This Means War! | High Stakes | Week 1

hey y'all welcome to Fire and search online my name is Kela and I'm so glad you're watching with us today this is my friend Brando and I wanted to ask Brando what is your favorite part about our online community well actually one of my favorite Parts about our online communities that we have so many people watching from all over the world and I just want to do a big shout out to all my Latino americanos yeah what he said hey if you are watching in the Denver Boulder area or along the Front Range you might not know this but we actually have five campuses that we would love to help you get connected with all the way from Longmont down to Aurora these communities are incredible and we definitely think you should be involved in one of them so reach out and let us know if you need help finding the right campus for you all right so make sure you like subscribe to this YouTube channel and if today's message is impactful to you in any way make sure to share it with somebody you love or somebody that you feel needs to hear it today Bienvenidos enjoy today's service [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] well good morning flat irons thank you guys so much for joining us today God is so deserving of Our Praise so we're gonna think about that this morning let's go [Music] on the mountain [Music] cause my praise is [Music] praise the Lord of my soul I'll praise when I feel and I praise [Music] is still in control [Music] all my praise is [Music] as long as I'm breathing I've got a reason to pray [Music] [Music] praise the Lord [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] let's go [Music] [Music] [Music] I won't be quiet [Music] one more time [Music] thank you [Music] hey we sang this song last week remember there's no sound louder than a capture set free are there some captives set free here in this place [Music] he turned my bitter into sweet and all my burdens are lifted with the Shackles On My Feet come on [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] victory we see it again [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] I'm always sing this out with everything we got you're my deliverer [Music] you are my promises [Music] [Music] you want my promise [Music] promise [Music] [Music] [Music] me ready [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] choices [Music] [Music] choices [Music] [Music] anymore [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] her name of Jesus [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] here is [Music] my surrender this is my surrender here is [Music] my surrender [Music] to do whatever you want to to do whatever you want to do [Music] it is to do whatever you want me to do whatever you want to hear is [Music] [Music] is [Music] when I will baby [Music] [Music] space is Jesus [Music] [Music] Jesus [Music] [Music] [Music] have you away [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] is better [Music] Jesus please do whatever you want [Music] you baby [Music] [Music] all right let's pray God we're so thankful this morning that we get the opportunity to make space for you for your presence God for you to speak for you to move I pray this morning God that you would move you promise that you're with us that you're in this place that you're walking with us God and so this morning I pray that we would be aware of your presence God that it doesn't matter how far we've run where we've gone what we've done Lord there is always space to come back to you to realign our hearts with what you want for us God so this morning I just pray for clarity and peace and confidence as we approach you to learn something new about you about what you want for us how you desire to be with us God would you grow our faith would you strengthen our faith this morning in you God we love you we trust you we glorify you you are so deserving of our praise and our worship this morning because of who you are because of your son Jesus so we thank you for that we rest in that truth this morning we love you we give it to you in Jesus holy name I pray amen amen good morning flattered it's so good to be here with you my name is Lindsay if we've not met I would love to meet you today would you take a second and say hi to the people around you that you do not know that you did not show up here with today good mornings you guys can go ahead and have a seat hey if you're joining us online we're so grateful for you we are so glad that you're taking time out of your morning to spend time with us hey well good morning Flatirons how are you feeling this morning we're feeling okay all right hey my name is Sean I'm on the student team here and uh I don't know if you know this or not but we are leaving for camp tomorrow for middle schoolers and high schoolers yeah we can make some noise for that [Applause] and so if you didn't know we were bringing about 750 students to camp and another 150 yeah we can make some noise for that that's awesome I bring another 150 leaders and staff and we are very expectant for the ways that God is going to show up and show off this week at camp but before we go up to Camp uh I wanted to take an opportunity to ask for your prayer throughout this week because we know life the camp can really change a student's life we asked a couple students just this last week who are reflecting back just a year ago from Camp last year when I heard the story of this girl Rosie who's a high schooler here at Lafayette and she was talking about how she remembers going to Camp last year and the days before realizing I don't really know anybody that's going on this summer camp like what did I sign myself up for and by the time she got on the bus she said that she already felt so loved and welcomed by this community of girls that were in her group to the point to where by night two these are her words she said I Knew by night too that this Camp would change my life forever and now looking back a year later she has said Camp changed my life forever later that year she got baptized she's now growing in her faith in a group and we know that that's just one story of many that God is going to write this week and so I always want to ask for your prayer particularly for three different types of students that are going to be coming to summer camp this year the first one is the student who is hoping that they are hoping that something in their life would change maybe they have these Desires in their heart that are not being met in the world because we know that only God can fulfill the deepest longings of our hearts to pray that God would meet them there the second is a student who doesn't know why they're going to Camp they signed up because they heard there's ice cream or something and they're like I don't know or maybe their parent is telling them right now that oh yeah by the way you're going to camp tomorrow um they might not know why they're going to camp but God has a clear purpose and vision for what could happen at camp that just like Rosie maybe has some hesitancy going in but could leave forever changed and the third one is this we have some students who love Jesus and it is a hard time to be a high school or middle school student and to love Jesus on your schools on your sport teams and I'm assuming that a lot of them feel like they are alone in their faith and so my hope is for that third student they would feel encouraged and more on fire than ever than to live out their faith in every area they find themselves and so would you guys commit to praying for that over the next week can we do that thank you all right it took a little it took a second so let's pray for them right now Heavenly Father we we are so humbled uh God to think about just the amount of students who are going to be coming up to camp this week and to have an experience with you God we pray for the student who has who is hoping for something to change in their heart and in their life God that you would meet them there that you would meet them and fulfill the deepest longings of their heart God for the student who is coming who doesn't fully understand why they're coming to Camp or maybe just doesn't think that camp could actually change anything about them God would you show up in a way that they never expected and God for the students that are coming to Camp going to grow in their faith maybe feeling isolated and alone thinking is anyone else my age taking this seriously would they be encouraged and refreshed so as we start the school year they feel more encouraged and sent out than ever to live out the life that you call us to live God we pray for this because we are expectant that you are going to move in powerful ways and we know that you hear us when we pray this in Jesus name amen all right hey well I have this special privilege this morning to welcome up our very own Pastor Jim Bergen could we get up for Jim wow awesome so it's uh I miss you I do I'm glad to be back actually I've been gone eight weeks before I jump into what I want to talk about uh and if you have your Bibles with you're gonna be in Ephesians chapter six uh in about an hour and a half from now so anyway so before you jump into this I want to thank I want to thank our elders and our staff for taking such great care of me making sure I have time and space to stay healthy and to rest uh I went on vacation with Robin but uh to get away and just study to hear from God where he's leading me and leading this church so I want to thank them I also I want to give a special thanks to Dr Mark Moore over the last month all right and the other teachers go on Give It Up uh so some other teachers are stepped in this summer and they've fed us absolutely phenomenal somebody told me that everybody says hey I really love Mark I'm never inviting you back I'm very insecure now and uh uh but no Mark's listening today because I I ran this talk by him and and I want to make sure I wasn't crazy the jury's still out on that but here's the here's the danger of sending me away so I can carve out time and space to hear from God here's the danger of that I heard from him all right buckle up all right and I know I have a reputation whenever I'm gone for a while on a break or a mission trip I come back weird and fired up and just when everybody on notice I am more weird and more fired up than I've ever been in my whole life I know what I'm supposed to spend the rest of my life doing and where I'm supposed to lead this church called Flatirons all right I know all right I know be careful because you may not be what you thought of it was all right and and just saying that out loud makes me sound even weirder so so let me let me make a couple of things very very clear and then I'm going to take you today down the first steps of a journey that I hope you'll go on with me uh moving forward again today is me sharing out loud what God's teaching me and leading me I guess my my big ask at the end of this or the application is I'm going to ask you a question do you want to go with me right so before we get into the weird stuff all right let me kind of get all the big rocks on the table so you know it's still he's still okay right here's what I believe all right I believe in god father God the Father maker of heaven and Earth who was and is and is to come he is Yahweh he's the one true God most high there's no one like him no one above him or no one beside him I believe in God Amen all right I believe in Jesus Christ his unique son who is Yahweh In the Flesh fully God fully incarnate born of a virgin came through the birth canal cried got potty trained learned to walk grew up went through puberty what grew up to be a man lived a sinless life died on a cross rose again on the third day to accomplish what his father sent him to do his death and his resurrection paid for our sin and removed the threat of death and separation from God forever his Ascension took back to heaven sent the Holy Spirit who lives in every believer progressively conforming us into the image of Christ overcoming depravity and Brokenness and then Jesus launched his church in order to take the gospel message to the ends of the Earth to regather the nations in the fullness of time Jesus will return to gather his people and we will reign with him amen I believe that any person who puts their faith in Jesus Christ as their lord and savior is saved by grace through faith and what Jesus has already done for them and not what you might do for him in the future this makes it really really clear I love this take a picture all right the gospel the good news of the Gospel is what God has already done for us not what we're supposed to do for him we don't earn our way in so don't worry if you screw up you didn't earn it he's not going to take it away from you having said that any person who has truly put their faith in Jesus has his Spirit residing in them that will they will demonstrate that Faith by their and I love this phrase their their their level of believing loyalty in obedience to Jesus and what he says is right and true again not in order to be loved or become saved but because we understand we already are I believe that the church is God's family on Earth to whom Jesus will one day introduce each one of us to his heavenly father and declare he is not ashamed to call himself our brother Hebrews chapter 2. I believe that the church is the Earthly reflection of God's Heavenly counsel and we have been tasked to worship the one true God in Jesus Christ whom he has sent with all of our heart our mind our soul and our strength and to partner with the spirit to image God to the world so everybody has an opportunity to call into one name given to man under Heaven and Earth by which we may be saved the name of Jesus only Jesus can save I believe that I also believe that I am called to to this particular church flatterings and you recall to this particular Church Flatirons and Flatirons is chosen by God to be in this community to make his kingdom known to the world in Colorado and beyond for such a time as this I believe that so that means this anything else you hear from me today doesn't violate that doesn't contradict that all right never will never will be cool everybody amen all right now you have no idea what now he said let me just tell you a little bit about the journey I've been on last six months or so so this guy you were here for it and you go like oh yeah I remember that weekend all right right back so this was a little trip down memory lane so last fall all right I had the opportunity to travel to Kenya Africa twice to spend time with Maasai people uh the second trip was I had the privilege of participating in a Maasai initiation ceremony of some young boys becoming men beautiful bucket list in my life all right at the same time about a year ago right here in America the headlines were and social media were blowing up all the stories about gender and and I was trying to explain this to some Maasai Christian men about what's going on in America they didn't have a category for it like what I remember telling one one man in the back of a van one time he says in America a boy can be a boy can become a girl and he says oh my boy wants to be an engineer you're not listening I was like that wait wait and again you didn't have a category all right finally asked me this ruined my trip he said Pastor Jim where's the church where's the church what were they doing and I thought right there right say nothing and I remember coming back from that trip and I was fired up when I get fired up I'm not real gracious all right all right yeah that's true all right I remember standing up here and calling out parents and teachers you need to stand up you need to go to your school and you guys this is not okay and you need to go to your school board and say and then you know what I wish I would just shut up right there because all week long here's where I landed and say what and say what I'm putting a finger in your test when you said say what most most parents most people most Christians that I know have no idea what to say or how to articulate What God Says is right and true or what and why God says something else is not right or or true and gender we're not going to get hung up on that it's just one example of the many social battles being fought in our world and it feels like we are in a war and we don't know how to fight or who we're supposed to fight for or against now hang on to that because here's the answer it's not each other right there's more going on so here's my first aha moment right in in the last several months if if you call flattering your church and you can decide if that means to you all right and you don't know how to articulate how why What God Says is right and true and good around all these cultural social battles being fought all around us around identity around sexuality around Faith around marriage around Life part of that is on me here's what I mean by that right you all have trusted me to be your teacher and if after time you are prepared to give an answer for the hope that you have even on the most basic level of this is my identity in Christ this is who I am to God this is how and why I live my life the way I do that's partially not totally but partially on me I'm not being a martyr but while I believe that it is the mission of the church to reflect the mission of Jesus that Mark pointed to so well last week we we are here to seek and save the lost right that's not going to change we will always be a church that opens its doors wide to any person who is seeking truth no matter how messy their lives have been or currently are but please hear this the mission of the church does not stop getting lost in broken people saved and Out of Hell after they die or feeling less guilty about what they've done are more positive about themselves that that's helpful but it's going somewhere it is continually learning and growing in and knowing what God says is true and bringing our lives into obedience to Christ so that God's Mission and purpose for our individual lives and for this church and for the world in this life is realized through us and that comes from knowing the word of God see I I agree with statements like this I'll buy this t-shirt it's okay to not be okay totally agree hear this it's not okay to stay not okay right getting saved is the starting line of a change and changing life and all that to say I am committed to this church that before I hang it up in a few years I don't know how many until they go go away or I don't know the most important thing I could leave behind is a church that knows how to handle and submit to the word of God because if you're able to do that nothing can stop you everybody still with me can I get amen all right okay next part nobody left well one but just try to pee go all right so so I really am under conviction about our church really digging into the word of God so I mentioned this before I went on break I've really been being drawn back to First Corinthians and second Corinthians all right two letters in the in the Bible that a guy named Paul wrote to a church locating a city called Corinth which is located in what we now call call Greece and and Corinth was kind of it's a big deal it's a big city it's a cultural kind of center with all kinds of different religions everywhere all these cultures and and belief systems it kind of prided itself on being Progressive like hey in Corinth Anything Goes but we'll be the first to try it's very similar to Denver I know I mean we kind of pride ourselves like Hey we're the first ones to do that we legalized that before anyway it's just everything happened right it's kind of like right now now the purpose of these two letters is in response to some reports that Paul has gotten about the Corinthian Church there and here it is there's just nothing different about them there's nothing distinctive about them there's there's no difference between the Christians living in Corinth and the other people in Corinth that don't give a flip about Jesus they're no different they're just like everybody else as a matter of fact a bunch of the Christians in the Corinthian Church there are taking what they've learned about Jesus and combining it with some other stuff that they learn other beliefs other religions and some superstitions in other words I like that part about Jesus about being forgiven and not going to hell sign me up there but I'm still hanging on to my in my other Church whatever it's okay to have sex I'm someone I'm not married to so I'm just going to combine that in my other place it's okay to you know cheat a person in business that's just what it is I I know what Jesus says about my body but in my other personal belief system my truth my body is my body and nobody can tell me what I should or shouldn't do with it Pauline reports this some of the Christians are doing things that even the pagans the non-believers are going we don't even do that that's just wow that is out there I'm not gonna tell you what that is because there's kids in the room but so I so I thought well that's a good place to start because that's a pretty good description of Christianity at least in America so my plan was to come back from break and teach through both of those letters all fall but then as I'm reading through and studying to come back and teach I come to these odd passages passages in there and I'm like how am I going to teach that like like I'll give you a few of them Paul teaches that we he says we Christians we have been given a secret wisdom that's been hidden for Generations that's been given to us from God and then he says this look at this none of the rulers of this age understood this for if they had they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory what's that mean and who are the rulers of this age and it's not the Jews or the Romans that nailed Jesus to a cross Paul is referencing rulers in the spiritual world so my question is what did they not understand what was the big secret and if they had known that secret they wouldn't have crucified Jesus you know then you jump over to chapter six and Paul is criticizing Christians for taking one another to court over stuff that Christian brothers and sisters you ought to be able to work it out and then he throws this in don't you know you'll judge angels ever heard that sermon and I thought no we we don't we Paul we don't know that all right we have no idea what you're talking about or how about in chapter five it says this if there's a Christian brother or sister who's part of your church that's involved in ongoing refuses to repent sexual sin you're you're moving from the church and look at this and not just kick him out look deliver this person over to Satan for the destruction of the Flesh in order that his or her spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord what that sounds really me I don't know here go to hell what is that right it just said like what are you talking about in another place Paul finds out that there's this big controversy about buying and eating meat they bought in a market and the meat was left over from sacrificing to an idol a statue of a different God and Paul says in one place in First Corinthians it's no big deal because we know the Idols are just stone or wood they don't have any power but then he says but please be aware of people Christians all right the people who sacrifice to these Idols were actually worshiping and joining themselves to Demons they were worshiping other gods small G gods and as a Christian joining yourself to Jesus and any other God cannot happen you can't eat from the table of Jesus and the cup of demons you can't do it all that to say most of us are sitting there going what are you talking about judging Angels worshiping demons did you just say small gee God earlier you said that you thought there was only one God that's not what I said I said there's no God like our God and that's true but if there's no God like our God compared to who and if Paul is warning this church in Corinth that there is ongoing spiritual and demonic competition and attacks on their lives and pulling them away from following Jesus my question is was that just true for Christians two thousand years ago or is it still possibly happening today all that to say this isn't like Rabbit Trail all right what if all that we are experienced in the world today in areas like violence and addiction and sexual and gender confusion and spiritual and relational chaos what if it's not new at all but it's been happening over and over and over repeating the same cycle of Destruction but we as followers of Jesus are totally ignorant of it because first of all we live in this enlightened post-modern world where we doubt anything Supernatural that we can't explain away and second we have no idea what God's word says about what's really going on in our world so so this is kind of my next aha moment we as Christians especially in America we try to we try to make this Bible something it's not and we get frustrated with it it's not a science book uh Pastor Jim could you explain scientifically How the Universe could happen in six days no no I give it a shot but you know what you're missing the point the point is all this originated from God who inaugurated a supernatural plan because he's a supernatural being and the creation account is a supernatural explanation of God's creative work and his motive for doing it in the first place and it's given to us in terms that people back then could read it and understand and don't be so arrogant to think to yourself well those people back then were stupid how could they not know about the big boom and particles and and stars and planets I don't know God knew I guess he could have told him but please don't be so arrogant because a hundred years from now your grandkids will look back at you and go like how could they be so stupid how could they not have known I heard I heard and this is just really clicked in my brain you might take a picture right this says it really well the Bible was written for us but it wasn't written to us it's written to people hundreds and even thousands of years ago and here's what I mean by that all right I mean it's certainly for us it's God's word right it means this we can't project our 21st century World onto theirs we must take their world and project it onto ours what did they believe about God what did they believe was going on in the universe how did they see God working in the world and in their lives what truths and realities were they aware of that we are missing things that again another place Paul says the small G God of this age blinds our eyes from seeing the glory of Jesus sometimes we read the Bible and and we've all done it we read something and you go like what time you cannot you cannot take that literally okay but rather than saying it's not literal what if we took the stance of it's more than literal there's more going on there than what it literally says and that's what I got to dig out of that part and apply it to my lives today see sometimes we read the Bible and we think that's that is weird we're going to get to it this fall you're going to go I had no idea that was in the Bible all right I don't understand that I don't see how it's even possible so what we do is we skip over it and write it off as unimportant unimportant because it's just weird and that's what I was not going to do in First Corinthians don't worry about that one let's go right right but what if what makes it weird makes it more important and if we could dig into it we could see how it would change how we see God the universe everybody around us I mean you think about this all right I'm a little nervous because I know what I'm about to say if you believe in Jesus by show of hands right right what do you mean from the Virgin birth to the crucifixion fiction and Resurrection for the Forgiveness of sins if you believe in the gift and presence of the Holy Spirit Heck if you're just one of those people that goes I believe in a generic higher power then you have to categorize any and all of that as Supernatural right and if you believe in the Supernatural then all things are now on the table including things outside of your knowledge your awareness your experience and your level of comfort right it's just logical right if you believe in Jesus and what he has done for you then you have to go upstream and look at why he needed to do anything for you in the first place and eventually and this is what we're going to look at all year long in depth you're going to run into this here is why Jesus did and continues to do what he does in your life because without Jesus you're lost lost to who how about this Supernatural intelligent evil has formed itself against you and delights in your destruction doesn't that explain a lot just look at Supernatural like other intelligent and all that space stuff at Congress this week was just freaking me out anyway but but Supernatural if you don't know what I'm talking about good supernatural intelligent evil has formed itself against you and delights in your destruction that's why your life is hard and for that Supernatural evil to be destroyed and defeated it will happen on a human level because that's where we live and on a supernatural level because that's where it's coming from there is a war being fought on a supernatural spiritual level and it impacts your physical emotional relational and spiritual life have you ever felt that you felt it sure but you dismissed it is that uh too many tacos or you know it or it's scary or I've been watching too many movies or playing too many video games okay all right what if the reason that the movies and the books and the stories and the video games that we create and spend hours of our life engaging in where we are watching and participating in stories of of good versus evil and Supernatural versus human what if the reason all this fascinates us is that but what God Solomon says in Ecclesiastes chapter 3 God has written eternity in our heart meaning God has put something within every human being and awareness that God is up to something Supernatural in the universe the spiritual world and the physical world and in your life nobody teaches us that we just lay in bed and we know it there's more to this life than what we can see touch and feel and we try to express it through fiction through video games through movies through literature there's more that's the takeaway right there there's more we got to wake up the writers of the Bible believe that there was more going on in the universe than what you could see physically around you they believed in a supernatural spiritual world that paralleled and impacted this physical world and you know what you do too you do because it's written in your heart the prophets and the authors and the writers of the Bible both Old and New Testament believed in a supernatural world was consisted of the one true God his name is Yahweh but also populated by lesser deities and spirits and angels and demons and here's the big one Jesus believed in the Supernatural world and here's the kicker the supernatural World sure believed in Jesus I just studying this there's a summary you know in the whole Testament a demon doesn't get cast out of anybody in the whole Old Testament nobody has the authority to do it and then Jesus shows up and Jesus walks up to a man and Mark talked about this a few weeks ago right he walks up to the man and here's the thing is he confronts a demon and the demon immediately recognizes him you know why because they have history and it goes back way before Jesus was born in Bethlehem what was Jesus doing before Bethlehem come back in September all right and here's what the demon says he sees Jesus he says what do what have you to do with me Jesus Son of the most high God Yahweh I beg you by God don't torment me see the demon knows How This Ends the demon knows that Jesus will eventually destroy him he just wants to know is it today now let me say this because some of you going we maybe find a church uh we're not going in the direction there's a demon behind every Bush and every time you stub your toe it's some satanic attack we're not that church all right but we do have to become more aware that there's more going on in this world where there's something spiritual and I would say Sinister and Jesus would say demonic that's trying to manipulate the world the ends and the destruction of those of us who are created in the image of God but Jesus plan is we are predestined to be conformed in the image of Jesus and the imagery that the Bible uses is Warfare spiritual warfare and don't jump to some Exorcist movie or some guy on TV smacking people in the forehead in the name of Jesus you know with a Southern accent always right but that's that's not what we're talking about here this series that we're in this month is going to culminate in the last couple weeks of the month I'm going to challenge you to enlist and engage in participating in spiritual warfare with this church by serving in this church and giving to this church and spiritually praying for this church see and this is this is the takeaway this is where I'm going to land in a few minutes right this is what Jesus is commanding us to do there is a war happening right now here write this down pick a side pick a side not not against those people or people that do that that the world's got too much of that no it's Jesus or anything that's not Jesus and you're on one side or the other you're either with Jesus or you're not there is no neutral so how are we going to do this Ephesians 6. if you've been looking for it right here's what Paul says here's the strategy okay he says this finally be strong be strong in the Lord not your own strength in the Lord and in the strength of his might put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil Paul's right there okay so he's it's not imaginary he he sees there's a real thing that has a specific scheme is like you all you military people get this you go you Recon things you get a strategy you find out where they're weak and that's where you go you've been reconed you have why does it just seem like it always hits that part of my life because there's a specific scheme against you right if that's not a Temptation he's not going to come after that but he knows he knows he knows right schemes a deal sorry that's extract right four and here's the thing and this is why you gotta we just gotta get on board we do not wrestle against people we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against and here's the list the rulers against the authorities against the cosmic Powers over this present Darkness against here it is spiritual forces of evil in the Heavenly places what we're going to see in the coming months that Paul's talking about he's talking about small G Gods Not Yahweh small G Gods spiritual forces of evil in the Heavenly places and Heaven is not somewhere in outer space Heaven is the space around you that's how they understood the world and it's it's all around you right and and these spiritual forces we're going to find have divided up the earth and the Nations and they've set themselves up against the one true God they hate the one true God and they know because of the Cross they have lost their authority over our lives our chains are gone and they know they will be defeated and destroyed in the end read the last book of the Bible but they're not going away easily or soon so today here's their plan they're going to steal from you kill you and destroy everything that is important to God's imagery in any way they can Paul says that is where our battle is not people not that not that political party not people believe that no it's spiritual forces of evil that are all around us and Paul is telling us that how we will not just survive but Prevail Jesus says I'm going to kick in the gates of hell I can't wait to teach on that one all right so let's keep going verse 13. here's the plan therefore take up the whole armor of God not just a piece here and there Gotta Have It All that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand firm so that's the goal I'm still here stand there for having fast and gone if you're an underliner here's the words right fasten on the belt of Truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness and as shoes for your feet having put on the Readiness given by the gospel of peace in all circumstances take up the shield of Faith with which you can extinguish all the Flaming darts of the evil one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God praying at all times in the spirit and with all prayer and supplication to that end wake up keep alert with all perseverance making supplication praying for each other for all the saints so Paul says here's how we're gonna here's how we will stand firm and defeat the supernatural spiritual attack of intelligent evil that's formed itself against you your marriage your children your emotional health your mental health and your walk with God if your notetaker here it is we got to do this you must know the truth and what's not true you must have a heart for righteousness It lines up with God you must know the gospel what it is and what it is not right you must have true Faith you must have believing loyalty to Jesus okay I'm going to live out my faith you must be saved and know how and why you are unquestionably saved I say most of the room you're not sure you had a bad day you think you're going to hell you had a good day showed up at church put four dollars in the offering if I die today I'm probably good and this is your life right what else all right you must know you must know the word of God and we have to know what better than we currently do hey let me just say this about we have to know the word of God I'm going to call I'm going to call out our church here right this culture of I make it to church one out of three times if I don't have anything better to do has to stop like starting on Labor Day if you miss because I'm gonna I'm gonna start off on this in labor day if you if you start missing every other one you're gonna get lost because everyone is going to build on the last one one out of three means I'm not that serious Jesus is an option but not a priority here's what I would tell you Christian Fisher cut bait get in or move on pick a side as for me and my house I know what we're gonna do that's what I'm calling us to do if you can't be here because you travel or whatever that is and then you're online but you're staying up with us where as a community this is where we're going we have to pray for one another we're about to sing a song in just a minute I'm on fight but I'm gonna fight on my knees right you have to pray with each other and for one another well that would be really awkward how do I go into my 17 year old room and say I'm going to pray with you I don't know you walk in there and say sit on the bed I'm going to pray dad you're weird I know amen thanks Dad what is the worst that could happen well my daughter knows I'm a hypocrite wasn't that pray about that all right and then persevere no that was in my notes you're welcome all right in another place look at Second Corinthians all right he says though for though we walk in the flesh we got bodies all right we are not Waging War according to the flesh it's not a human battle here for the weapons of our Warfare are not of the flesh underline this okay if you have your Bible but have divine power to destroy strongholds we destroy arguments and every Lafayette arrogant opinion raised against the knowledge of God and we take every thought captive to obey Christ being ready to punish every Disobedience when your obedience is complete God's word calls it out we live in a world of demonic strongholds you got one it's that thing that you've been asking God to remove from your life that struggle that pain that burden whatever it is and it won't go it's stronghold could be also translated prison it owns you and they they they they the strongholds they they export they they kind of put out this argument they raise every opinion that's contrary to God but God said it's true this is our battle and we will be destroyed if we're not ready and prepared to do battle again not in the flesh not against people like that but against anything or any idea that's claiming to be true but it's different than what Jesus says is true we have to think different Church and I plan to spend the rest of my life preparing us in this next season of Flatirons to put on our armor not an armor to go out there and fight cultural Wars but an armor for Spiritual battles we're not against anybody We're Just for Jesus and we're going to stare into the face of an unseen enemy and he's going to shudder do you believe it's possible do you believe that you're intended not just to be a Survivor to make it through this world but actually to be more than a conqueror well then let's start living like it now like I said we're not going to be the church that looks you know for a demon behind every Rock we're not going to be that church that takes the president's name and multiplies it by this and whatever and 666 he's the Antichrist that's a no it's somebody going I actually did that and no don't all right please know this there is an intelligent evil entity let's call him what Jesus called him Satan and he and we'll find out he's not alone they seek to destroy you and we don't live in paranoia because greater is he first John 4 greater is he that is in us than he is that is in the world but please be aware there's a spiritual battle going on that seeks the destruction of your of you of your family of your children because they're all meeting God's image and the spiritual forces of evil hate God hate Jesus so they can't touch God but they'll settle for you and you have it here's you already know that's true you feel it so let's get really really practical and we'll get out here all right let me ask some questions about how this impacts your life why does your marriage in your family always feel like it's under attack and failing could it be because there's a demonic strategy that wants to crush your family why is what God calls sexual immorality which God defines not gem or flattens God defines us any sexual activity outside of a loving marriage because marriage is supposed to image how Jesus loves his church but why is it that sexual sin is not just normalized in our world but celebrated and encouraged why are Christians having just as many Affairs and getting divorced at the same rate as non-christians could it be demonic oppression in our own house why is it that the key word for lgbtq is pride which is the original sin in the Bible the definition of pride I Don't Care What God Says I want something else I'm taking pride and telling God he's wrong and I'm right it's a demonic strategy on the image to attack on the image of God here's the other one why is it that I won't get any emails about calling out heterosexual sin most people just roll their eyes and go Jim's old-fashioned but I'll get canceled for even hinting that homosexuality is outside of God's plan for for any person both are equally outside of God's plan for a person but only one of them will get me called hateful and ignorant why is that I say it's a demonic strategy why you have no no no no why are so many why are so many Christian boys and men addicted to pornography I think 67 percent of us have looked at porn in the last 30 days it's better for passers it's only like 52 percent average age of first exposure to porn 10 year old little boy it's a demonic stronghold it's evil and it's Bigger Than The Willpower we try to manufacture to defeat it which is why we keep going back to it if you're in it you know it it owns you time out here okay I'm gonna talk to the man really really quick all right this is a Shameless plug I have a few slots left for the Rocky Mountain men's Summit end of August let's go to jimbergen.com also we're going to try something in September man we're going to host a conference we're going to invite the whole world to it we want to pack this place out and this will be about integrity it's going to be about intimacy and integrity it's a free conference right we invite every man we want to bring your sons uh we why don't you bring your friends it's not just if you struggle with porn or whatever but you know somebody does or you want to be able to talk to the people you care about your sons and so yeah I want to be equipped to to go to battle for this we want to fill this place up and then we're going to we're going to pipe it out to the world as many people are right so get on jimbergen.com right it just seems so self-promoting but that's where you register okay and you'll find about the summit and whatever there's a few spots left uh for the summit and this one we'll just put we'll pack it out we'll sit on the floor okay so get back to this why let me ask this this one hurts because I've walked with people why are our children dying of suicide in record numbers due to depression and anxiety and lack of identity and hopelessness I say it's a demonic evil strategic attack on the image of God you your child Satan Delights in their hopelessness and in their destruction this one's on my radar why is human trafficking including child sex trafficking about to Eclipse illegal drug trafficking and financial Revenue trillions why is Hollywood blackballing a movie called sound of Freedom that seeks to oppose child sex trafficking when there are more people enslaved on the earth than at any time in human history we don't want to show that two million children disappear every year into that evil pit I say it's a demonic attack on the image of God here's one right why is the church always harping about all kinds of sin in the world but rarely does it talk about the number one thing Jesus said but keep a person out of the Kingdom God it wasn't sexual sin it was greed didn't get any men on that one did I I think it's a demonic attack inside the church to keep us distracted but pointing fingers at everybody else and we try to avoid our own if you will look around the world at the chaos around you in the world it can all be traced back to something's going on in the spiritual world that's intentionally attacking anything that God says is right and true and leads to life and where has the church been sending back going it's not that bad I don't do any of that it's not my problem besides what are we supposed to do about sex trafficking or well I don't know here's what Jesus said he says my church will kick in the gates of hell and we will take back what belongs to my father and that comes by knowing the word of God and then living it out in the world it starts with your house and then it starts in this house in this church our lives are to be this different than the world Paul says like stars shining in the darkness and I know some of you go on that this all right he's oh you're being dramatic am I if you don't think that the media and our culture and our government are in the job of attacking everything good and holy According To Jesus you have you're absolutely naive or just plain blind and you're choosing not to pay attention to it if you don't wait if you don't think and you feel this when I say you're going to go yeah I feel it if you don't think Satan's coming for you and your children you're you're in denial and our only defense and our offense is to live lives of believing loyalty to Jesus our lord and savior and God's word will teach us how to do that what does that look like this is not what we were thinking but this is what it looks like live lives that demonstrate the love of Jesus to all people in a world that hates Jesus love I thought we're going to pick it no I thought we were going to March no we're going to love people in a world that hates Jesus that's our calling so we better know how how know God's plan on how to do that better than we currently did now I did I ran this sermon by Mark Moore so Mark have I lost my mind have I gone off the deep end there's a demon a boogie man right around he's like he said I'm gonna read what he wrote back to me yesterday he says tell him this Jim Flatirons is a church that hundreds of other churches follow you know that tell the people of Flatirons that you are not just fighting for them but what they do to confront the Unseen Powers will serve as a model for thousands of other Christians and hundreds of other churches you're going to use your influence locally to make an impact nationally and globally deputize them to see themselves as models of Christ broadly there's a lot at stake we have to get this right so continue to consider today just an introduction because I I anybody that's been with me the last two three weeks they go what are you learning like fire hose all right it's just like they're they're they're they're bleeding it's just bad all right but I wanna so I've been reading a really great book write this down if you want to keep up with where I'm going on this it's called the Unseen Realm by Michael Heiser he just passed away in February I ran that book by Mark and goes he's blowing my mind but if he right he unseen Realm by Michael Heiser he just sums it up really really well look at this and then we'll be done any veteran so any veterans you're gonna you're gonna say Amen to this right any veteran who has experienced combat will tell you that war is a terrible thing caught in such a conflict you may you must take sides many modern people particularly in developed countries like to think that diplomacy and neutrality provide a more enlightened approach but some Wars and some enemies don't offer that option when an enemy wants nothing but your defeat and Annihilation neutrality means choosing death the war raging in the Unseen World for The Souls of human images of Yahweh is that kind of War neutrality is not on the table that's where we're going he flattens pick a side pick a side I'm I'm with Jesus or or I'm not and as I know I know that I'm going down a road that might get me or us canceled I don't care I'm actually I'm playing I was gonna say planning I'm kind of looking forward to it I didn't get into this to be popular or famous again if someone's gonna if I'm gonna offend someone it will not be God out of some self-protection I was afraid to speak the truth I just have to make sure that I and we when we do speak the truth we do it in love knowing that none of us is qualified to throw a stone at anybody else for anything they've done because we have all sinned and fallen short of what God has told us to do and without Jesus we're lost it's always going to come back to Jesus so that's where I am um I'm really scared to tell you because I think you'll think I'm nuts if I'm going to land on some side of History I'm going to land with the disciples who were told to shut up and then they said do what you want but I cannot speak help but speak of what I have heard and seen I must obey God rather than man so my question is do you want to go with me [Applause] okay let's just stand up thanks oh did you hear me we're not going to go we're not going to go beat up people we're not against gay people right we're not about we're not against the people on the other side of your political aisle we're not about people that believe different things about abortion we're not they're they're not our enemy do you hear me Satan is our enemy and What needs to change in our world is not going to happen on a picket line or in DC it's happened it's going to happen when Jesus people choose Jesus and forsake all other gods and you know what I mean if you don't stick around so God in this moment I'm really humbled um that you would bless me that this church that we can be together that we can link arms with your son Jesus our lord Our Savior our King our master who left heaven and came to Earth because if he hadn't we we would just be without hope that you did Jesus you loved us and came in our Direction and you've taken hell away it's not even a threat in our lives anymore but our response to that is oh Jesus I need more of you in my life and your answer is I'm right here seek me I'm not hard to find God bless this church all the campuses anybody listen online right now that say Hey that's my church that's where I'm gonna that's where I'm gonna partner with them and we are going to go to war not against culture not against people not against Industries against the demonic Force that's stealing God's children and he wants them back so here we are you just ask God we fight but we fight on our knees in Jesus name I pray amen [Music] [Applause] [Music] with all the season [Music] you see my victory when I see seize the mountains and as I walk through the shine [Music] there's nothing to feed for eyes [Music] with my hands lifted high oh God the battlefield [Music] I'll sing through the night [Music] [Music] for Jesus Lives [Music] are the ashes [Music] [Music] oh God [Music] foreign [Music] Almighty for you good [Music] before [Music] [Applause] against the power of our God [Music] [Music] [Music] with my everything I don't feel anything I'll see through the night [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] well hey flat irons thanks so much for being with us today we love you guys if you need prayer we have an awesome prayer team that meets right up here they love to pray thee otherwise we'll see you next week week two love you guys [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] thank you

Channel: Flatirons Community Church

Views: 13,559

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Id: 2dhwF070ogA

Length: 75min 54sec (4554 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 30 2023