This Is How I fight My Battles Pt 3

yo what's going on everybody welcome to Zion Church thank you so much for joining us listen we would love for you to stay connected with us and we have several ways that you can do that first is through our Zion anywhere app that app can be downloaded on the Google Play Store or the App Store secondly is through social media so feel free to follow us at Zion Church so sit back relax and enjoy the sermon that's about to take place with our pastor Keith battle in part one of this series we looked at how to handle thought attacks in part two I know it's been a while part two we gave the keys to a fight plan today we're going to conclude the series in Ephesians chapter 6 so if you have a Bible or an apparatus with the Bible on it a Bible app please turn to Ephesians chapter 6 that's where I want your attention if you don't have a Bible you cool the scripture is gonna come on the screen I'm gonna read this passage and let's get to work fusions chapter 6 would you would you would you do me a favor would you stand with me while I read this passage today since I got to stand up the rest of the time if you could stand would you staying with me I'll read this verse 10 I don't know what I'm hearing right there it's just is the y'all hear that y'all hear that you hear that great okay is it a situation I dunno it's okay praise the Lord verse 10 a final word be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power put on all God's armors so that you will be able to stand firm somebody say stand firm against all the strategies of the devil for your one we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world against mighty powers in this dark world and against evil spirits in the heavenly places therefore put on every piece of God's armor so that you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil then after the battle you will be standing firm mm-hmm stand your ground putting on the belt of truth in the body armor of God's righteousness with shoes put on the peace that comes from the good news so that you will be fully prepared in addition to all these hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil put on salvation as your helmet and take the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God pray in the spirit at all times and on every occasion stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere and pray for me to ask God to give me the right word so I can boldly explain God's mysterious plan that the good news is for Jesus and Gentiles alike I am in Chains now still preaching this message as God's ambassadors so pray that I will keep on speaking boldly for him as I should back to verse 11 please put on all God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm so my say staying firm verse 13 therefore of 13 put on every piece of God's armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil then at that you will be standing firm so I say stand firm verse 14 says stand your ground now for the old school people I want to go to the King James Version I don't know what they're doing in there I want to go King James residence for put on the whole armour of God that you may be able to stand somebody say stand against the wiles of the devil verse 13 verse 13 wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand stand therefore I want you to do me a favor before you sit down I want you to reach behind you besides you in front of you wherever you can go and I want you to touch as many people as you can and say I'm still standing I'm still standing I'm still standing I'm still standing I might be limping but I'm standing I might be a little wobbly because of what I've been through but I'm standing him I may have my gate I might be a little balanced but I'm still standing I've been through a lot in this journey I've been through some wars I've been through some battles but I'm still standing somebody give God or praise that I'm still I'm still standing yeah I may not look like I got it all together but I'm still standing I'm still having got all this tan tan therefore let me help you out for a minute to get to understand when people stand up like that in church I need to help you understand something I'm gonna speak full I'm not standing because I'm trying to show off I'm standing to testify that's my testimony see this judge too big the pastor Michael give it to everybody sort of only way I can testify is by standing you you think I'm showing off but I'm not even like that I'm shy bashful I'm introverted but when I think of the goodness of Jesus and all he's brought me through it all he's brought me out of I have to stand up and let the world know I am still standing how about somebody I'm still standing I'm still standing I'm still standing I'm still standing I'm sitting you can sit down you can sit out I'm still standing see what you have to understand is people don't understand it when you say you're still standing because all they look at is what you lost and when they look at what you lost they don't see how you can be victorious but I came to tell you that standing is not based on what I lost I may have lost my marriage I may have lost some money I may have lost some ministry I may have lost my home I may have lost a child I may have lost a platform I may have lost popularity but what you don't understand is the devil never thought I'd lose all that and still be standing but I'm here today Oh y'all ain't ready for this today I'm still standing I'm still saying what does it mean to stand my faith is intact my worship is intact I still love them in spite of what I lost I'm still here not because I got everything I want I'm standing because I still love them [Applause] holy holy holy holy I'm sorry I'm pause we reach them there's a man you want to know what standing is there's a man in the Bible named Joe I know y'all don't read let me tell you about him the man did everything he was supposed to do work the right way serve the right way went to church every day and pray for his kids and the Bible says this good man this man of integrity had a servant come up to him and say you lost all your cattle today and you lost your sheep today and you lost your livestock today and all your servants have been killed and then all 10 of your children were tragically killed in a storm and this man of faith while he's overwhelmed with grief got down on his knees and said the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away but blessed be the name of the Lord that's standing right there I worshipped him when I had it all and I worship him when I lose it all because through it all I'm still I'm still standing will somebody give him a standing praise a standing ovation a standing worshipper I give you glory then I'm if you've been through something with your spouse you didn't been through hell in your marriage I know you'll talk about it but just stand there was just mine and now you're still holding each other and you holding a god y'all look at you some say we still standing we're still standing we're still standing who y'all sit down so I can calm down whoo still still I'm still standing the Apostle Paul writes this letter to the church at Ephesus and when he writes this letter he starts with the first three chapters talking to them about their position in Christ he tells them over and over again who they are you must know who you are he says first of all you were once dead in your trespasses and sins but God has made you alive has quickened you by Jesus Christ and now you aren't just saved you are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus and you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption and now you are connected to the one who now you can say to him who is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all you could ask a thing by the power that is a work that is at work within you and after spinning those first three chapters talking about their position in Christ he starts in chapter 4 talking about their practice and how their walk must match their position and he says first of all you got to put off the old man and put on the new man you got stop lying stop telling the truth guys stop stealing and start working got to stop grieving the Holy Spirit stop grieving the Holy Spirit and start forgiving people I said you got to stop grieving the Holy Spirit and start forgiving people it always goes down right there if he says in Chapter five redeeming the time for the days are evil make the most of every opportunity then he says didn't stop talk about how husbands and wives ought to get along with each other and then he goes to chapter six and he said it's not children and parents or to get along with each other and then he says this is how employers and employees ought to get along with each other and passes Jeff just before he puts the pen down to write his closing salutations just before he says goodbye to the Church of Ephesus he says and by the way you are not going to get out of this life without a fight just look at somebody next to you say you ain't getting out of this without a fight be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power and when I kept looking at this passage and kept looking at this passage and kept looking at this passage I kept saying the word stand and stand firm and we're stand and stand therefore stand your ground and it began it began to dawn on me that the object the goal of warfare is to come out standing like-like-like that's a victory right there just to come out standing because warfare destabilizes you when you're in a war it disturbs your peace it it disturbs the normal in your life and it upsets things and when you come out of something standing you are victorious when you come out and your faith is intact and you still love God and you're gonna walk with Him no matter what you are standing I know what that look to the world like you're winning but he says the victory for you is that you stood you came out standing you came out standing and so and so I want to give you I just won't give you five I don't give six things in the passage to help you keep standing the first one is in verse 10 make sure your strength comes from the Lord yeah the reason why you stood is because your strength came from the Lord the Bible says be strong in the Lord now that is an exhortation which means it's a directive but it's also a verb be strong is actually a verb in the Greek language and it's interesting in the in the tense of the verb it is both a passive and a present verb is a passive present verb what does that mean first of all on the passive side it means that you cannot make yourself strong when it says be strong it means allow God to strengthen you you cannot you cannot manufacture spiritual strength you have to receive it and then because it's a perfect or present perfect tense it means that it's not something that happens once and for all like one day you got strong in the Lord it means you have to keep on being strengthened by the Lord it's an active thing day after day after day letting the Lord strengthen you and also the promisee is there if God says be strengthened by me then that means he never runs out of strength God is omnipotent God God wouldn't ask you to answer something that he didn't have and good supply that he always has enough strength for us that he says first of all make sure your strength is in me because a lot of people are trying to do life in their own strength and you get natural results when you do it that way so how do you strength how do you gain strength from the Lord you answered the question during the tribal moment you do it this is see when somebody hasn't eaten in days and they're malnourished they usually get weak and fatigued and the way you the way you reverse that weakness and fatigue is by nourishment and just like it is in the physical realm it's the same way in the spiritual realm the way we get strength is through worship writings I don't know what's writing but if you're writing I don't know but imma go ahead and say that music sunshine amen amen amen if that strengthens you singing the word in prayer what are your what are your spiritual disciplines that feed you this is a feeding list now notice I didn't say that anything over here feeds us this is very important witnessing and being kind and volunteering and giving and loving and being present doesn't feed you that's giving this is how you pour out whenever you serve a volunteer you are pouring out whenever you preach or sing or minister you are pouring out you are not being fed that's very important to understand and the reason why is important to understand because a lot of people are doing everything on this side of the ledger and doing nothing over here and when you keep pouring out and when you keep serving and you keep singing and you keep volunteering and you keep serving but you never feed your own soul you begin to beginning to serve out of an empty space God says it must be balanced you got to eat before you try to feed somebody else so this is very important how we gain strength from the Lord be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power the next thing it says in verse 11 is put on all God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against the strategies of the devil let me talk for a minute here's the second thing you got to do you got to beware of the devil strategies the strategies of the devil when we think of Satan we think of somebody who's grimy and slimy and dirty and evil and he may be all that but let me tell you what he is did we don't give him credit for he is strategic yeah one translation calls him the wiles of the devil the scheme's the devil is schematic the devil is strategic and this is how you know the devil strategic the devil is strategic in that he doesn't appear as himself he appears as an angel of light many times we don't know we've experienced an attack from the devil till it's over because it doesn't show up as the devil if somebody comes to destroy your marriage through infidelity they don't show up as an adulterer or an adulteress they show up as a friend they show up as a listening ear they show up as an encourage and since your spouse is not listening to you then they seem to be the perfect gift in your life because they will listen to whatever you have to say but they don't come you don't know they were to devil until this Oh y'all huh yeah don't put your head down yeah yeah when you get encouragement they come as a helper I'll get that from your lows Ella it's my new present lows Ella I'll get that for y'all let me get that for you and you ain't in Herman ain't said he gonna help you 80 years but but here come Clarence and I don't know whose names are who in here and Here Come Clarence and he gets your bags for he opens the door for you and he seems like a gift from God and you don't even know it because the devil has been studying you he knows a Desson area deficiency in an area of vulnerability and if Clarence keeps carrying your bags he's gonna get it oh he's going great we'll be his reward won't it we almost lived there almost slip bring me back Jesus the devil is strategic he's strategic he'll bring people into our life that will actually support us in doing wrong let me give an illustration when I grew up in my neighborhood wondered of guys who used to play basketball real good he was left-handed and I won't say his name because I don't you know know we're years so but he was probably one of the best people on a basketball players our neighborhood cuz he could jump high and and he really attacked the basket a lot and I was good too and so and I was and I'm competitive to this day like I'm competitive even in anything I want to win at everything and so when I would watch the game he and I will watch him I studied him and so when I get on the court I say I'll check him because one thing I knew he is he couldn't go to his right so I've always overplayed him so when he because he was just oh he's like James Harden going one way all the time he had the same kind of game that James Harden had and and so and so when I would check him he'd be standing right I'm right here you ain't going this way and he had all kinds of things where he would go he'd rather go backwards does it go this way so when I wouldn't let him go anywhere but to his right I knew he was he was be stifled because I studied him and I knew where his vulnerability was and so when he was forced to go right he didn't go with as much confidence and then every time he went right to the basket he always put it back in his left hand cause he had no confidence in his right hand so I knew the ball was coming to his back to his left hand so I just watched his left hand when the ball went and I hit it out sometimes I hit it off of him and you know because I'm competitive I talk trash and land get that garbage out of here nothing please give me that that's I talk to him the whole game like that so obviously we end up fighting because he ain't like none of that like but the point I'm trying to make is is that I could attack him because I knew his weakness in the world of boxing there's certain boxers who have good chance but they don't like getting hit in their body so anybody that knows anybody strategic will attack the body you playing table tennis ping pong you playing regular tennis some people have a good forehand they have a weak backhand if you're smart you're going are you gonna make them use the backhand and what I'm saying is the devil has studied all of us so much that he understands our proclivities and he understands our weakness and he'll send somebody to support that so we'll misbehave it's strategic so one of the most important things we can do as Christians is to be alert to the people in our lives who are actually facilitating wrong and destruction but they don't feel like they're wrong and destruction they feel like comfort and the people who hold us accountable and we're making us uncomfortable out of people who really want what's best for us I don't know who whatever is for mm-hmm now verse 12 verse 12 here's the next thing you got to do if you're gonna stand you got to know who you're really up against the Bible says in verse 12 we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies but against evil rulers and authorities in the unseen world again let me move this over here against it's gonna be in somebody's way but hey against mighty powers in this dark world and against evil spirits in heavenly places now let me deal with the elephant in the room first because a lot of people will read verses like that and think that stuff is not real it's just kind of hyperbole because we think you know we don't believe it's a lot of people that don't believe in demons and the devil in all of that and I respect you but I want to ask you a question if you don't believe there's an unseen dark world let me ask you a question here's the question I'll ask you have you ever seen somebody or actually been to somebody that snapped have you ever seen somebody just snapped I'm toughing I'll go straight and they call it ham you ever see somebody just go ham I'm telling were they in controllable unconsolable and all that and they just go straight off need people to hold on making sure you have any ever seen something like that right right now watch this they are so out of control that is hours later or days later you know what they're say some just came over me now you know they say I just lost it and and and then always come out and violence sometimes it comes out and doing sexual crimes to children well sometimes it can come across and stealing and robbing from somebody well sometimes it can come across and in a strong urge to hurt or harm yourself and what I'm trying to tell you the Bible calls that a spirit of evil that's a spirit of darkness and it's real and it's real and it influences people now look at the verse again it says we're not fighting against flesh and blood and cos humans and a lot of people got to really understand this our fight and the word fight there the word fight or wrestle is the word parlay and it means an up-close encounter a pol a is an up-close encounter and one of the things you let me say some you never have to wonder if you're in a spiritual warfare if you're in a spiritual battle because there's always close enough when it's close to you it's not it's not somebody else's family it's not somebody else's situation when you're in a spiritual battle you'll know it you'll feel it it'll be up close and personal you ain't got to ask no questions when the oh just what when somebody just walks in a room like this and walks past hundreds of people and walks right up to you and slaps you in the face that means that was intentional you are a target the devil will target you see a lot of us astronomers we sitting around scratching my head wondering what did we do wrong and why is this happening to me and why am I going through this sickness and why is this attack on my body and wants this attack on my marriage and when I just tackled my money and why's it devised this attack on my children what did I do wrong you keep asking me to do wrong how many touches teaching something right here you don't have to do absolutely one thing wrong in your life to be attacked by the devil the only thing you need to be is on the other team once you came out of darkness into the marvelous light and you join Jesus's team because you had to join Jesus team because we're born on Satan's team I know you try to act like you've been saved so long you was never on the devil's team but if he's just to to says we were all once children of the kingdom of darkness we were once on his team and once you switch teams you became a target and here's another sign that you're gonna be tempted you're gonna be challenged with warfare is if you ever see if you ever pose a threat to the enemy's kingdom you don't even have to be productive you don't even you just have to have potential let me talk to somebody here if you got a history of ever doing the kind of things that make a difference in the kingdom or if you got the kind of potential that makes a difference in the kingdom you are a target that's why every time you sign up to serve god something pops off every time you step up to go to another level as long as you serve on this level everything's cool as soon as you start getting serious about the next level with God stop stop stop it up that's because he fights your potential and we're worried about where it's coming from a wise coming I'm saying it's because of whose sides you'll so this fight this fight that we're in is a part of our journey so the key is is to know what we're up against and go back to the verse verse 12 for a second it says we don't wrestle against Preston universe flesh-and-blood enemies but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world evil rulers and forty or unseen world now it's hard to fight something you can't see because the the force behind it is invisible but it manifests through visible through visibility because Satan uses people I said Satan uses people now before you say men to fast he uses us to a man some of us on retainer for the devil like but even if you were used by the devil you're still responsible for your behavior because if you ever get caught doing something reckless you going to jail Satan and going to jail you're going to jail so now he says we're fighting against these rulers and this is very important and it's rulers of this dark world dark world I want to challenge you one of the ways you can stand through a spiritual attack is to be careful how you flow in and out of darkness too many Christians are comfortable going in and out of darkness and I'm telling you when you walk as a child of the light in the dark spaces you are walking into an arena where you have no dominion and you become a target that's why a lot of us when we try to go to clubs and we try to live a double life we're just we the very wants to get jumped we get jumped our car gets vandalized we get disrespected in the club because you are you're out of place do me a favor Chris do try to illustrate this when you're in a club black the place out just black it out right the screen everything black it out much we can I'm trying to create a club scene so I can feel like they were last night now here you are in darkness which you'll save self with your royal self with your Jesus loving self and you in there and you don't even know the new dances but every time you show up it's just like everybody can see you then like you just you stand out so that's why it's always a light on you Turner all we're so so everything else in the club is dark but you and you're standing over there and you do the same move you do the electric slide on everything slow song you can let anything you do the same and cuz people don't understand you they don't like you like what is she doing in here she stands out they don't even understand what it is about you and I'm saying that's why you does that this is why it's so important you turn the lights back up this is why it's so important to stay out of dark situation I see people all the time who are saved you got to make a decision whose side are you on because you can't flow in and out of darkness because you don't play by the same rules anymore and you want to go on dark places with integrity and character and or people ain't playing that way so next thing they're gonna snatch your weave out right there I'm saying you're not safe in those environments let me hurry up cuz I got to get through all this so I got you the point get strength from the Lord beware the devil strategies know what you're up against what you're really up against here's the next thing resist the devil verse 13 says resist the devil resist this is a resistance fight he doesn't say engage the devil he says resist them he says he says withstand see a lot of us are trying to engage the devil but unless you have exorcism power or that kind of authority I would I would suggest that you resist the devil resistance James 4:7 says resist the devil and he will flee from you I was coming back from Orlando we were on our family vacation we're coming back from Orlando and and you know my family makes fun of me they called me Kanye Keef because they say I'm so bougie I don't like long lines and when I fly by my cell phone with my wife always fly priority so I just go to the front right that's how I like so I'm flying and it's about 7:00 at us so I got to stand back there with them I'm already mad cuz I mean is this line at Disney World the line was like brown did down the line was in Tampa Tom's standing back here looking like like and then my daughter thought she had priority she thought she had a priority ticket for us so you know I think she thought cuz my somebody was was underage in our group that we could all go in so we walked up to the front like we was going in and they stopped us and we had to go all the way back to the end of the line so I'm really upset but anyway I waited and I got to the security thing and you know how you put your stuff you take your shoes off you put them in the bin and you run them through the thing so I go through there and I go through there and I'm waiting on my stuff to come on the other side and as I'm reaching to get my stuff out the bin a lady who was doing security there walks up behind me and actually takes her arm and pushes me out the way and starts grabbing the band's like I'm moving too slow and I wonder the Banshee grab I hadn't even got everything out I had to get it out and she was grabbing it and she pushed me at the same time and so I said to her really she said yeah really now let me tell you something not only did she get in my personal space she made physical contact with me and then she let me know she did it on purpose when she said yeah really now I'm 100% in the flesh right now immediately and I don't even know what happened I don't know if God told me if the spirit of the universe spoke to me I don't know who spoke to me but something said to me let it go it ain't worth it let it go just let it let it go it ain't worth because I was going say something to her and do die so I let it go and I put myself with a friend I do nothing else though so I got through and left but watch this watch this I resisted it if I had engaged that spirit I don't know maybe I remind her or somebody if I'd engage that spirit I'm gonna call for a manager and be standing there waiting on the manager to come half an hour we missed the flight now we got to stay over we're gonna you know miss the connection and all that stuff you see when you engage a demon you're wasting time you got to learn how to resist you got to learn how to resist see some demon some spirits you don't need had to have an argument with give me give me Exodus 14 14 Exodus 14 14 says it is about God it says God will fight for you while you keep silent you gotta learn how to shut your mouth when somebody starts talking crazy and cussing and talking out their mouth you know what did you say oh you know what I'm done that's cool I'm good with that you gotta learn how to move away from people who are crazy when you walk in the situation and people throwing stuff and acting crazy you ain't gotta stand up to that and try to be bold and courageous type I ain't no Punk you better learn how to move away from stuff because the longer you try to engage with a demon the more of your time you gonna waste resist it some of y'all are arguments am I in your life at work in your house all the time you argue with a spirit learn how to resist because the only goal you have is to stand because watch this Jesus 427 says be angry but do not sin don't let the Sun go down on your wrath because watch this if you stayed a little angry long enough you're gonna switch masters you give the devil a foothold now went into this as a Christian now I'm in it as a sinner and I'm gonna come out as a demon and I let the devil take a completely over how many you know you had a potential to let the devil take completely over and take you all the way back to Berry Farms resist somebody say resist resist I got to mourn I got to go resist the devil resist the devil here's the last thing his warmup proper attire proper attire keep you standing he says in verse 14 put on put on how you dress matters what you wear says something about you and and there's seven things he wants us to wear here I want to wear all this Marvin when he says put on the belt of truth I wanna wear truth he says put on the breastplate of righteous where righteousness yeah when he says put on put up the shield of faith or put on the shoes of the gospel I wanna I wanna I wanna wear peace I want to walk in peace I want to wear faith the shield of faith I want to wear the Word of God I want to work where prayer like dressing it see when he says put on all this stuff which is for war if you have a scene a riot break out on television and you see people looting and rioting and you see their law enforcement they have on helmets and they have shields and they have the thing on the helmet and they have bulletproof vest on and they had these big shields and they have weapons it makes sense because of what they're up against but we live every day as we don't need that kind of protection and I'm saying you don't need it every day you just need it in the time of evil look at what the text says go back to verse 13 he says you have to what make sure you're ready to fight and ready and prepared to defend yourself in the time of evil because every one of us will run into a time of evil I'm not saying you got to walk out in the house every day with a helmet on but I'm saying when you're in the evil time you got to have your helmet on let me walk to all I'm first of all the belt of truth the truth the truth how many you know people that lie you know anybody allowed I mean lies regularly well guess what there's nobody you know the outliers Satan because the Bible says he's the father of lies saves me a line of people in deceiving him for years in fact the first family got deceived Adam and Eve got deceived on lies st. Olaf you ain't no come on now you ain't gonna die you ain't gonna dad ain't all that serious if you eat this fruit let me tell you was really about to go down God knows if you eat this you're gonna be just like him it's gonna be five of y'all the Father the Son the Holy Spirit little Adam Louise be father you're all fired do you like the Jackson 5 the divine five that's what he's trying to hold y'all back and they fell for that it fell for that the only way you can fight that see the devil doesn't come in violence he comes in trickery that's why you got to know the truth you got to know the truth and the truth will make you free you got to know that truth when I was working at became a-- that came out we're about to open up a Greenbelt location and it came I used to work in that came on and when I worked in that came out as a cashier they never showed us counterfeit money they and because the thinking was if we saw enough real money the counterfeit would stand out see we when you know the truth enough when you hear lie it don't sit right with you you all care if it's a preacher if you know the truth you can hit you ever heard something and that thing didn't Larry said I don't know about that that don't even sound right they ain't hit my spirit right you got to know the truth that much good when he you hear something you say they don't say on the line with God's truth know the truth know the truth and when you're in a fight you got to know this truth that God loves me that he cares about me that he's in control that he's sovereign that he allows things to happen he causes some things to happen he permits some things to happen but nothing happens outside of his control and all things work together for the good of them they love God you got to remember the truth when you're in a fight here's the next thing the breastplate of righteousness righteousness is so important this this this peace is important because of what it protects it protects in my heart my heart is so vulnerable in a fight and he says I want you to be righteous this is so important because some of us when we're in a battle long enough we think we've earned a sin pass I've been caregiving for these people been helping my na Nana out been taking care of these sick people been doing all this it makes sense for me to do something to comfort me and God said I still want you to be righteous even in a fight hmm why y'all so quiet righteousness what's the next one peace peace I want to walk in peace war time is the antithesis of peace and God says I can keep you in perfect peace if you keep your mind on me God give me your peace in this fight give me a piece that won't let me panic cuz cuz I'm already one I just need you to manifest the victory peace what's the next one what's the next one giving the next one is that the next one what's that the peace shield of faith the shield of faith was a big shield it wasn't just a small thing it covered their whole body it's like in the fiery darts that would be shot would be dipped in some kind of flammable material and it would fly as a flame towards people and so they would put these shields in water so they would douse it and here's the thing God whenever I'm attacked by let me respond with faith let me not fight back let me respond by faith let my face stand up against every attack here's the next one I got to hurry up give me the next salvation my helmet of salvation somebody said keep my head Lord keep my head right keep my head right Lord this week don't let it drive me crazy don't let me lose my mind keep my thoughts right because you know what I'm thinking I'm gonna tell you something whenever you in a spiritual fight you start thinking about doing stuff that ain't righteous somebody say man that I have Lord put me let me could this help me right put this out let me think like I'm saved let me think like a Christian on this Lord let me think right so I can speak right yeah next one next one next one and then the sword of the Spirit was just a word of God you have to have a system in place that regularly connects you with the Word of God regularly connects you with the Word of God and finally prayer prayer after proper attire prayer and he says pray in the spirit be persistent in your prayers some of us just have a prayer list we just roll row through a wish list but praying in the spirit means you stay tethered to God you wanna know what he's up to what should I do in this situation I want your guidance we should I say we should I not say how should I move a spiritual prayer now let me say this somebody's asking well why do I have to go through all this warfare I just believe that there's no greater tool to keep us tethered to God than difficulty nothing more prepares us for our assignment than these kinds of challenges as you stand up let me tell you a quick story because we got to go as we stand during the Superbowl I was watching one of our local pastors who I admire he was going back and forth about which team he was pulling for so I think when the game started here on a Kansas City Chiefs hat and he he went online and say yeah and with the Chiefs on with the Chiefs and then as the game waned on it looked like the 49ers are gonna win it he posted again had a 49ers head said I told y'all I told y'all 49ers and then when that thing turned he came back on here to Chiefs head on she said I said I've told y'all it was the Chiefs right and it was all fun it was all fun but I want to ask you something serious I want to ask you to make a choice today like Joshua were told the Israelites choose you this day whom you will serve some of you been vacillating in your life between am I going to follow God or am I going to continue to dabble in darkness and I'm encouraging you to choose the light I'm challenging you to make that choice a day to make a choice for the light so I'm gonna invite four groups of people up today the first group is anybody here that says today pastor I want to choose to follow Jesus I've never done that before I've never made a decision to give my life to him and to follow him I want to give you a chance to do that wherever you are today if you're in Zion Church Woodbridge I want you to follow me on this I'm gonna give you an opportunity to come to the front to say I want to follow Jesus today and maybe you're in the second group I want to invite people to rededicate their life to Christ because at some point you made that decision you said I've decided to follow Jesus and you did but you got off track you got away and it wouldn't even be right to slip back in it's right to stand up and to be counted to say I'm back I'm back here to follow Jesus again I've rededicated my life to Jesus and if that's you even in that auditorium I want you to come forward and then the third group I'm inviting is to join this church one of the reasons why this this this armor of God doesn't protect any part of the back all the stuff is really around the front of the person is because you're supposed to be a part of a family and we're supposed to have each other's backs it's dangerous when you live this life apart from the family of God and I invite you to join the church some of you already made up your mind but join the church today if they do it I'm joining the church today if that's you you come to the front that's the third group of the fourth group is somebody need to make a decision i'ma serve God in this church I'm gonna serve the Lord you've been a member you begin doing nothing amen amen you like that person in the house in the family don't clean up you don't make up your bed you don't do nothing you just you come and eat you leave your plate on the table and leave you might leave a little tip when the bucket comes past but you're not really involved in the house and you say I want to get involved in serve and it's time for me this year to start serving so if you're one of those four groups wherever you are you hear you say I want to serve the church I want to join the church I want to start following Jesus I want to rededicate my life of Jesus you're one of those four groups and meet me down front come down to the front right there design we're bridge - come on anybody else come on come on waiting on you I'm over time so I need you to move amen amen whatever group you in we'll figure out the group in a minute we'll figure you out you ain't got put it no finger up tell me which group you in I got your we got you we got you we got you we whatever there is your family we happy you hear we're happy we're happy we're happy summer I wanna make sure I get everybody yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah if you're in an extended sanctuary wherever you are come to the front we just want to greet you and make sure we connect with you amen amen amen one more time celebrate our new family members I get y'all amen or old family members who checked in amen I'm checking in past I'm checking in amen you got it I'm checking in I'm checking in I'm checking in I'm checking in I'm checking in amen I want to give you one more chance hey Billy all right I want to did I shake your hand all right good I don't know if I should Jam you don't want to buy leave us a hand shake my hands Teddy like - he's so petty you coming up or you help it all right anybody else before I pray anybody else you know you're supposed to be up here stop playing come on now I got to go you plan just go ahead and say skew me pose be up there I was waiting on him say if you say one more thing I'm gonna go up there you ready one more thing there you go I know it somebody else but I ain't gonna mess with you the reason why I want to wait for you though because I don't know if I don't know how many more shots you got like I really don't even if you live a lot longer I don't know if you'll ever be this close to this moment you don't say you have to learn how to seize moments in your life period that matter I just don't know if you take that series I don't know if you ever had this moment again I really don't all I know is you got right now somebody you know the routine and somebody they need help coming down just ask them I'll go with you come on I'm still waiting here they come I'm still waiting on you I knew you was in here amen amen amen yeah what's that song we sing you waited you've waited you've waited you've waited God God waited on you service link ran it over to service and we keep waiting came it just came all right all right let me get past y'all did I miss anybody I did miss you all right all right okay we're gonna pray for y'all pray for y'all y'all ready let me pray for y'all father I thank you for these who come to the altar now I thank you for their decision today and I thank you that the kingdom will be better because of it that their energy their creativity their service their life will make a contribution that will make a difference I do pray that you will detangle everybody who needs to be tangled from a world of darkness snatch us out pull us out rescue us so that we could walk with you connect us with real people who are really committed to you and may we serve you for the rest of our lives I pray the spiritual gifts would be unleashed that people would know what their purpose is in Christ and that they would disobey the most wonderful journey of their lives thank you for each of them I cover them now by the presence of your spirit in Jesus name and everybody said amen amen I'm so proud of y'all thank you so much for joining us today really hope that you enjoy today's message so listen if you would like to help us reach more people just like you and I would like to encourage you to click the gear button at the top of your screen also please note that past sermons are made readily available online for your viewing pleasure and we hope that through our ministry you're able to experience God be engaged in community being equipped for ministry and empowered to serve we'll see you next time

Channel: Keith Battle

Views: 4,937

Rating: 4.909091 out of 5

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Id: m_mURMGZOJU

Length: 48min 54sec (2934 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 11 2020