus want me to become? 1052 00:49:35,480 --> 00:49:37,360 Because the goal of the Christian life isn't to survive 1053 00:49:37,360 --> 00:49:40,520 the battle or even to get saved. It's to become so connected to 1054 00:49:40,520 --> 00:49:43,120 Christ that the battle no longer determines who you are. 1055 00:49:44,360 --> 00:49:46,320 I just think we need to understand that spiritual 1056 00:49:46,320 --> 00:49:48,880 immaturity is not a small problem on the edges of the 1057 00:49:48,880 --> 00:49:50,640 American church. I actually think it's one of the 1058 00:49:50,640 --> 00:49:52,800 worst problems the American church is dealing with today. 1059 00:49:52,800 --> 00:49:56,240 And I want to be fair when I say that because I'm I'm going to 1060 00:49:56,240 --> 00:49:58,680 read you some numbers. And no research company can look 1061 00:49:58,680 --> 00:50:00,920 into the human heart and determine who genuinely loves 1062 00:50:00,960 --> 00:50:03,000 Jesus. A survey can't measure someone's 1063 00:50:03,000 --> 00:50:05,440 entire relationship with God. But I want you to hear this, OK? 1064 00:50:06,520 --> 00:50:09,160 The Barna Group has been studying the religious lives of 1065 00:50:09,160 --> 00:50:12,560 Americans for decades, and in its newest long term research, 1066 00:50:12,560 --> 00:50:14,520 it found something that should grab your attention. 1067 00:50:15,760 --> 00:50:19,840 Listen to the comparison in the year 2000, the distant past, 1068 00:50:22,240 --> 00:50:29,360 back when CDs were all the rage. It doesn't make me feel old to 1069 00:50:29,360 --> 00:50:31,360 be like we have little circles we listen to music on. 1070 00:50:32,120 --> 00:50:33,640 But I remember cassette. So don't get me started. 1071 00:50:34,080 --> 00:50:38,320 In the year 2074% of self identified Christians said faith 1072 00:50:38,320 --> 00:50:40,760 was central to their lives. We're not even talking about a 1073 00:50:40,760 --> 00:50:42,080 habit. We're not talking about being in 1074 00:50:42,080 --> 00:50:44,640 those scripture or prayer, just that their faith was central to 1075 00:50:44,640 --> 00:50:48,280 their life. So 74% of Christians said my 1076 00:50:48,280 --> 00:50:52,680 faith is central to my life. In 2025, that number fell to 1077 00:50:52,680 --> 00:50:57,360 54%, 20%. These are people that say they 1078 00:50:57,360 --> 00:51:00,320 believe in Jesus, they're saved, but their faith is not 1079 00:51:00,320 --> 00:51:02,520 considered central to their life by them. 1080 00:51:03,920 --> 00:51:06,840 That's a year ago. Isn't that sad? 1081 00:51:10,000 --> 00:51:12,120 You can see the same gap when you look at Scripture too. 1082 00:51:12,120 --> 00:51:15,120 Barna reported some genuinely encouraging news in 2025. 1083 00:51:15,120 --> 00:51:17,120 Bible reading increased significantly across the 1084 00:51:17,120 --> 00:51:20,880 country, particularly, by the way, amongst younger adults. 1085 00:51:21,280 --> 00:51:23,200 I don't know if you all know this, if you have enough people 1086 00:51:23,200 --> 00:51:25,520 of a different generation in your lives, but there is a real 1087 00:51:25,520 --> 00:51:27,720 hunger that is coming up in young adults right now. 1088 00:51:28,040 --> 00:51:30,880 There are people who are on the edge of adulthood and they're 1089 00:51:30,880 --> 00:51:33,400 stepping into this and they are hungry for what is true. 1090 00:51:33,640 --> 00:51:35,960 And they do not like being deceived and they do not give 1091 00:51:35,960 --> 00:51:38,080 you a lot of chances with it. And they want to know what's 1092 00:51:38,080 --> 00:51:39,720 true. And they're finding what's true. 1093 00:51:40,160 --> 00:51:42,480 They're finding Jesus. It's really cool. 1094 00:51:42,560 --> 00:51:46,480 That's pretty encouraging. But even after that increase, 1095 00:51:46,480 --> 00:51:49,240 only 50% of self identified Christians said they read the 1096 00:51:49,240 --> 00:51:53,840 Bible at least once a week. Half of Christians read the 1097 00:51:53,840 --> 00:51:58,680 Bible once a week. That is worth celebrating 1098 00:51:58,680 --> 00:52:01,320 compared with where the number had been, but it still means 1099 00:52:01,320 --> 00:52:04,080 that half of the Christians surveyed were not opening the 1100 00:52:04,080 --> 00:52:08,520 scripture even weekly. We're trying to recognize lies 1101 00:52:08,520 --> 00:52:10,600 and we're trying to resist temptation and understand the 1102 00:52:10,600 --> 00:52:12,640 will of God, and we're trying to survive a spiritual battle 1103 00:52:12,640 --> 00:52:15,120 without even opening this book that gives you everything you 1104 00:52:15,120 --> 00:52:17,280 need to know. It's a little scary. 1105 00:52:18,120 --> 00:52:20,840 That's the Barna research. How about the Pew Research 1106 00:52:20,840 --> 00:52:22,600 Center? They found something that was 1107 00:52:22,600 --> 00:52:24,800 similar. They had this enormous 2023 and 1108 00:52:24,800 --> 00:52:28,960 24 religious landscape study. Listen to this. 51% said they 1109 00:52:28,960 --> 00:52:31,920 read scripture outside of church service at least once a week. 1110 00:52:32,400 --> 00:52:34,360 So we're at that half number. Again, it's consistent. 1111 00:52:34,840 --> 00:52:39,120 About 72% said they prayed daily, which means that even 1112 00:52:39,120 --> 00:52:42,640 within one of the most committed Christian traditions in America. 1113 00:52:42,760 --> 00:52:45,880 OK, this is in the evangelical Protestants. 1114 00:52:46,560 --> 00:52:49,680 It said that 72% said they prayed everyday. 1115 00:52:51,080 --> 00:52:52,840 And again, this doesn't mean that the people are not saved. 1116 00:52:52,840 --> 00:52:55,920 It just means that anyone who misses a day of of Bible reading 1117 00:52:55,920 --> 00:52:58,800 has become spiritual immature in somebody's eyes or whatever. 1118 00:52:58,800 --> 00:53:01,160 But here's what I'm telling you. For a lot of Christians, they 1119 00:53:01,160 --> 00:53:02,360 exist. They're going to heaven and 1120 00:53:02,360 --> 00:53:04,360 guess what? They've got milk. 1121 00:53:06,280 --> 00:53:07,920 Milk. Remember that pride we were 1122 00:53:07,920 --> 00:53:12,160 talking about last week? If all you're worried about is, 1123 00:53:12,160 --> 00:53:14,240 is it going to be OK for me? This is like when you're like, 1124 00:53:14,240 --> 00:53:15,840 you know, you're not going to pass the class and the 1125 00:53:15,840 --> 00:53:17,960 semester's running out. And then you all of a sudden 1126 00:53:17,960 --> 00:53:20,400 realize, oh, if I get a 72 on this exam, I'll pass it and 1127 00:53:20,400 --> 00:53:23,520 never have to take it again. And then you get that 72 and 1128 00:53:23,520 --> 00:53:26,320 you're like, thank goodness, now I'll never have to take that 1129 00:53:26,320 --> 00:53:28,200 class again. Is that really the measuring 1130 00:53:28,200 --> 00:53:30,760 stick for our faith? What do I have to get done? 1131 00:53:31,640 --> 00:53:34,520 And because of that, the enemy comes in, fights you, We're not 1132 00:53:34,520 --> 00:53:36,960 even aware of him, and we get clobbered by him. 1133 00:53:38,800 --> 00:53:40,360 This is why so many of us feel unprepared. 1134 00:53:40,360 --> 00:53:43,760 So we would never expect someone to walk to the gym once a week 1135 00:53:44,440 --> 00:53:48,000 and watch them exercise for 40 minutes and then somehow become 1136 00:53:48,000 --> 00:53:51,040 physically strong. Although that does happen, it's 1137 00:53:51,040 --> 00:53:54,520 normally January and February. We would never expect a Marine 1138 00:53:54,520 --> 00:53:57,240 to attend one lecture every Sunday and become ready for 1139 00:53:57,240 --> 00:53:58,960 combat. And I'm just telling you all 1140 00:53:58,960 --> 00:54:00,960 that I'm giving you the best meat that the Lord has given me 1141 00:54:00,960 --> 00:54:02,920 to give to you right now. And it's still not enough 1142 00:54:03,680 --> 00:54:06,880 because your war requires your maturity, and it requires your 1143 00:54:06,880 --> 00:54:08,960 discipline and your relationship with the Lord. 1144 00:54:10,280 --> 00:54:12,360 The tragedy is that a lot of Christians have been believers 1145 00:54:12,360 --> 00:54:14,760 for years without ever becoming spiritually older. 1146 00:54:14,760 --> 00:54:17,520 Their bodies age, but their careers develop and their 1147 00:54:17,520 --> 00:54:20,400 families grow, and their relationship with God has 1148 00:54:20,400 --> 00:54:23,600 remained frozen in place. So where do we begin? 1149 00:54:23,600 --> 00:54:27,160 Well, I would just say this, we have to stop asking how little 1150 00:54:27,160 --> 00:54:29,880 do I have to do and still call myself a Christian and start 1151 00:54:29,880 --> 00:54:31,720 asking what kind of man or woman do I need to be? 1152 00:54:31,720 --> 00:54:33,080 They're 2 completely different questions. 1153 00:54:33,080 --> 00:54:37,080 So this week I would challenge you to stop measuring yourself 1154 00:54:37,080 --> 00:54:39,000 by what you know and start measuring it by what you 1155 00:54:39,000 --> 00:54:41,720 practice. This is a self examination tool. 1156 00:54:42,320 --> 00:54:43,880 I want you to honestly look at it. 1157 00:54:43,880 --> 00:54:46,760 I want you to look at your life and don't talk to yourself about 1158 00:54:46,760 --> 00:54:48,680 what you know. Talk to yourself about what you 1159 00:54:48,680 --> 00:54:51,920 practice. And if you look at what you're 1160 00:54:51,920 --> 00:54:54,560 disciplined or your practice looks like every week, are you 1161 00:54:54,560 --> 00:54:57,160 impressed? Do you feel like it's enough? 1162 00:54:57,280 --> 00:54:59,480 That's step one. Number two, I would tell you 1163 00:54:59,480 --> 00:55:02,320 this, I'm glad you're here. Next week it'll either be packed 1164 00:55:02,320 --> 00:55:06,040 again or I'll have half of you. But I want to challenge you in 1165 00:55:06,040 --> 00:55:08,360 this too. I want you to know that Sunday 1166 00:55:08,360 --> 00:55:10,760 won't sustain you till next Sunday. 1167 00:55:12,480 --> 00:55:14,160 I mean, you've heard this probably before, but you could 1168 00:55:14,160 --> 00:55:16,280 not imagine eating one meal every seven days and then 1169 00:55:16,280 --> 00:55:19,640 wondering why you feel weak. I just got addicted to this 1170 00:55:19,640 --> 00:55:22,040 little show on Netflix called Outlast. 1171 00:55:22,160 --> 00:55:23,760 And they're so hungry and they're trying to figure out how 1172 00:55:23,760 --> 00:55:26,280 to eat food and how to like, you know, hunt and, and provide what 1173 00:55:26,280 --> 00:55:27,520 they need. And they're so hungry 1174 00:55:27,880 --> 00:55:30,000 spiritually. We are starving ourselves to 1175 00:55:30,000 --> 00:55:33,560 death because we're just like, well, I'll just think on, I'll 1176 00:55:33,560 --> 00:55:35,080 think on the pastor's words for that week. 1177 00:55:36,960 --> 00:55:40,800 I don't want that pressure. By the way, I bring this up in a 1178 00:55:40,800 --> 00:55:42,800 lot of different ways. Ask somebody else into your 1179 00:55:42,800 --> 00:55:44,400 growth. Ask someone to help you grow. 1180 00:55:46,240 --> 00:55:48,200 No Marine becomes the ultimate Marine on their own. 1181 00:55:48,560 --> 00:55:50,440 They've had people that have trained them, talked to them, 1182 00:55:50,440 --> 00:55:52,960 held them accountable, pushed them, not allowed them to quit. 1183 00:55:53,400 --> 00:55:55,920 It's the same thing. Ask somebody into it. 1184 00:55:56,400 --> 00:55:58,200 The reason you know why most of us don't do that? 1185 00:55:59,040 --> 00:56:00,920 It's not, it's not rocket science because we don't want 1186 00:56:00,920 --> 00:56:02,880 it. We don't want it. 1187 00:56:02,880 --> 00:56:04,320 We don't want somebody calling us out. 1188 00:56:04,320 --> 00:56:05,840 We want to be able to make our own decisions. 1189 00:56:05,840 --> 00:56:09,720 It's like another TV show that I saw where somebody said, I, I 1190 00:56:09,720 --> 00:56:11,640 want someone to lead me. I just want them to lead me when 1191 00:56:11,640 --> 00:56:18,680 I want to be LED. By the way, when you give 1192 00:56:18,680 --> 00:56:21,160 somebody permission to challenge you when they see pride or 1193 00:56:21,160 --> 00:56:24,440 bitterness or compromise creeping in, all you're saying 1194 00:56:24,440 --> 00:56:25,760 is, I know I've got a blind spot. 1195 00:56:26,120 --> 00:56:27,640 And since it's a blind spot, I can't see it. 1196 00:56:27,640 --> 00:56:30,000 So I need your help. And you should know this, Mature 1197 00:56:30,000 --> 00:56:32,320 believers, don't pretend that they have no blind spots. 1198 00:56:33,640 --> 00:56:35,680 Anytime you ask somebody if they've got a blind spot or 1199 00:56:35,680 --> 00:56:37,560 where they know their struggle is, they should be able to tell 1200 00:56:37,560 --> 00:56:38,760 you. And the last thing I would tell 1201 00:56:38,760 --> 00:56:40,440 you is don't wait for a big spiritual moment. 1202 00:56:40,440 --> 00:56:42,880 Start paying attention to your small daily decisions. 1203 00:56:43,280 --> 00:56:45,280 Every time that you choose forgiveness over bitterness, 1204 00:56:45,360 --> 00:56:47,160 it's huge. You don't need to have that 1205 00:56:47,160 --> 00:56:49,560 moment where the Spirit of God fell on you and made you cry at 1206 00:56:49,560 --> 00:56:50,760 the altar. Those are amazing. 1207 00:56:50,800 --> 00:56:52,920 I'm not taking anything away from them, but if you're just 1208 00:56:52,920 --> 00:56:55,240 waiting for one of those, you're going to keep waiting. 1209 00:56:56,160 --> 00:56:58,200 I want you to know that every time you feel like being selfish 1210 00:56:58,200 --> 00:57:01,120 and you choose to be generous to somebody, that's a big deal. 1211 00:57:01,720 --> 00:57:04,840 Every time that truth wins out over a convenient conversation, 1212 00:57:04,840 --> 00:57:07,320 it's a big win. Every time that you allow God to 1213 00:57:07,320 --> 00:57:09,840 use humility and to humble you in something instead of caving 1214 00:57:09,840 --> 00:57:13,840 to pride, it's a big win. Purity over compromise is a big 1215 00:57:13,840 --> 00:57:16,120 win. Any guesses what patience over 1216 00:57:16,120 --> 00:57:18,120 anger is? It's a big win. 1217 00:57:18,520 --> 00:57:22,680 OK, Spiritual maturity is not built in one dramatic moment. 1218 00:57:22,680 --> 00:57:25,080 You don't have one giant workout and then all of a sudden your 1219 00:57:25,080 --> 00:57:27,680 bodybuilder. It is built in thousands of 1220 00:57:27,680 --> 00:57:30,800 small decisions that nobody will ever notice except for your 1221 00:57:30,800 --> 00:57:34,840 Lord. As we close this morning, I just 1222 00:57:34,840 --> 00:57:36,840 want to remind you that nothing that we've talked about today is 1223 00:57:36,840 --> 00:57:39,320 meant to make you feel afraid or less than if you leave, more 1224 00:57:39,320 --> 00:57:42,640 afraid of Satan than when you walked in, then man, I failed as 1225 00:57:42,640 --> 00:57:45,000 your pastor today. The purpose of this series is 1226 00:57:45,000 --> 00:57:48,280 not to magnify the darkness. It is instead meant to magnify 1227 00:57:48,280 --> 00:57:51,560 Christ. And so, like I said, we will not 1228 00:57:51,560 --> 00:57:54,040 become fascinated with darkness. We'll become equipped to battle 1229 00:57:54,040 --> 00:57:55,840 against it. We are going to become more 1230 00:57:55,840 --> 00:57:58,640 faithful disciples than we were at the beginning of this series. 1231 00:57:59,520 --> 00:58:02,400 Confidence is something that the Lord can bring to you, but 1232 00:58:02,400 --> 00:58:05,760 confidence will never, ever work if we allow it to become 1233 00:58:05,760 --> 00:58:09,640 complacency. In Second Timothy chapter 2, it 1234 00:58:09,640 --> 00:58:11,280 says this. Paul writes to his spiritual 1235 00:58:11,280 --> 00:58:15,040 son, and he says, endure suffering along with me as a 1236 00:58:15,040 --> 00:58:17,280 good soldier of Christ Jesus. Don't get offended. 1237 00:58:17,280 --> 00:58:21,680 The army didn't exist yet, he said soldiers don't get tied up 1238 00:58:21,680 --> 00:58:24,480 in the affairs of civilian life, for then they cannot please the 1239 00:58:24,480 --> 00:58:28,360 officer who enlisted them. All right, do you see this? 1240 00:58:28,880 --> 00:58:30,360 He says, hey, you and I, we're going to suffer. 1241 00:58:30,360 --> 00:58:33,480 We're in the spiritual war. So we're going to suffer because 1242 00:58:33,480 --> 00:58:36,160 we're at war and we are not going to consider ourselves to 1243 00:58:36,160 --> 00:58:37,720 be distracted by a civilian life. 1244 00:58:37,720 --> 00:58:40,280 In other words, we're not worried about what's happening 1245 00:58:40,280 --> 00:58:42,440 in pop culture or what's going on. 1246 00:58:42,440 --> 00:58:44,720 Oh, my gosh, Demi Lovato is fighting with who? 1247 00:58:44,880 --> 00:58:48,400 I don't care. You understand 1000 different 1248 00:58:48,400 --> 00:58:49,920 like distractions that we've got. 1249 00:58:52,560 --> 00:58:55,520 Listen, I got on my treadmill the other day and I put my iPad 1250 00:58:55,520 --> 00:58:58,520 up there and I froze for about 30 seconds because I was trying 1251 00:58:58,520 --> 00:59:03,000 to decide between 4 things. I'm watching right now, 4 1252 00:59:03,000 --> 00:59:05,560 things. And I would like to tell you 1253 00:59:05,560 --> 00:59:08,600 that I settled on a Bible podcast, but I watched X-Men 97. 1254 00:59:11,000 --> 00:59:13,720 But I'm telling you, there are so many opportunities to be 1255 00:59:13,720 --> 00:59:15,760 distracted. Just depends on your brand and 1256 00:59:15,760 --> 00:59:19,640 your flavour of distraction. He said we don't get hung up on 1257 00:59:19,640 --> 00:59:21,800 these things that the world gets hung up on because we're not of 1258 00:59:21,800 --> 00:59:23,920 the world. We have a mission. 1259 00:59:24,120 --> 00:59:26,080 We want to please the one who has deployed us here. 1260 00:59:27,040 --> 00:59:29,640 So Paul reminds Timothy that following Jesus is not a 1261 00:59:29,640 --> 00:59:35,520 spectator sport. There are no stadium seating for 1262 00:59:35,520 --> 00:59:38,000 a spiritual war. And I want you to know this also 1263 00:59:38,000 --> 00:59:39,840 over the next three weeks, we're going to keep pulling back the 1264 00:59:39,840 --> 00:59:41,760 curtain on the unseen world. Next Sunday, we're going to talk 1265 00:59:41,760 --> 00:59:45,000 about the unseen accuser. We'll talk about how Satan works 1266 00:59:45,000 --> 00:59:47,240 in our lives. Then we're going to talk about 1267 00:59:47,240 --> 00:59:50,160 the unseen hosts, because a lot of Christians are surprised to 1268 00:59:50,160 --> 00:59:52,280 find out that there's more than just angels and demons out 1269 00:59:52,280 --> 00:59:53,360 there. But we're going to talk about it 1270 00:59:53,360 --> 00:59:54,800 and why that matters, matters to you. 1271 00:59:54,800 --> 00:59:56,960 But there's also an unseen victory that we'll talk about. 1272 00:59:58,520 --> 01:00:02,200 But before we go, I want to model Paul here, and I just want 1273 01:00:02,200 --> 01:00:04,320 to ask something of you as your pastor, if I can. 1274 01:00:04,840 --> 01:00:06,400 I'm just asking you if you would pray for me. 1275 01:00:07,440 --> 01:00:10,720 I've noticed that every time I speak about spiritual warfare, I 1276 01:00:10,720 --> 01:00:13,680 get hammered. It happens every single time, 1277 01:00:13,680 --> 01:00:16,440 and sometimes for me, it's discouragement or unexpected 1278 01:00:16,440 --> 01:00:18,040 conflict that pops up out of nowhere. 1279 01:00:18,280 --> 01:00:21,440 Sometimes it's just my own exhaustion, and sometimes it's a 1280 01:00:21,440 --> 01:00:23,800 rift with somebody close to me. But I'm not trying to be 1281 01:00:23,800 --> 01:00:26,200 dramatic. I'm not saying that because I 1282 01:00:26,200 --> 01:00:28,520 think I'm special. I'm saying it because I know 1283 01:00:28,520 --> 01:00:30,480 that there's an enemy who would love nothing more than to keep 1284 01:00:30,480 --> 01:00:32,120 me from speaking on the things that are coming. 1285 01:00:32,880 --> 01:00:35,920 So would you please pray for me? My other request is would you 1286 01:00:35,920 --> 01:00:39,800 please pray for one another? And when I ask you that, I'm not 1287 01:00:39,800 --> 01:00:42,000 saying like when you see somebody and you say, hey, good 1288 01:00:42,000 --> 01:00:43,320 to see you brother, I'll be praying for you. 1289 01:00:43,320 --> 01:00:45,440 And what that means is you hope that things go well, but you 1290 01:00:45,440 --> 01:00:46,800 forget about them throughout the week. 1291 01:00:47,640 --> 01:00:50,480 When 1 spirit gets stirred up here, all of the spirits get 1292 01:00:50,480 --> 01:00:53,000 stirred up. So not the quick prayer before 1293 01:00:53,000 --> 01:00:55,160 the meal. I want you to really pray for 1294 01:00:55,160 --> 01:00:57,480 one another when you find out things are happening, even if 1295 01:00:57,480 --> 01:00:58,680 you don't know things that are happening. 1296 01:00:58,680 --> 01:01:01,680 Would you intercede and pray for the marriages of this church? 1297 01:01:01,960 --> 01:01:04,200 Would you intercede and pray for the parents that are raising 1298 01:01:04,200 --> 01:01:06,000 children, tomorrow's men and women? 1299 01:01:06,200 --> 01:01:08,600 Would you intercede and pray for the students that are going back 1300 01:01:08,600 --> 01:01:11,120 to school? Ask for them to be sharp minded 1301 01:01:11,120 --> 01:01:12,680 and to find Jesus everywhere they go? 1302 01:01:12,880 --> 01:01:14,840 Would you pray for those that are fighting temptation and 1303 01:01:14,840 --> 01:01:17,080 silence because they don't know how to say it out loud yet? 1304 01:01:17,560 --> 01:01:20,640 Pray for them to be bold enough to say it and to find the people 1305 01:01:20,640 --> 01:01:22,960 that will help them. Would you pray for the people 1306 01:01:22,960 --> 01:01:24,880 who fight anxiety? I don't care if you understand 1307 01:01:24,880 --> 01:01:27,440 anxiety or not, it's a real thing for a lot of people. 1308 01:01:27,440 --> 01:01:30,440 Would you pray for them? We spend so much time talking to 1309 01:01:30,440 --> 01:01:32,960 other people about our problems. I just wonder what would happen 1310 01:01:32,960 --> 01:01:35,480 if we just spent just as much time talking to God as we do to 1311 01:01:35,520 --> 01:01:39,960 each other about them. One last scripture, 2nd 1312 01:01:39,960 --> 01:01:42,640 Corinthians 10. Paul says this to the church in 1313 01:01:42,640 --> 01:01:44,920 Corinth. He said we are human, but we 1314 01:01:44,920 --> 01:01:49,680 don't wage war as humans do. We use God's mighty weapons, not 1315 01:01:49,680 --> 01:01:52,520 worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human 1316 01:01:52,520 --> 01:01:54,440 reasoning and to destroy false arguments. 1317 01:01:55,160 --> 01:01:58,360 We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing 1318 01:01:58,360 --> 01:02:00,880 God, He said. We capture their rebellious 1319 01:02:00,880 --> 01:02:02,800 thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. 1320 01:02:03,440 --> 01:02:06,920 Think about this, just like we started today, They captured 1321 01:02:06,920 --> 01:02:11,520 those people, the Aramaian army, and made them a meal, sent them 1322 01:02:11,520 --> 01:02:12,640 back. They weren't even willing to 1323 01:02:12,640 --> 01:02:15,280 attack them anymore. When you come into this conflict 1324 01:02:15,280 --> 01:02:20,120 over the next week or weeks, what can the Lord do to capture 1325 01:02:20,120 --> 01:02:22,320 those thoughts and build a bridge where you thought you 1326 01:02:22,320 --> 01:02:26,080 were going to burn? 1 Paul's reminding you that even 1327 01:02:26,080 --> 01:02:28,160 though you live in this world, you don't wage war the way this 1328 01:02:28,160 --> 01:02:30,000 world does. We can't clap back. 1329 01:02:30,120 --> 01:02:33,440 We can't snap at people. We can't ruin our witness in one 1330 01:02:33,440 --> 01:02:36,280 conversation because we need the satisfaction of feeling seen. 1331 01:02:36,840 --> 01:02:39,560 So this week, don't forget the prayers and questions we've 1332 01:02:39,560 --> 01:02:42,240 learned today. Lord, open my eyes. 1333 01:02:43,040 --> 01:02:49,520 What can I see right now? And Lord, grow me church, 1334 01:02:49,520 --> 01:02:51,360 there's a war. So before I walk off of here, 1335 01:02:51,640 --> 01:02:52,800 I'd like to pray for you if you wanted. 1336 01:02:52,800 --> 01:02:53,880 If you don't, you can stay seated. 1337 01:02:53,880 --> 01:02:56,080 But if you'd like a prayer, I'll just ask you to stand up. 1338 01:03:02,040 --> 01:03:05,640 Lord, there's a lot that we don't understand. 1339 01:03:06,160 --> 01:03:10,480 So God, instead of trying to understand everything, would you 1340 01:03:10,480 --> 01:03:12,600 give us your peace? Would you give us your truth? 1341 01:03:12,960 --> 01:03:15,280 Remind us of your salvation and your righteousness. 1342 01:03:15,440 --> 01:03:17,880 Equip us with that armor, Thank God. 1343 01:03:17,880 --> 01:03:23,560 Just remind us that this unseen reality around us is huge and I 1344 01:03:23,560 --> 01:03:26,120 can feel overwhelming until you remind us that you are the one 1345 01:03:26,120 --> 01:03:28,160 who's walking with us. Remind us that there's a reason 1346 01:03:28,160 --> 01:03:30,280 why we don't have full access to see all of it. 1347 01:03:30,720 --> 01:03:33,240 You don't want us overwhelmed, but you do want us equipped. 1348 01:03:33,760 --> 01:03:36,440 So God, from my own heart, I just pray that you keep me 1349 01:03:36,440 --> 01:03:40,080 humble, that you keep me safe, that you keep me confident in 1350 01:03:40,080 --> 01:03:42,000 you. Protect my family. 1351 01:03:42,080 --> 01:03:44,240 And God, I speak that over everybody at this church, 1352 01:03:44,240 --> 01:03:45,760 whether they attended today or not. 1353 01:03:45,960 --> 01:03:47,720 We love everybody who is seeking you. 1354 01:03:48,160 --> 01:03:50,000 God, would you do good amongst the brethren? 1355 01:03:50,000 --> 01:03:52,480 Would you take care of them? I intercede for the marriages 1356 01:03:52,600 --> 01:03:55,160 and the families and the children and the spiritual 1357 01:03:55,160 --> 01:03:57,680 destinies and callings of those that are here in this church. 1358 01:03:58,240 --> 01:04:00,680 God, you love these people way more than I ever could. 1359 01:04:01,240 --> 01:04:03,880 So I ask that you show them that love and that you let them feel 1360 01:04:03,880 --> 01:04:06,200 your presence and your confidence as we head through 1361 01:04:06,200 --> 01:04:08,200 this together. In the name of Jesus, everybody 1362 01:04:08,200 --> 01:04:09,720 said Amen.