The Christian Warfare - Frank Brancato 7/12/15

It's wonderful to be here with you this morning and we

appreciate the presence of all that have come to be with us.

We have visitors among us and we would hope that you would feel

as you are. And that is our honored guest,

welcome. You back every time we have the

opportunity to meet, please feel welcome.

And is at his, as is always the case.

It is my privilege to speak concerning God's word.

I want to invite your attention to the book of Ephesians,

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6. We want to be Ginn.

Reading there in verse 10, Ephesians chapter 6, the words

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

of the Apostle Paul beginning there in verse 10.

Paul said, finally Brethren be strong in the Lord and in the

power of His might 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 the darkness of this age,

against spiritual hosts of wickedness in Heavenly places.

Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be

able to withstand in the evil day.

And having done all to stand couple weeks ago, having a Bible

study at my house will question came up about demonic

possession. In fact, I was asked to talk on

this subject and really, in study of it is a huge subject in

fact, so much so that this morning were only going to have

an introduction to it. And let me just say this

morning's sermon really is a sermon encouraging.

The people of God to realize that if we will do what Paul

says Is to do then. Satan cannot have a stronghold

in our life at all. So we'll say that As We Lay the

foundation but this is the foundational part of our lesson.

We're going to talk about next time about exorcisms.

You know that comes up today. What about exorcisms can the

devil hath power over us against our will?

Do all those things exist. What about demonic possession?

Does that exist today? We'll talk about that in later

time next. Next Lord's Day.

Lord willing. But today for a little while, I

want to talk to you about three points and their three points

for the people of God, State and cannot have a strong hold in

your life. If you do three things, number

one, prepare as he said to prepare number to put on the

armor and number three, Identify the enemy and resist him in the

Bible tells us exactly how to do that.

The people of God can Rejoice because we have Victory, and

Satan cannot have a stronghold in our life.

If we do not allow him to do. So, when I talk about some

things along this line, and just a few minutes, but at this time,

let us pray In the book of Ephesians, the great Apostle

Paul presents to us, great realities of being in Christ, he

talks about what it means to be a Christian.

What it means to belong to God, what it means to have the spirit

of God, what it means to be adopted in, God's family,

wonderful blessings what it means to stand in him.

And so we see the great realities that we are blessed

with spiritual blessings in Just as we are members of the body of

Christ, we find that we've been taken from the Dominion of Satan

and placed into the kingdom of Christ.

And we understand that happens at baptism and when were

baptized into Christ, We rise from the Waters of baptism and

the Bible says we have been translated from the kingdom of

darkness and have been translated into the kingdom of

God's. Dear Son, let me just say the

very beginning of this sermon. There's only Kingdoms.

And you can be the greatest person in the world.

You are found in one of those two kingdoms.

One kingdom is the kingdom of darkness and the other is the

kingdom of God's, Dear Son, there's one or the other.

In fact, you know, the Bible pictures the world as all in

darkness, you know, Jesus on the great Sermon on the Mount.

When he was preaching that sermon he said to his disciples,

he said, now you are the salt of the earth.

And he said, also you are the light of the world now, why did

he say that? What he was meaning is Christ is

the true light, but his disciples and that's you, and I

today his disciples are luminaries and we are bringing

or testing out the Light of Christ to those that are in the

world. Why?

Because they're in darkness. You know, I know some wonderful

people but they don't have Jesus.

There are wonderful people and somebody might say, no, wait a

minute, they can't be in darkness.

They're in darkness. If they don't have Jesus and you

don't have Jesus on your own terms, you have to be in him.

And the Bible says, that's when we are baptized into Christ.

We clothe ourselves with Christ. That's a wonderful blessing.

We've been translated or transferred from the kingdom of

darkness to the kingdom of God's Dear Son, saying all of that.

Guess what? Satan Reigns over the kingdom of

darkness. I'm going to tell you something,

if we would really have a picture of the devil, we would

run from the devil. But the devil is very widely.

He is cunning, he is Crafty, he wants us to stay in darkness.

Much more on that later. Everything changes, though, when

we're a Christian, everything we have a new relationship.

In fact, Paul writing to the Ephesians says, our

relationships that we have with each other are different.

He says, your marriages are different and he describes the

marriage relationship and the role that the man is to have in

the home and the role that the woman is to have it, the home,

and they will be compatible working together, striving

together, What about this? What about work, relations, Paul

even addresses that how you behave yourself.

You know what you may hate your boss.

I have no idea. You may absolutely hate your

boss, he may be ruthless, he may be awful.

But Paul would describe if you are a servant or you are an

employee you work hard. Alee you work like you're doing

it for the Lord. Everything Changes.

We have to be the very best. We can be when we leave darkness

and go to light. So in other words in summing it

up so far. You got the resources to live

the Christian Life. You've got the power to live the

Christian Life. You have the principles to live

the Christian life but something else Paul would say it's not

going to be easy even though you got the power.

Even though you got the principles there, something else

that's there and that's the enemy, that's the devil.

I think sometimes people have a misunderstanding about what it

means to be a Christian. I can't tell you the number of

times. I've heard somebody say, well,

you know what, I'm trying to draw to God, but my life's not

getting any easier, that's not by accident.

That's the devil and he is there.

Christianity is get this, it is a Warfare.

Do you remember what Paul said? When he got to the end of his

life? He said I have fought the good

fight. I have finished my course, I

have kept the faith then he said, henceforth.

There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, righteousness

that the Lord. The righteous judge will give me

in that day and not to me only but to all those that love his

appearing. What did Paul say?

He said I fought the good fight. You know what I seen when I read

that, I see that, that's okay. You know why?

Because the fight of faith is always good.

He said I fought a good fight. You know what else he said, he

said fight. Not as one who beats the air, he

described himself like that. In other words, I don't go and

just shadow box. There's the enemy, it's the

devil. It's all that opposes the truth

and he stood against it to Timothy, he said, be a soldier

who indoors hard that hard - So, repeatedly in scripture, it's

described as Warfare. Let me say something.

Encouraging to you, the more effective that you become.

The harder, Satan's going to work.

And remember this? if you're having difficulty in

your life, because you're trying to serve God, Just know that

you're on the right track and you're doing what's right?

And the devil's opposing you in that You know, the devil Works

in fields that are not his do you know when Jesus gave the

parable of the tares I'll just say this really briefly remember

the guy goes out and he prepares the field.

Does everything right, everything?

Right and then the Bible says he took takes the good seed and he

plants The Good Seed and he goes home and the Bible says he

sleeps. Kind of like Solomon talks about

sleeping. The sleep that is sweet.

You know, when you work real hard all day and you did

everything right. You go home, you're tired, you

eat something. Take a shower and fall asleep.

Then the Bible says that with out of that ground grew up the

tears alongside that which was good.

And that, and the servants come to the master and they said if

you sowed the good seed, how come there's tears?

You know what he said? I said all that to say this, he

said the enemy did it. And Luke's account says that the

enemy is the devil. The devil Works in fields that

are not his. If you want to get yourself in

motion doing that which is right.

Be understand, you will be opposed You know what Paul said

in First Corinthians 16 at 8, I love this.

He talking about what his next adventure is going to be in

preaching the gospel, and then he said, I must Terry attempted

in Ephesus. Now.

Why? Why was he going to stay in

emphasis? He said, there's a great door of

opportunity that's open to me and watch and there are many

adversaries. You know that's a great lesson

for me as a preacher preachers can learn from that sometimes we

want to go find an easier work. You know what Paul said?

I got to stay in Ephesus. Why there's great opportunity

here. Why there's many adversaries.

What a great example. You know what he was saying, I

got to stay with a fires hot. I gotta stay right here.

I got it. Earnestly contend for the faith.

That was delivered. The Saints.

I got to stand firm now. I gotta preach the truth now.

Where, where its hottest? Where the devil doesn't like it.

So yes, we are children, we are the children of God.

Yes, we are servants. We are slaves for Christ.

But listen, we Are Soldiers, to Paul said, in second Corinthians

2 Corinthians 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10, he said the weapons of our Warfare are not fleshly,

they are spiritual. So we're dealing with high

things here. We're not just dealing with

things of a physical nature. Now, I can have that element but

understand this. There is a battle for the souls

of man between the Lord and the devil.

There's a battle going on for your soul right now.

The devil wants all of us to be lost and the Lord wants all of

us to be saved. Now, that's where the war is but

the battles are in the fleshly Physical Realm. the devil does

so through temptation, Throwing stumbling blocks our way.

But remember this, it's a spiritual battle.

And so, as we look at Ephesians chapter 6, verses 10 through 13,

Ephesians 6:10–13

let me share three things with you.

Three things I want to share the preparation, the armor and the

enemy. First of all, As We Lay some

foundational things, the preparation.

You cannot go into battle when you are not prepared, there's

nothing that you will ever achieve in life, that's

difficult. If you are not prepared in

Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 10, Paul said, finally my

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

brethren, get this, he said be strong in the Lord and be strong

in the power of His might Now. Where's the strength?

The strength does not come from our self.

If you think that you're strong enough to stand against the

devil, all on your own, you are sadly mistaken.

You know what? He stands.

You got to prepare, right? How do you do that?

Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, that's how

you prepare. You know, that's a cardinal

reality in the book of Ephesians, we are in Christ and

when we are in Christ, we are one with him.

His life is our life, his power is our power.

His truth is our truth, and it's only in Christ that his might

becomes our might By the way, regardless of how strong the

enemy is, and he's very strong. Regardless of how strong the

enemy is. The Lord is stronger.

In first John chapter 4 and verse 4.

1 John 4 · chapter mention

The Bible says he that is in you.

Is greater than he that is in the world.

That's why we draw our strength from him.

He that is in, you is greater than he that is in the world,

who's in? The world is talking about the

Devil. He's the prince of the power of

darkness and more than that, but we'll get to that later.

One scholar said this. He said.

God Is So infinitely greater than the devil that the smallest

amount of divine power can overcome the greatest amount of

the powers of hell and the enemy.

And so our strength is ours in the Lord.

It is his strength in Philippians 4:13.

Philippians 4:13

I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me?

Let me show you why the resource is ours.

You know, when Jesus was at the cross, Jesus gave a deathblow to

Satan and that's recorded in Hebrews.

Hebrews 2 · chapter mention

Chapter 2 and verse 14, he destroyed him.

The one that had the power of death and all we need to do is

to take have that in our life, applied Hebrews 2 and 14.

Watch this. Inasmuch.

Then as the children have been partakers of Flesh and Blood, he

himself likewise shared in the same that through death, he

might destroy him. Who had the power of death?

That is the devil. Now, we understand this, Jesus

defeated the devil at the cross. Isn't that great?

The devil had no idea. All the devil was thinking is I

got to get Jesus off the face of this Earth.

Can you imagine what the devil must have thought?

When Jesus was on the cross, he dies in six hours he's planted

in the grave and for three days, there's no answer.

There must have been rejoicing among Satan and all of his

demonic Army when that happened. but on the third day, Heroes.

He conquered death. He conquered hell, he conquered

the grave. And guess what?

He defeated Satan when he did. So.

Now, what does that have to do with me?

And you? Here's the whole point, if Jesus

defeated Satan At The Cross by his death, if we are in Christ

and contact the blood of Jesus at baptism that he shed on the

cross, then we have access to heaven and we are triumphant

over the devil too. Not by our own strength.

But because of the cross. The same cross if Satan is

subject to Jesus because of the Cross, then Satan is subject to

us by the power of the Cross to and he has no strength, he has

no stronghold in our life. He is a vanquished foe.

He can lay no claim on the faithful child of God.

You know, sometimes people say, well, you know, life is just

really, really hard and it's just really difficult and

sometimes people take Romans chapter 8 out of context.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

They take a totally out of context and they say you see.

All we got to do is if we love God, everything's going to work

out. And that's not what the Bible

says. Sometimes things don't work out.

Sometimes things are bad. Sometimes things are tragic.

Sometimes things are sad. It's the way it is.

Sometimes it doesn't work out. Sometimes people don't get

better when we pray for them. Sometimes they die.

So everything we do is according to the Lord's will, but let me

tell you what, the promises are that you can forsake of a better

term, go to the bank. About watch this.

Romans 8:31. I'm going to read several verses

Romans 8:31

here. What?

Then shall we say to these things?

If God, be for us? Who can be against us?

That's number one. It doesn't matter.

What Satan wants to do with your life.

If God is for you, he is nothing.

Satan is nothing in your life, that's number one.

Drop down to verse 35, Romans 8, who shall separate us from the

love of Christ, shall tribulation, or distress, or

persecution, or famine, or nakedness or Peril or sword.

Here's Encouraging things drop. Down to verse 37.

Verse 37, yet in all these things, we are more than

conquerors through him, who loved us.

Now, watch this for, I am persuaded that neither death,

nor life, nor angels, nor principalities nor powers nor

things present, nor things to come nor height nor depth, nor

any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the

love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our lord, you know, when

it talks about this, when it talks about Qualities and angels

and powers, and all of that. Paul's talking about the same

thing that he's talking about in Ephesians chapter 6, and those

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

Powers were going to get to that later and another time, but

those Powers, that's the Demonic forces that is Satan's Army.

And you know what, if you're in Christ and you're trying to do

that which is right? And you have prepared yourself

the way that the Bible says to prepare yourself and your living

a Godly life and you're doing what the Bible tells you.

None of those things have power over you at all.

You cannot be. We don't have to lose that.

There's a Divine resource belongs to us, we can win in the

end. Here are the conditions we have

to have our strength in the Lord and secondly, you got to have

your armor on, you know, whenever Satan is dealt with,

he's dealt with. In terms of two things,

strengthen the Lord. And an obedient child of God,

doing what the Bible says. Do you know that there is not

one place in the Bible? Not one place.

Get this. We're a Christian was possessed

by a devil. Not one.

In the times of demonic possession.

It was for a purpose, it was all during the point in the time of

Miracles, it was for the purpose of the revealing, and confirming

the word of God to show, that Jesus was greater than all of

that. But not one time.

Were those demon possessed people?

Faithful Christians not one. And by the way, let me just say

this. I know about the 1970s movie

where the little girl was possessed by a demon and they

came in with all these guys and they did all this stuff and her

head spun round and round and round and round, and round.

She turned colors said, horrible things, horrible.

Language green stuffs flew out of her mouth.

That's not found in one place in the Bible.

Every single time when a demon was cast out, it was done by the

power of the Lord, none of that exorcism stuff ever happened.

Ephesians chapter 1. And verse 19.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

And what is exceeding greatness of his power toward us who

believe according to the working of his mighty power, which he

worked in Christ. When he raised him from the dead

and seated him at his right hand in Heavenly places far above

here, it is principality power, and might and dominion, and

every name that is named not only in this age, but also in

the age to come, we draw our strength from the Lord.

But number two, we have to have our armor on. 1st Corinthians

chapter 10 and verse 12. Paul says therefore let him who

thinks he stands take heed, lest he fall.

Do you know when you're the most vulnerable?

Really me too. I am the most vulnerable. when

I'm at a point when I think that I'm not vulnerable, when I look

at my life and think that I'm strong all on my own, I'm the

most vulnerable. You know what Paul said?

Paul said, let him who thinks he stands take heed, lest he fall.

So in other words, the power is not in you.

The very next verse verse 13 says that we are not going to be

tempted above that which we are able.

But with the Temptation God's going to give us a means of

Escape that we are able to bear it.

The strength is in the Lord. Second Corinthians 12 and 9.

Paul says, when I am weak, then I am strong.

My strength is made perfect in weakness.

You know, it's amazing to me. What's amazing to me is even

when we're week, we can have the strength of God.

You know, when Jesus wrote those or Jesus talked about those

seven churches of Asia, you remember Philadelphia.

Now very few were considered faithful but Philadelphia was

one. Now what did Jesus say about the

church at Philadelphia? He said they were faithful.

He said, but they were little and strength.

That tells me that the strength of God is available when I'm

weak. That's the whole point if I'm

obedient. I can have the strength of God.

I need to be prepared to defeat Satan.

How do you do that? How do you are you prepared to

be a faithful? Christian, whose strength is in

the Lord. Again, in review in summary

season 6, and 10 be strong in the Lord.

First John four. And for that which is in you is

greater than that which is in the world Hebrews 12 and 4 were

partakers with Jesus at the cross.

Jesus defeated Satan at the cross.

Therefore we do too. First Corinthians 10, 12 and 13.

Take heed, lest we fall and G and the Lord will help us get

through those times and be strong as we serve God.

And from that point forward, I'm just going to mention these

briefly because we need to get to the enemy.

That's really the whole Crux of this series, but I want to talk

about the armor in Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 11.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

Paul says, put on the whole armor of God.

Now just stop right there for just a minute.

It doesn't do you any good. if you don't put the armor on, You

know, in the original that phrase put on the armor, it

means this in the original, it means put it on once and for

all. Have you ever known somebody

that was did this? Have you ever known somebody

that kind of was a Christian over here?

And then over here they just kind of dwelt in the world a

little bit and they dabbled in worldly things over here and

then over here the kind of put on their Christian face and all

of that. That is not what's happening

here and they armor is not something that you take off and

put on repeatedly in your life in the original, it means put it

on and keep it on for the rest of your life.

We're talking about how can we defeat the Devil?

We have to first prepare, right. Then we have to put on the armor

once and for all I'm just going to read this briefly.

Look at verses 14 to 17 in the Visions, chapter 6.

Beating chapter 6. Beginning in verse 14, I'll just

read these and we're not gonna spend any time on them, but

here's the armor 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, which With you

will be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked, and take

the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit which is the

word of God. That's the armor.

So it's not just enough to put your trust in God, you got to

put on the armor in your life. Let me ask you something.

Have you put the armor on in your life?

Are you manifesting that am I? Are we manifesting that in our

life? Put the armor on.

And don't give place to the devil, but now we get down to

the park that we're going to spend our time on and that is

the enemy. Understand that Satan is the

enemy in fact, in Ephesians, 6 and 11.

It says that you may be able to stand against The Wiles of the

devil. You know, every Christian needs

to understand that Satan is going to attack us.

I got to tell you something. I saw I read about this the

other day. There was a group of these

people. That get this in this silly.

There's a group of these people, and they gathered together, and

they had this ritual and they wanted to call on the devil.

And the reason that they wanted to call on the devil, they

wanted to call on the devil and then rebuke the devil.

Like they had the power over the devil You know, that's not the

preparation, we have power because of the lord we have

strength because of the Lord and by the way, you don't have to go

look for the devil. If you're a Christian, he'll

find you. The devil will find you, you

don't have to go and look for him.

You don't need the chat, you need to do all that stuff.

And by the way, nowhere in the word of God doesn't say this in

nowhere. Does it say go out and

aggressively fight the devil? You know what?

It says run from the devil, flee from the devil, you know, that's

what the Bible says when it says flee.

Also, youthful lust, why they war against the soul?

That is the Christian Warfare. The word flee comes from the

word, few go, you know this, the word few go and see where we get

the word fugitive. And that's exactly what you do.

When it comes to the devil. You don't go out and try to find

the devil so you can fight him, you run from the devil and he

will flee from you. You resist him, stand strong,

and you resist him. I read a deal the other day

where somebody said, oh, there's no devil.

You know, it's amazing what you can read and research.

Just people that write stuff when you're trying to put a

topic together. Somebody said, get this.

Somebody actually said there is no devil and we need not to be

afraid because there is no devil.

All there really is is a Halloween costume of a red guy

with little horns and a pitchfork and a pointed tail.

I got news for us. There is the devil and he

doesn't look like that at all. He is a demonic being, you know

who he is. His name is Lucifer.

What happened to the devil? Why is there a devil turn in

your Bibles? Please to Isaiah 14?

Look at Isaiah chapter 14. Now, understand this, the devil

Isaiah 14 · chapter mention

is an angel. The principalities powers and

all that stuff in darkness that Paul talked about.

They are also Angels, they are demonic beings and there was a

time when they were in heaven and let me just say one more

thing before we read these verses, they are created beings

and don't let anybody ever tell you.

They are not created beings, they are created beings.

I don't know when they were created, I really don't care.

It was before all the stuff began before.

Or Adam and Eve were in the garden.

They are created beings. Now don't let anybody tell you

different. Jesus Christ is not a created

being, he is above all that. In fact, Jesus Christ, God in

the Holy Spirit have always existed.

Somebody might say well how did that work?

They had to originated somewhere.

I don't know. And I don't care other than the

fact that they have always existed and that's really all

that matters, but not Satan. Not the angels and not the

Demonic beings that were talking about.

They were created look at Isaiah Dean.

Let's begin verse 12. How you are fallen from Heaven

o, Lucifer, son of the morning, how you are cut down to the

ground. YooHoo weaken the nation's for

you have said, in the heart, I will Ascend into heaven.

I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, you to get that.

You get the pride there, I will exhaust my exhaust myself above

the stars of God. I will also sit on the Mount of

the congregation on the farthest sides of the north.

I will Ascend above the heights of the clouds.

I will be like the most high yet.

You shall be brought down to sheol to the lowest depths of

the pit. Did you get that?

Lucifer was an anointed cherub. He was an anointed Angel, he was

of the greatest of all. And he decided, you know what?

I want to be greater? I want to be greater than God.

I want to sit on the throne. Well, I'm going to tell you

something. God is Not mocked.

You know what? God Said, No, you're out of

here. And the Bible says, in the Book

of Revelation chapter 4, I'll paraphrase.

Revelation 4 · chapter mention

Now that when he was cast out, his tail, swept, a third of the

others, a third of the stars of Heaven is talking about the

other demonic angels. And they were cast out, I got to

admit something to you. I don't know how many we're

talking about. I'm going to tell you what one

scholar said and then I'm just going to say as a little

disclaimer. I don't know how you can know

this and I don't know if it's true but that's what he said.

He said there's probably Millions.

Probably millions of these, that constituted a third of the hosts

of Heaven that were cast out with Lucifer, the enemy the

devil. In fact, Revelation 12 says like

a great Dragon. He fell and his tail, he swept a

third of the angels with him. Lucifer is the Fallen Angel.

He also has titles. There are titles to him.

He is called the prince of the world.

In fact, he's called The Prince of the power of the air and I

want to make a point about this. What does that mean?

What does it mean when we say he's the prince of the power of

the air? Do you remember when Paul was

given a view into heaven? Paul was given that view into

heaven in. The Bible says, it was what it

was the third heaven. So the third heaven, that's

where God is. That's where we all want to go.

Now, what happened? Paul was able to see things that

were so magnificent and hear things that were so magnificent

that a human being in the flesh should never be able to see

those things or hear those things.

So what happened? He was given a thorn in the

flesh. Why a messenger of Satan Ian to

buff it me, just keep your feet on the ground ball of the things

that he saw. That's the third heaven.

That's where God is. The second heaven is the sodi

really expanse. It is the severe e o Heavens.

It's where you look up and see the stars.

You see all that? The Sun, the Moon, that is the

sidereal or the second heaven? You know what, the first Heaven

is it's the place where Satan is over and the It's of it is the

power of the air. It's talking about all that you

look up in this world. All that's connected to this

world. And Satan.

Is over that. so, let's talk about some titles of the devil.

2nd Corinthians chapter 4. He's called the God of this age.

In Luke chapter 11 and verse 15. He is called the prince of

Luke 11 · chapter mention

demons. 52 times he's called Satan.

That means adversary. That is the most common Title by

the way. 35 times. He's called the devil Diablos

which means slanderer He is called the old serpent, he's

called the Great Dragon, he's called The Roaring Lion, he's

called the evil one. He's called the tempter, the

accuser and get this the spirit. Now, working in the sons of

Disobedience, did you see that? He can't work in your life.

If you're an obedient child of God, that's prepared, right?

It has the armor on. He cannot.

But he works in the children of Disobedience, that's how the

spiritual realm can have access to the Physical Realm, through

Temptation and disobedience. Next time I'm going to talk to

you about Lucifer's Army in Ephesians, 6 and 12 but remember

Satan is the enemy. He is a liar and the father of

it. He's a deceiver his whole

system. Deceives suddenly supernaturally

cleverly and powerfully he teaches a lifestyle that

condemns and I'm going to tell you something.

Our world is changed, so horribly in that regard.

Nobody wants to stand for anything.

You know what people do? People don't have a standard

like the Bible of what's right? And what's wrong or absolute

truth. People think that you can

determine what your own morality is or your own truth is but

that's never been the case. There is always been a standard.

There has always been the armor and it's always been about the

truth. People say, Well, they're not

bothering me. It's all right.

And people are absolutely scared at this to stand against what's

wrong. Paul said, here they are.

Here's the Army, principalities Powers rulers of the darkness of

this world spiritual wickedness, in Heavenly places.

These are terms that describe the Demonic world and let me

just say, one thing in passing. You know, I don't know.

All there is to know about the power of the ranking hierarchy

that's found in Ephesians 6, but I do know this.

Jesus dealt with the idea that some of those demons could have

more power than others. Do you remember when that man

brought his son to Jesus and he said I took him to your

disciples. They couldn't cure him on to say

this very briefly it could not do it and Jesus cast it out.

But before that they asked him. They said why couldn't we do it?

And This says, because of your little faith.

Remember what the second thing he said though.

However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and

fasting. This is during a time of demonic

possession. Now, Jesus describes this kind,

I don't know what he meant by that.

I know one thing has a doozy that's a tough one.

We don't ever want to mess with the occult.

Imma talk about that next time, the Satanism and the power of

the occult. Now interesting, the word

wrestle, Paul says, we don't wrestle against flesh and blood

but we wrestle against those demonic forces, you know, when

we think about wrestling, you know I think of I think about

the sport today where these guys get together on a map with those

ridiculous jumpsuits. And then they wrestle and roll

around and pin each other down and all that.

You know, this word wrestle Paul is talking about something else,

he's talking about the days in Rome, where it was more than

just an athletic competition. In fact, I read what they would

do is they would wrestle. They would hand to hand combat,

and then, they wouldn't just pinned their shoulders down for

a count of three. What they would do is they would

put into the ground pin their shoulders.

And then wrap their hands around their throat and squeezed and

shove their head down. And I'm pinned down their head

to, you know, what happened. If they kept the head down the

man died. If the man kept his head up, but

his shoulders were down. Guess what?

He got to live and fight again. That's the word wrestle.

We are in a battle with the devil and his forces and the

word wrestle that Paul uses is the kind that takes life.

It is a life and death matter. That's what we're talking about.

Spiritual life and spiritual death.

All right, how do you do it? How we going to fight the devil

in our life? Not, I'll say it again.

The devil does not have a strong hold in your life.

If you don't let him, you want to fight the devil.

There it is. Prepare yourself.

Draw your strength from God, put your faith and trust in God, be

a faithful member of the body of Christ.

Have the blood of Jesus, wash your sins away.

Become a child of God, be added to his church.

Then your translated from the kingdom of darkness.

And now you're in the Kingdom of God's dear son.

But now you got homework to do. What do you do?

Got to put the armor on, got to put it on, you know why we're in

a battle. Brian Elliott years ago was

talking about the shield. And I love this.

Because he was talking about the history of the shield.

He said, you know, those shields were big and they kind of walk

behind the shield like this. Now, look at the point, I said,

resist the devil, but we have to stand.

We flee from the youthful lust and the sinful Temptations, and

all of that. But when it comes to the devil,

we stand firm against him. And the shield of faith that is

talking about that Shield Brian said, that that Shield only

protected those that were coming at their front.

So if they chickened out and got out of the fight and turned and

ran there was nothing protecting them from behind.

You got to get in the fight. You got to get in the battle and

stand firm and resist, the devil.

And the Bible says he will flee from you.

Okay next time we're going to talk about more of the occult

and Satanism but also want to talk about some other things to

things that sometimes we don't think are very big deal but they

are connected to the occult. Here are a few Ouija boards.

Tear it cards. Palm readers.

Tea Leaf, readers astrologers horoscopes psychics mediums?

you know, that one, I'm not trying to make be sarcastic or

make fun of her, but the Rhode Island medium or Long Island or

whatever her name is Long Island, Medium lady that says

that she has contact with the debt and is such a farce You

know, when Jesus talked about the rich man and Lazarus.

You know the rich man knew he was lost and knew there was no.

Hope what did he want? He wanted somebody to go back

and tell his five brothers, don't come here, straighten your

life out. There's no connection at all

between the living and the dead. And by the way, I know that we

like to say it in our society. If it feels good to say, oh

they're up in heaven, they're looking down there so proud.

I don't know what where they are.

I don't know where they're looking, but they're not seeing

us. There's not one Bible passage

that proves or shows that there's a connection between the

two Realms. None at all.

I'm going to leave you with one more passage, and I'm finished.

Very encouraging fission 6 and 13.

Therefore, take up the whole armor of God.

Wipe all that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and

having done all to stand. You know, that means that means

we're going to win. That means we can have

confidence and it's going to work when we have the armor on

in the evil day. You might say, well when's the

evil day. I'll tell you.

When the evil day is. Here it is.

The evil day is yesterday. Today.

And tomorrow for the rest of your life.

And as long as Satan is the prince of the power of the air.

It's the evil day. Put on the armor, put your faith

and trust in God. Draw from his strength.

Live faithful unto death. Guess what?

He has no stronghold in our life and we win.

I like one man said, one time. No.

He said, when you talked about the Christian that child of God,

we win in the end. If you read the book of

Revelation, we win ultimately in the end.

But there's no reason to lose the skirmishes day by day.

Either put the armor on. And stand against the devil and

he will flee. From you next time, we'll talk

about some other things. Thank you for your kind,

listening to our introduction to what we're going to discuss over

the next at least one, maybe two more times.

We thank you for listening to our podcast, put on by the

Church of Christ at 22:15 plans. Road in Bakersfield, if you

would like any additional information or you would like to

receive a free Bible correspondence, course by mail.

Please email us at info at search of Christ.

Bakersfield.com, our service times are on Sundays at 10:30

a.m. and 5 p.m. and Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m.

Please make plans to join us. We would love for you to be our

honored guest.