As you can see, I'm still on this
topic of spiritual warfare, defeating the enemy.
And just this week, even the Fort Hood
shooting, you know, heavy on my heart and
getting back from a fireman's conference where two
local firemen took their own lives and seeing
what's going on in our nation.
And folks, I don't know how people live
without God at the center of your life,
at the center, not the parameters, not the
outskirts, but God at the center, because there's
a spiritual battle that's going on.
And it's not something we should take halfheartedly
and just kind of jokingly.
But we need to really look at what
the Bible says.
And this morning, actually, I wrote it down.
I was reminded of the quote that Martin
Luther gave four or five hundred years ago.
He said, where the battle rages, where the
battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier
is tested.
See, sometimes we forget that, that our faith
is tested.
Your faith will stand trial to see what
kind of faith it is.
The enemy doesn't like solid faith.
He goes after that.
So where the battle rages spiritually, that's where
the loyalty of the soldier will be tested.
Our loyalty will be tested in the spiritual
battle.
And if you weren't here last week, I
would encourage you to go online and listen
to part one, because it's going to make
a lot more sense with this being part
two.
And a lot of times what happens when
I'm preaching, I don't get through half the
notes.
So I want to make it part two
to make sure I get through everything.
So go on should be on our website
now.
It's on our Facebook page last week's message.
But this one is defeating the enemy, defeating
the enemy.
And something interesting you'll find is that he
goes for areas of importance.
I mean, you don't see on the news
very much, you know, the battle for Alaska.
Do you?
It's a battle for Jerusalem, the Mideast, all
these things, these key areas that seem to
be just a haven of violence and destructions
because the enemy concentrates his efforts on those
things that are most important.
So the whole point of that is this.
He will hit us in our most vulnerable
places.
So spiritual warfare where we talked about last
week, the we wrestle not against flesh and
blood.
Our weapons are not carnal.
They're here.
Basically, it's here.
It's not here.
That's old school, and I could do that
well when I was in my 20s.
I haven't done that a long time, but
it's not here.
We don't fight like this.
I can't tackle somebody and take them down
in jujitsu and all these different things, mixed
martial arts.
It doesn't matter.
It's up here.
We wrestle not against flesh and blood.
So we asked a question last week and
I took surveys before and I've asked pastors,
can the enemy plant thoughts into our mind?
Think about that, because if our battle is
not out here, it's in here.
How does he come and get me?
And it's in those vulnerable areas.
That's where he concentrates his attack, and the
reason I'm telling you this is to be
forewarned, is to be forearmed, so you could
put a whole bunch of pain meds on
my counter and a half a bag of
marijuana and an eight ball crank or crystal
meth, and it'll sit there for years.
I'll throw in the trash, I'll call the
police.
But you put ice cold beer in the
refrigerator and week after week, it gets hot
because that's the area that he knows I
had a struggle with in my 20s.
And it once was it once a struggle,
it's always a struggle, right?
Anybody who's been there before, you know it.
You can't just go play with the serpent
again and he's not going to bite you.
But he looks for those areas that were
most vulnerable, so that way you know how
to be on guard.
And for some people, it's pride.
They need they weren't built up as a
their dad beat them down, people beat them
down.
So, look, I've arrived.
Look, look, look at me and he'll get
you in those areas or self-esteem, right?
If we have low, real low self-esteem.
Promiscuity.
We see a lot of young girls going
to different guys, show me, tell me who
I am, tell me I'm loved, tell me
I'm appreciate my father didn't give it to
me, would you give it to me?
And then this one kicks her to the
curb and it goes to this one and
this one.
And promiscuous, that's what happens.
So he goes in those areas that were
most vulnerable, vulnerable financial, if God, if the
financial area, if the money, the almighty dollar
is your God and that's what you live
for, that's where he's going to concentrate his
attack.
So we also talked about this last week
that he cannot the devil cannot possess a
Christian.
You can't have the Holy Spirit residing in
a believer and Satan together in the same
house.
But we can tell the Holy Spirit, hey,
go see out in the garage for a
night or two.
And if he knocks on the door, we
can allow that influence in.
Can we not?
And I think a lot of times, you
know, the Bible isn't real clear how it
how he can he plant thoughts, can he
can orchestrate circumstances, because remember, we're fighting a
lot of different voices, are we not?
We've got the Holy Spirit, the still small
voice, the Holy Spirit.
Then I've got my own flesh who just
wants to be lazy and wants to eat
too much and drink too much and get
in fights and and tell people off and
send out mean emails.
Now I got the flesh and I've got
the Holy Spirit.
And if the enemy can come in and
plant thoughts now, now we're fighting this and
what's going on.
That's why we can feel oppression, not demonic
possession, but that oppression.
And I've noticed it.
I've talked to you, I mean, when I
used to speak at men's conferences and different
churches and denominations, it's interesting where your area
of vulnerability is.
Sometimes you'll do well, right?
Weeks go by.
I talked to a member of men's conference
weeks go by.
There's no there's they're doing good.
They haven't went back to the bottle.
So what they say, but then a thought
comes or a desire.
It's almost like it takes the will of
your car and drives it to the dealer
or to the liquor store.
I was doing so good.
Lord, what's going on?
Or guys with pornography, they're doing great weeks,
months even.
And then this something hits where it's just
less, it's almost uncontrollable.
I often wonder, is that when the enemy's
coming in and he's dropping these bombs in
areas of vulnerability?
So this is a very important topic.
The Bible didn't talk also, the Bible doesn't
talk about a person being possessed.
It's usually he has a demon or she
has a demon.
Or the influence of a demon.
Mary Magdalene, right, said the feet of Jesus
was there on his crucifixion.
He cast out seven demons from this lady
that were influencing her and they gained a
stronghold.
And we asked the question, how much influence
do they have?
How much influence do the demonic realm have
in our lives?
Well, how much influence does sin have?
Think about that.
We open ourselves up.
And what I didn't get to last week
is this whole armor of God.
See, it's not like we should go, oh,
goodness, Shane, you're scaring the daylights out of
me.
I talked to one lady who's not here
tonight.
I don't think she'll be here tomorrow.
She said that message scared me last week.
Number one, it's because she's not living right.
Number two.
Is that's a good thing sometimes, because fear
moves, see, the more worried I am and
it worries, not really a good word, but
the more I understand the spiritual battle, the
closer I want to go to my savior.
If I fear jumping off, you know, I
fear gravity.
I'm not going to jump off a building.
So fear, good God given fear.
Well, actually, the fear of the Lord is
the beginning of wisdom and knowledge and understanding.
He told his people, fear me throughout Psalms
and Proverbs, the fear of the Lord, fearing
God.
So it's a very healthy thing there.
And if you want the full sermon notes,
everything I'm looking at, this is a good
point to a good time to remind you
that they're online.
We put those on these quotes online.
The scriptures are online under our video, under
full sermon notes.
But how does the enemy influence us then
if we put on the whole armor of
God, how does the enemy influence us?
He looks for the cracks.
Oh, you left off the breastplate of righteousness.
You didn't put on the belt of truth.
The helmet of salvation is gone.
Your feet are not shod with the gospel
of peace.
You don't have the sword.
You don't have the shield.
He'll hit one of those areas.
So that's what I didn't get didn't get
to last week that I have to get
to this week.
And we have to remember something, the power
of sin.
When you see these Fort Hood shootings and
there'll be more shootings to come, there'll be
more school shootings, there'll be more of this,
there'll be more that this person was released.
This rapist was released.
Yeah, it's not getting any easier, folks.
So how do people not live with God
at the center of their life?
I don't know.
And we have to stop playing with sin
as if it's a little fun thing.
That's no big deal.
Because sin destroys, it misleads, it quenches the
spirit of God within us, it grieves the
spirit of God, at least to depression, at
least to isolation, at least to confusion, at
least to divorce, at least to angry outbursts,
at least to everything.
Sin is to kill, to steal and to
destroy.
And that's why I laugh at some of
the churches and say, oh, we don't talk
about that.
We don't talk.
We say we don't want to upset people.
Do you know what put Christ on the
cross?
Sin.
Do you know what the Bible calls us
to?
Obedience and to turn from those things, not
perfectly right, but faithfully.
So that's kind of where we left off.
And here's what happens.
I like what John Wesley said.
Give me a hundred men who fear nothing
but sin and to desire nothing but God.
I don't care if they're laity or clergy
and we will storm the gates of hell.
That's a very key component there, fear sin
and want nothing more than God.
That's a very healthy balance.
If you fear sin, I know my sinful
nature.
There's something inside of me that wants to
take me down.
There's something inside of me that I have
to say someday, oh, I had to resign
because of this.
The enemy, it's working against me.
So I have to stay close to the
cross, close to my savior.
That's the only solution to fear what's called
to fear something that's going to kill, steal
and destroy me, but then gravitate towards what's
going to protect me.
It's a very healthy balance.
And here's I'll just tell you, here's how
here's how sin works.
It likes to get us close to the
edge, right?
So what I'm calling us to is to
closer to this.
I want to live in the book of
Matthew.
I want to go come to the Monday
studies.
I want to have worship in my house.
I need to stay by those who build
me up, not pull me down.
I need to give everything to Christ, everything
submitting.
I need to follow him because what happens?
It's getting a little better and that's growing
distant, right?
What's so big deal?
Come on, change something.
And once I was far away from now,
I'm close to.
And we just walk on that.
Whoops.
You know, we're just right on that.
People just love to live on that edge.
And then what happens?
Oh, that wasn't too bad.
I didn't get caught under what.
Oh, wow.
See, no big deal.
God's approving of this.
No, he's patient.
Don't confuse his approval with his patience.
And then we get to the bottom and
then all hell breaks loose, everything.
How did I get here?
Because it started one step at a time,
one compromise at a time, one wrong choice
at a time.
So what we encourage people is is run
back, get back.
How far can you get into God's word?
How how can you get into that that
safety net of protection and anointing back?
I have to stay close to the Savior
because he's pulling me.
And that's how he's going to pull you.
And that's how he does it.
Through spiritual battle.
So the enemy influence, he wants to pull
you to the end of that.
Come on, just a little closer, just a
little closer, just a little closer until we're
at the bottom.
And we wonder, how do we get here?
How did this happen?
And that's how sin works.
That's a deceptive nature of sin.
It wants us to live close to the
edge.
And you have to remember what's a downfall
for you or trigger for you.
It won't be for me and somebody else.
We all know the enemy knows where he's
going to concentrate his attack.
And that's where he goes after us.
And that's how we must defeat the enemy
to counteract that.
So we left off last week methods of
influence.
This is how the enemy will draw you
away from God.
Are you creating an environment for the Holy
Spirit to reign or an environment for Satan
to influence?
Listen, this is pivotal.
Are you creating an environment for the Holy
Spirit to reign or an environment for Satan
to influence us?
Because it's through that influence that we get
to the edge of the cliff there.
That's how he brings us from here to
there.
It's through influence, the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eye and the pride
of life.
He's used those three weapons on Eve.
He used those three weapons on you.
When Eve saw that the tree was good
for food, pleasant to the eye and desirable
to make one wise, she took of it
and ate.
That's how he's coming after us.
The lust of the flesh, what our flesh
craves, the lust of the eye, what our
eye wants and the pride of life, the
boastful pride of life.
He says, that'll never happen to me.
I've been a Christian 30 years.
Those are usually the ones that live right
on the fence.
It's the person who says, Lord, I need
you.
I need you in that weakness.
That's where that strength comes from.
I'm going to get to that in a
minute.
But let's talk about this.
We talked about last week and I had
to hurry through because we're ending the service.
But how does the enemy influence us?
What are the environments?
Well, number one is toxic substances.
He uses, right, alcohol, drugs, these different things
to draw us in.
That's why Paul said, do not be drunk
with the spirit.
I mean, I'm sorry, I'll be drunk with
wine, but be filled with the spirit of
God.
Medication, you know, this guy that shot people
at Fort Hood.
You see the news reports.
He was on an antidepressant with the side
effects of suicide.
So we have to be very careful with
what we're taking into our body.
Alcohol in our culture, especially in the church.
It's amazing that people want to post their
favorite beer and wine on Facebook.
As if, you know, against, of course, I'm
not against, you know, if you have moderation
one now and then and all, you know,
it's a big debate in the church.
But it's simple.
The Bible says if you're drunk and if
these things pull you away from God and
that's how we can open ourselves up to
demonic influence.
Pharmacia, pharmakia, I believe it's in the Greek,
opening ourselves up to these influence.
So we have to be careful in this
era of toxic substances.
Number two, what about a toxic environment?
Is our home a holy sanctuary or a
breeding ground for Satan?
What environment are we inviting in and having
the enemy come into our homes or are
we driving him away?
Do you realize if you have things that
honor Christ in your home and worship that
honors Christ, you can push out that influence,
that demonic influence, that oppression by worship.
You think you're in your house singing worthy
is the lamb, worthy is the lamb, a
man of sorrow, smitten, beyond recognition, dying on
a cross for my sins.
You think the enemy is going to come
and dwell in that presence?
He can't.
He can't dwell in that presence.
He has to flee from that presence.
So what he tries to do is get
you out of that presence so his influence
can take hold.
I just went online this week and looked
at the top 10 videos that young adults
are watching.
Some of you are watching.
This is interesting.
And Lady Gaga's newest video.
Don't worry, I didn't watch it.
Her newest video, Guy, I guess that's what
it's called.
We see the singer start off as a
fallen angel who was shot down by from
the heavens.
She then gets reborn as an over sexualized
goddess who uses her powers to create an
army of clones using the blood of Jesus
Christ and of Gandhi and of Michael Jackson.
And those are the three people she resurrects
from the dead.
You're watching that garbage and you wonder why
the spirit of God is not residing in
your heart.
You wonder why you're struggling with darkness and
depression.
Let's start there.
Toxic environment.
Hello, folks.
Ring the bell.
Sound the alarm.
You cannot.
Light and darkness cannot dwell in the same
house.
That's blasphemy.
You know, Shane, you're over these spiritual spiritual
pastors always coming against the movies or something.
Read that garbage.
That's straight from the pit of hell.
And if we allow it into our minds
and we create that environment.
Why are young adults, I've read research where
they're thinking the suicide is an epidemic, depression,
anti medic, you know, Medicaid, all these things
are on the rise.
They calling an epidemic.
We don't know what to do.
They say we don't know what to do.
When you don't know what to do, run
to the one who has the answer.
Stop feeding your mind a bunch of garbage
and dwell on things that are pure and
honest and noble and upright.
That's how you defeat the darkness.
You're welcoming it into your house and into
your soul.
That's toxic environment.
And we see this all the time, just
think about this.
What we put in here is who we
are.
You realize that what you're putting in here
is who you are.
Who I am all week is who I
will be when I step up to this
pulpit.
This sermon just didn't come from a quick
prayer this morning, say, OK, Lord, let me
put something together.
And who you are all week is who
you are when you step into the game
of life.
Meditating on the word of God, living in
the word of God, living in books and
media and things that build you up spiritually,
not pull you down.
Because all you have to do is open
yourself, you open the door to the enemy,
you say darkness, come on in.
Look at all these horror shows, American Horror
Story.
Everybody, I'm behind somebody at Redbox.
It's all the time they're pouring out all
this horror story.
You're going to go home and watch that
garbage and expect to to just have uplifting
thoughts all night and in the morning and
this great family life and great marriage and
great relationship with your kids.
No, you're putting darkness and depression in.
You're getting death out as a man thinketh
in his heart.
So is he.
He told the prophet Hosea, Hosea said, told
the people, you've become an abomination like the
thing you loved.
That was to God's people, Hosea calling God's
people back, you have become an abomination like
the thing you loved.
Yeah, this is a difficult message, but sometimes
we need to bring out the difficult messages
again and start shooting people right to the
heart because young adults are hanging themselves.
I had to pray for that man three
weeks ago whose son took his life in
a garage and a father had to go
and cut his own son down in the
garage.
This is not some game, folks.
That's serious.
I didn't even know how to pray for
him.
How do you pray that you walk into
the garage, you've got to cut your own
son down.
And we have the audacity to play with
darkness as if it's some little toy from
Toys R Us that we picked up for
our kids.
All these things, wizards and warlocks and darkness
and the occult and illicit sex and vampires
and kids, the Christian kids are just loving
it.
And I'm called legalistic and a fundamentalist and
narrow because I challenge these things.
Do you think Christ, or let's not even
start there, Paul and Peter would just come
in our homes and love this stuff?
Pull out the popcorn, guys, good job.
Wow, this is interesting.
Good witches, good warlocks, vampires, sucking blood, living
off dead people.
That's good stuff.
I don't know, you call me stupid, but
if you've got a rise in suicide that
they're calling an epidemic and depression and medication
and all these different things, and you have
this darkness being glorified and magnified, you think
there might be a connection?
And then when you get people out of
that, you get them into the purity of
God's Word and they become a new person
in Christ and they want to repel.
They hate that darkness.
Where's the connection there?
Because light and darkness, good and evil, truth
and error cannot coexist.
You are either suppressing the darkness by living
in the light or you're allowing your light
to be extinguished by allowing the darkness to
come in.
Paul's crystal clear.
We wrestle not against flesh and blood.
Our battle's here, right here, folks.
You can't go old school and beat somebody
up.
You can't do jujitsu wrestling and beat somebody
up.
You can't do cage fighting and win.
The enemy doesn't care.
He comes in as an angel of light
looking subtle, looking nice, and we take the
bait.
And this is the price that we're paying.
I don't apologize for this message.
I wish more churches would preach it and
this nation might experience revival.
Well, Shane, that's pretty arrogant.
No, it's not what I'm saying.
It's what God's Word says.
Anytime you call God's people back to Him
and they repent and they turn to Him
and God revives His people, that's a good
thing.
That's a prayer we should be praying.
Lord, wilt Thou not revive Your people again
so that we can rejoice in You?
Nobody's rejoicing in the things of God anymore.
We're rejoicing in darkness.
We're rejoicing in satanic things.
Our families are being destroyed.
Marriages are being broken up.
Addiction is on the rise.
Everything is out of control.
Then why don't you run to the one
who has the answer and turn to Him?
Hold the clasp for the end of the
sermon.
Because He gets all the glory and all
the credit.
I'm just a spokesman helping to call the
church back.
I haven't mastered this area.
Sometimes I rent movies for my kids.
I'm like, what is that?
Remember Disney with Old Yeller?
Now they're casting spells on every single thing.
Toxic emotions.
No, I don't apologize.
That's for sure.
Toxic emotions.
What about this?
Toxic emotions.
These things are so dangerous that He'll lead
you down to the bottom and you'll stay
there because of them.
You'll stay in this funk and in this
darkness and this depression because of this.
Well, let's read it.
Verse 13.
But if you harbor bitter envy.
If you harbor, if you hold bitter envy.
Are you envious of anybody?
You go on Facebook.
You'll be envious real quick.
Right?
Somebody's always on vacation, always got a new
thing, always doing this.
They're everywhere.
They're doing everything that you can't do.
And me too.
So this enviness.
If you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition.
In your hearts.
Do not boast about it.
Or deny the truth.
Such wisdom.
He's saying such thinking does not come down
from heaven.
But it is earthly, unspiritual and demonic.
So we allow the demonic influences to come
in by our thought life.
Shane, do you have more verses for that?
Oh, absolutely.
Where do you even want to start?
Paul told the church in Rome, be not
conformed to this world.
It's like a lump of clay I have
right here.
Be not conformed to this world.
But be transformed by the renewing of your
mind.
That's it.
Don't get a checklist.
Don't get another Bible.
Don't get some book on tape.
Don't go to therapists.
Don't do this.
Let the word of God saturate your mind
and your soul.
Finally brethren, whatever things are pure and noble
and honest and upright.
Meditate on these things.
Be not conformed to this world.
But be transformed by the renewing of your
mind.
That's all.
Paul, is there anything else?
No, there's nothing else.
Be not conformed to this world.
But be transformed by the renewing of your
mind.
That you may prove what is that good
and acceptable perfect will of God.
Any of you want to know what the
will of God is?
Get your mind off of the garbage and
get your mind into the true light of
God's word.
Into things that are pure and honest and
noble and upright.
And if this message is upsetting you, you
need to hear this.
If you want me to hurry up and
you want to get out of here, this
message is for you.
Many people are in here going, amen, yeah
I agree.
But some of you are going, this guy
is really irritating me.
How dare he say these things.
And I say no, how dare you sir,
continue to run from the very thing you
need.
That's how important this is.
Conviction is a wonderful gift from God.
It's a conviction that says, you're wrong, turn
around.
Turn around, you're wrong, turn around.
I'm knocking at your door.
Open it, would you turn around?
What do we say?
No!
I love the darkness, get away from me.
That's why this is so important.
Toxic environment, toxic emotions.
According to Ephesians 4-7, Satan tries to
gain a foothold.
And exert his influence over the lives of
Christians through uncontrolled anger.
Every domestic call out there, ask any sheriff
worth their salt, they'll tell you.
Where does it start?
With anger?
Or was it with a husband saying, I'm
so sorry I was wrong.
Can we talk this over tonight?
No, uncontrolled anger.
Domestic violence.
Abuse.
All these things happen because of anger.
You open that up and that enemy comes
in and he just works on that anger.
And that driving us away from Christ.
As well as falsehood, lies, stealing, unwholesome talk.
Indeed, any conduct that is characteristic of the
old way of life.
So anytime I embrace or you embrace the
characteristics of the world.
And our attitudes, our emotions.
That's what the enemy is going to use
to draw us away.
It's not rocket science, right?
You know I say this often.
This is very simple.
What comes in here, goes out here.
For out of the abundance of my heart,
my mouth is going to speak.
Jesus said.
I should have checked that.
Out of the abundance of the heart, the
mouth will speak.
Toxic thoughts.
Those are the same as emotions.
Romans 8-6 in the NIV.
The mind that is governed by the flesh
is death.
But the mind that is governed by the
spirit is life and peace.
You know that we're governed, right?
Controlled.
The mind that is controlled by the flesh
is death.
So if your mind.
If your flesh is controlling your mind.
You love to just sit and dwell in
darkness.
You love to just sit and get upset
and bitter and gossip.
If your mind is sitting on that.
That's what's governing it.
Controlling it.
That's where it's going to go.
But the mind that is governed by the
spirit is life and peace.
So you have a distinction there.
It's all up here.
We don't realize how masterfully this is made.
How God created us to absorb and to
retain and to memorize.
And then to assimilate that information.
To make decisions based.
It's amazing.
So the battlefield is right here.
Before adultery happens, guess what happens?
Before a church splits, guess what happens?
Falsehood.
Lies.
Doubts.
Before something happens, it's all right here.
This is where the enemy comes in.
And you will not win this battle with
willpower or manipulation.
Let me say that again.
You will not win this battle with the
enemy with willpower.
Have you ever done that?
I'm just going to.
Never again.
Just hunker down.
It's willpower.
And then what happens in a few days?
Oh.
Right.
He just takes you down again because willpower
is enough.
So what's enough?
Well, I'm glad you asked.
This is where I want to get to
last week, but I didn't get to it.
So I want to do it this week.
The whole armor of God.
We have to put on the whole armor
of God.
Ephesians 610.
Finally, my brethren.
Be strong in the Lord and in the
power of his might.
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord
and the power of his might.
Put on the whole armor of God.
Not little pieces.
Right.
Oh, I got this, but I'm going to
neglect everything else.
I've got this.
I'm going to neglect everything else.
I've got my belt of truth, but that's
it.
Put on the whole armor of God that
you may be able to stand against the
wiles of the devil.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and
blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the
rulers of darkness of this age, against spiritual
hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Therefore, take up the whole armor of God
that you may be able to stand in
the evil day and having done all, stand.
See, that's the interesting thing about the armor
of God.
He doesn't necessarily fight and do this.
He says, having done all, stand.
Having done everything, just stand.
Stand, therefore, with your loins girded about with
truth.
Does that sound familiar?
He told Moses, stand still and see the
salvation of the Lord.
Joshua, stand still and see the salvation of
the Lord.
Hezekiah, stand still and see the salvation of
the Lord.
King David, stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord.
Elisha, stand still and see the salvation of
the Lord.
I will judge those prophets of Baal.
Just stand still.
It's in a standing position.
That's how we wage war.
Remember, it's standing.
It's holding that ground versus...
Oh, getting a little closer to the edge.
Getting a little closer and here I go.
That's how it works.
Verse 14.
Stand, therefore, having girded your waist with truth,
having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and
having shod your feet with the preparation of
the gospel of peace.
Above all, taking the shield of faith, with
which you will be able to quench all
the fiery darts of the wicked one, and
take the helmet of salvation and the sword
of the Spirit, which is the word of
God, praying always with all prayer and supplication
in the Spirit.
Wow.
Whew.
What does that mean?
Anybody asking that question?
That's a lot of armor.
It is, but really it's not.
It all is joined together.
Think about that.
You can't just have the belt of truth.
I know the truth, but I'm not going
to apply it.
I'm not going to put on the breastplate
of righteousness.
I'm not going to have the shield.
It's everything together.
Let me work through this, but let me
talk about the first thing.
Put on.
Believers do not empower themselves.
Paul says, put on the whole armor of
God.
You've got to ask God, Lord, I need
you to put on this armor.
I need to put this on.
I can't empower myself.
I can't save myself.
I can't fight myself.
Lord, this is your battle.
And the whole armor of God, everything.
The enemy looks for cracks or missing pieces.
I know many people who know this very
well.
But they're modern day Pharisees.
They have truth, but they don't have the
breastplate of righteousness.
They don't have the shield of faith.
They have an arrogant faith.
And as we know, an arrogant faith is
no faith at all.
So we have to be careful in this
area.
Stand against the wiles of the devil.
So we're putting this on.
It's the whole armor, not just pieces.
And we're standing against the wiles.
You know what wiles is?
It's trickery.
It's deceit.
He's tricking us.
He's going to come in and trick somehow.
Like fishing, right?
You just put a nice big worm on
that hook.
Throw it out there.
Oh, look at that nice worm.
Ow.
What happened?
Every year my kids like to throw out
just the hook.
They've never caught a fish yet.
I don't want to put any bait on,
Dad.
I don't want to touch the worm.
Just let me throw the hook.
But why aren't they catching anything?
The hook's there.
The hook's right there.
Just fish swim right by it.
They don't catch anything.
Because they can see the hook.
They see that metal.
It doesn't look too enticing.
That looks hard and sharp and I'm not
going to bite it.
So that's why you put nice purple stuff
around it that smells the smell that fish
like and worms and all the stuff.
Put little lures that will go through the
water like this and they sparkle and then
they bite it and then they're hooked.
So that's what the wiles of the devil
are.
It looks pretty good.
But Shana, look good.
Yeah, he's an angel of light.
He transforms himself into an angel of light.
To deceive.
He doesn't come in holding a pitchfork with
little horns and a tail.
He comes in as everything you want.
Ask people who the marriage has ended from
adultery.
But this other person made me feel.
So loved and appreciated.
They just looked good.
Shane, how can something be so good be
so wrong?
How?
Because that's the hook.
You don't take the bait unless you like
the hook.
I want to just before I get into
the points on this.
I want to read 2nd Corinthians 12 7.
This is Paul.
He was taken up to heaven had it
received a vision from the Lord.
And then he said this.
So to keep me from being conceited because
of the surpassing greatness of the revelations.
A thorn was given me in my flesh.
A messenger of Satan to harass me and
to keep me from becoming conceited.
Can you believe that?
A messenger of Satan was sent to Paul
to harass him and to keep him from
being conceited.
Three times I pleaded with the Lord about
this.
That it should leave me.
But he said, no, my grace is sufficient
for you.
My power.
Here's the key.
My power is made perfect in your weakness.
Therefore, Paul says, I will boast all the
more gladly of my weakness so that the
power of Christ might rest upon me.
See the way in Christianity to go up
is to go down.
The way to be strengthened is to be
weakened.
Because it's in that weakened state that you
say, Lord, I need you.
I can't do this.
That's when the filling of the spirit comes
in.
That's when the empowerment of the spirit comes
in.
It's in that weakness.
It reminds me of my little one year
old.
She's barely starting to walk and I'll bring
home some groceries and she'll just grab the
bag and she can't pull it anywhere.
There's nothing.
She's not strong enough.
But what I say is, let me hold
you.
I lift you up and I lift up
the bag of groceries.
Now let's go in the kitchen.
See in her submission into that weakness as
she allowed the loving arms of a father
to carry her.
That's where the strength came from.
In the same way with you guys.
It's in that weakness of saying, Lord, I
can't overcome this.
Lord, I have an addiction.
Lord, I have a problem with anger, with
lust.
Whatever it is, Lord.
In my weakness, that's where you are strong.
And in the power of Christ, when we
cry out and say, I can't do this,
Lord.
I need you.
That's weakness.
In a good way though, it's also meekness.
It's being meek and understanding that, Lord, I
need you.
This is why fasting is so beneficial.
We've talked about fasting sometimes.
Fasting is when you starve the flesh and
you fill with the Spirit of God.
It's a weakness, Lord.
I love food.
I'm craving food.
But in this weakness, Lord, would you fill
me with your Spirit?
Would you allow your Spirit to penetrate my
heart and my soul?
Lord, I can't make it through this, but
you can.
Would you strengthen me?
So it's an interesting concept.
As we weaken ourselves, He strengthens us.
That's what Paul says here too.
God's grace is sufficient for my power is
made perfect in weakness.
Because when I have my own strength, God's
power doesn't resign.
Because I'm going to do it my way.
This is my schedule.
This is the way I do things.
Pride gets in there.
No, I can handle this.
I don't need you, God, right now.
I'll call you when I need you, but
I don't need you right now.
That's false strength.
That's insecurity also.
So let's look at the first thing before
we have to leave.
Gird with truth.
Truth holds everything together, does it not?
So if you want to overcome the enemy,
you better live in this like a fish
lives in the sea.
You better know what the Word of God
says, because this is the truth that holds
everything together.
Truth is a hill on which we must
die.
You can't compromise this.
It's not negotiable.
This holds everything together.
So one way to keep the enemy at
bay is this is the truth.
The belt of truth.
That's how you hold it together.
And then he goes into the gospel of
peace.
It's interesting.
He says to shod your feet.
Cover your feet.
And Roman soldiers would cover their feet on
the bottom.
They would have nails.
They would hold their feet in for positioning.
So they can fight with their swords and
all these things.
They can hold their ground better.
And that's what the gospel does.
The gospel of peace.
And I would just tell some of you
right now, if you don't have peace tonight,
it might be because you're distant from God.
You don't know Him.
You've never repented of your sin, acknowledged Him.
The Bible says if you confess that Christ
is Lord and that God had raised Him
from the dead, you will be saved.
That's the gospel.
It's not, well, this and God do this.
If you cry in your weakness, in your
weakness, that's when His strength will be manifest.
The weakness says, Lord, I'm a sinner and
I need a Savior.
Would You save me tonight?
This guy up there is a little loud.
He's a little radical.
But I'm not looking to him.
I'm looking to You.
I'm just supposed to point you to Him
and get out of the way.
So if you don't have that peace, you
can leave here with that peace, that forgiveness.
I see it all the time.
People come depressed, and they come fearful, and
they say, I need God.
And when they finally submit and surrender their
life to God, there's this overwhelming peace, this
overwhelming joy.
They can't keep that tears.
Where does that come from?
Because it's a spiritual battle and you've been
playing with Satan too long.
It's time to come to the Father.
It's time to come home.
So to have the truth of God's Word,
then you must have the Gospel of Peace.
You must be a believer.
But contextually, it's talking about having the Gospel.
The Gospel holds you in place.
But also, I look at this as an
outlet.
You are called, and I'm called, to bring
the Gospel of Peace to others.
To live it out.
To be ministering.
What's the old saying?
Idle hands are the devil's playground, devil's tool,
whatever you want to call it.
Idle hands are not good.
The devil loves when you're idle.
Right?
When I interview guys and talk to guys
about pornography, this huge epidemic, it's during idle
times.
Idle times.
You're sitting at home, nothing to do, and
the devil just comes in.
Bam!
Or same thing with lust, or anger, or
women.
Same issues, right?
He comes in.
He looks for those times when we're idle
hands.
So as we're bringing the Gospel of Peace
to others, as we're ministering to others, as
we're keeping busy about the Lord's work, that's
an area of protection.
We weren't just called to receive it all
and I'm just going to hold all this
truth in.
We're called to minister to others.
That's where the power of the Spirit comes
into us as we're ministering to others, as
we're helping.
If you don't know what to do, talk
to the ushers or the elders.
They'll plant you in somewhere easily.
Because we have too many people needing help
and not enough people to help.
And that's one of the ways the enemy
stays at bay when you're serving others.
I don't know how exactly it works, but
as you're serving others, you're embracing truth.
The Gospel of Peace is controlling your life.
There's safety and protection there.
And the next thing is the shield of
faith.
Arrows are coming.
You realize that, right?
Arrows are coming.
The enemy's bringing arrows.
He's shooting arrows.
Most commentators would say that those are temptations.
He's shooting temptations at you.
And it's the shield of faith.
It's that protection.
I hide underneath the shield of faith.
My faith will be tested.
Faith is so important that Jesus told Peter,
He said, Peter, I'm praying for you.
Why, Lord?
Because Satan has called you by name and
he desires to sift you as wheat.
I don't like that verse.
Mike, Chris, Bob, Linda, Bill, put your name
in there.
Jesus says He's praying for you because Satan
has called for you.
He wants to sift you like wheat.
And Jesus said, but I pray that your
faith fail thee not.
Having done all, stand.
Stand there.
Stand therefore with your loins girded about with
truth, all the weapons on, and the shield
of faith blocking the fiery darts of the
enemy.
You must understand something.
Faith is either built up or it's in
digression.
It's like sin.
Sin never stands still.
Right?
Sin is either growing or it's withering depending
on whether you feed or starve it.
Same thing with faith.
Your faith is either building and building and
being encouraged or it's being weakened and weakened
and weakened by everything we've just been talking
about.
What about the breastplate of righteousness?
The breastplate of righteousness.
If you have your Bibles, turn to 2
Corinthians.
I hope I can find it real quick.
Or I can just read it for you.
2 Corinthians 6.14 on this issue of
righteousness.
Here's how important righteousness is.
Verse 14.
Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
Now this is not just marriage.
This is in general.
Partnerships.
Who do you spend your time with?
He's saying here, should Christ be joined together
with Satan?
Of course, the principle is primarily marriage, but
it applies to other areas as well.
Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
And that's a good word for young adults.
Do you have friendships with those who draw
you away from Christ?
That's not a good thing.
While I'm ministering to them.
Well, no you're not.
If you're being drawn away from Christ, they're
pulling you down.
There's a big difference there.
For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness?
And what communion has light with darkness?
And what accord has Christ with Baal?
Or what part of a believer with an
unbeliever?
And what agreement has the temple of God
with idols?
For you yourself are the temple of the
living God, and God has said, I will
dwell in them, and walk among them, and
I will be their God, and they shall
be My people.
Therefore, Paul says, therefore, come out from among
them and be separate, says the Lord.
Do not touch what is unclean, and I
will receive you.
I will be a father to you, and
you shall be My sons and My daughters,
says the Lord Almighty.
Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse
ourselves from all unfilthiness of the flesh and
the spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of
God.
See, holiness is something we don't want to
talk about in the church anymore.
But holiness is vital.
This isn't me with some big robe on
and a little hat like the Pope, you
see.
That's unholiness.
Holiness is being set apart for God in
our lifestyle.
How we live.
How we act.
Come out from among them.
Be separate.
Be separate from what you watch and what
you view.
Who you associate with.
How you spend your time.
There's a distinction.
There's a difference.
If there's no distinction, if we look just
like the world, this is a call to
come out from among them.
Be separate.
That's the breastplate of righteousness.
It guards the heart.
It guards the mind.
It guards everything.
That holiness.
Because holiness is being set apart for God.
I'm going to live back here.
I'm going to live in such a way
that my life is set apart.
Though I drift, He'll pull me back.
Though I want to go forward, that holy
standard will keep me back.
That's what holiness is all about.
Serving God with all of our mind, with
all of our soul, with all of our
heart.
And that's what the breastplate of righteousness is.
So when He calls us to truth, He
calls us to this.
He calls us to put on the breastplate
of righteousness.
How many of us have things in our
lives right now that God is dealing with
us saying get rid of that.
Get away.
Get that out of your life.
It's taking you down.
End that relationship.
End that friendship.
Stop doing that.
You need to put on the breastplate of
righteousness because you're giving the enemy grounds and
room for attack.
That's how important this is.
This area of holiness.
And it's not an arrogant holiness.
It's a broken, humble holiness.
Because some people take pride in how holy
they are.
And the enemy says, oh, I love that
one.
I'm setting him up for a biggie.
Is he not?
That's how important this area of holiness and
submission is.
The next point, the helmet of salvation.
The helmet of salvation.
When we repent and we believe on the
only name that saves, and we are saved,
that helmet of salvation covers our mind from
fear, and doubt, anxiety.
It doesn't mean we don't struggle with those
things now and then, right?
Who doesn't?
Many people do.
But that helmet of salvation keeps everything together.
It keeps our mind in perfect peace.
Who's steadfast on Christ.
In the Scripture we looked at last week
with Jesus, when He got out of the
boat to the city of the Gadarenes, and
this demonic man came to Him and ran
to Him and said, Jesus, what have I
got to do with You?
Are You Son of the Most High God?
And Jesus says, what is Your name?
The man said, My name is Legion because
I have many demons within me.
What did Jesus say?
Oh, darn it.
Uh-oh.
I opened up a can of worms on
this one.
Let's get back in the boat.
Is that what we would do?
Wow.
If you went up to somebody and they
said, My name is Legion.
I'm possessed by seven devils.
What would you do?
Several devils.
Because it happens.
You think He just backed up?
He came towards the man.
He said, Leave.
Leave.
That simple.
Leave.
That's why when people can be released of
these shackles of demonic oppression or possession, whatever
you want to call it, one name, the
name of Jesus Christ, demons have to flee.
They can't negotiate.
They can't bargain.
Sometimes there's difficulty there, but not with Jesus.
He just said, Out of that man.
Well, Master, don't throw us into the abyss.
Can we just go into the herd of
swine and run them over the cliff?
Sure.
Go for it.
So I guess demons can possess animals, apparently.
I'm not saying that, okay?
Don't you Bereans come up and say anything.
It's just interesting how they flee into the
swine and they run off the side of
the cliff.
The people say, Oh, my God.
Who's this guy?
Then they ask Jesus to leave.
You know that hasn't changed?
Some of people, even in this room, might
be saying, Jesus, leave.
Get out of here.
I don't like what this guy is saying.
I don't want him to disturb my darkness
because I love it.
And we can embrace that ungodly influence.
And Christ can have no ground.
But the whole point I was getting on
with this area of peace, after Jesus spoke,
He's just powerful.
Leave that man.
This is the same Jesus who told Lazarus,
Lazarus, come forth.
A little girl.
Get up and rise.
She's dead.
They're mocking the Savior.
Jesus says, She's not dead.
She's just sleeping.
And they mocked Him.
Talitha, come on.
Rise, little girl.
And she woke.
She got up out of death.
That's the Christ you serve, people.
This isn't some lukewarm social club where we
come to say hello.
This is where we come and we worship
the risen Savior.
After the man met Christ, the Bible records
that he was sitting at the feet of
Jesus clothed and in His right mind.
That's how powerful Christ is.
Can you believe it?
Absolutely.
With every soul of my being.
Wherever Jesus goes.
And He said, the same power that resides
in Christ resides in you.
Well, why don't I raise people from the
dead or people get healed?
Well, because we're not perfect.
We have this sinful, fallen nature.
We don't know the sovereignty of God.
But don't let that discount the power of
Christ in your life.
This is spiritual battle.
And the enemy hates it.
Like I shared last week, people said there's,
you know, there's witches texting your church and
going out and doing pagan practices in the
desert, cursing Westside Christian fellowship.
I don't lose any sleep about that.
I want to say, yeah, exactly right.
The kingdom suffered violence and the violent take
it by force.
There is a disruption there of the spiritual
realm.
They're not going to like this kind of
stuff.
They need salvation.
The very thing they need is the very
thing they're mocking.
Satan has to sit under Christ's control.
Satan can't do, he can't do whatever he
wants.
He cannot curse what God has blessed.
If God is doing a blessed work, Satan
cannot curse it.
So what he'll come and do, he'll influence,
he'll try to pull you away from God.
But he says, I can't curse what God
has blessed.
But I will take the blessed people and
remove them from the blessed place.
Doctrine of Balaam, through sexual immorality and idolatry.
See, he just pulls them away from God.
Let me pull them away from God.
I can't curse them.
They're blessed as long as they stay in
that blessed place.
But let me curse, let me have them
curse themselves.
And they'll pull him back into whatever that
was.
And they'll just keep, let me get, come
on.
You remember that game of patty cake?
Come on.
See, come on.
That wasn't too bad.
That's how he does it.
We remove ourselves from that blessed place.
As a nation, there is sanctity in the
marriage of a man and a woman.
Now we're wanting to legalize what God calls
an abomination.
Oh Shane, come on.
No, I'm serious.
Anytime you move that safety and that covering
of what God designed it, you're opening yourself
up for deception.
That's how he works.
This isn't, you know, difficult.
And you guys know, what's wonderful about preaching
is the Holy Spirit is preaching a different
sermon to each of you.
Somebody over here needs to get off pills.
Somebody over here needs to get off pornography.
Somebody else over here needs to get off
this.
And somebody else, this.
You know God's working you in different ways.
He's calling you back to the area of
holiness and relying on the only name that
saves you.
It's okay to say, Jesus, I need You.
Christ, I need You.
I'm going through so much fear and anxiety
and depression.
Lord, I need You.
That's a very healthy thing.
And then, of course, we're to pick up
the sword of the Spirit.
This is interesting.
This is the only weapon you're called to
fight back with.
Your lamp.
Your Word is a lamp unto my feet
and a light unto my path.
This is how I do battle.
Everything else is protection.
But this is how I do battle.
Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the
church.
Wives, respect your husbands.
Kids, honor your parents.
If we do things according to the Word
of God, that's where the sword is.
The enemy can't do that.
He can't come against God's Word.
He can only try to.
But it's up to us to keep that
standard there.
And again, I don't want anybody to leave
here thinking I'm talking about being perfect and
never blowing it.
Life is difficult.
Life is challenging.
But there's a big difference between a lifestyle
and a struggle.
There's a big difference between perfection and being
faithful and calling on God.
That's why genuine repentance if genuine repentance was
taking place, during worship tonight, you would be
turned around in your chairs.
You would be crying out to God.
You would be worshiping Him.
You would be running to the back prayer
area to get prayer because that's how important
the area of getting our heart right with
God is.
But then the interesting thing is He doesn't
end there.
What's the last thing He says?
In praying always.
I've noticed this in the Christian community especially.
The thing we need the most is the
thing we do the least.
If I said I'll meet people here at
6 in the morning tomorrow for a prayer
meeting, how many people do you think would
be here?
Let's just be honest.
Prayer is the most important thing you can
do.
Here's why.
Prayer brings it all in together.
This is where the truth is reinforced in
the prayer closet.
This is where peace is present when you
pray.
This is where faith is exercised when I
pray.
This is where righteousness is sought when I
pray because repentance takes place.
Salvation is reinforced when I pray.
The sword of the Spirit is sharpened when
I pray.
You see how all this comes together?
Paul says to put on all this, but
at the end of the day, having done
all, stand and pray.
John Wesley that I quoted earlier, give me
a hundred men or women of course who
fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but
God and we will storm the gates of
hell.
Can I add to that?
Give me a hundred men or women who
pray as if their lives depended on it.
Who prayed as if their families depended on
it.
Because it does.
This should be the most important time of
the service.
I'm going to have the worship team come
up right now.
But this should be the most important part
of the service right now.
Because you can leave here.
Look at the PowerPoint.
Oh, look at those songs and lyrics.
Yeah, Shane, that's interesting.
Now what's for dinner?
And nothing's going to change.
Nothing's going to change.
This is the most important area that we
can do.
And I've seen it many times.
You know, I've shared this before.
I've talked to people who struggle with fear,
depression, all these things.
And I ask them, tell me about your
prayer life.
They don't have one.
There's no prayer life.
Marriages that are falling apart.
You think they have a strong prayer life?
People that are succumbing to temptation and demonic
influence and their lives being ruined.
You think they have a strong prayer life?
Young adults that are walking away from Christ.
You think they have a strong prayer life?
Everything ties in right here.
People, if you pray better, you would live
better.
If you live better, you would pray better.
Prayer moves the hand of God.
Everything I just talked about in the heart
was saying, Lord, I need that.
Or some of you might need salvation.
Some of you need to get back in
right relationship with God.
Some of you need to repent of wrong
attitudes.
This is where it happens.
It doesn't just happen thinking about it.
Oh, that's a good idea.
I think I better consider that.
No, it happens when the men and women
finally submit and surrender and pray and allow
God to change their heart.
This is the most important service.
This isn't, well, let's just throw in a
few songs and we'll be done.
True praying, we would be here until 9
or 10 tonight.
True praying.
Where God's reviving and breaking the heart.
But because we're so hurried, worried about what's
for dinner, and getting out of here, we've
got plans, and we always miss what God
wants to do in our lives.
Take two or three hours in the morning
and nothing but God, you will be radically
changed.
But most people say, I'm too busy.
That's the number one excuse.
I'm too busy.
If you're too busy for God, you're too
busy.
Something needs to change.