You Asked: Answering Common Questions About Christianity - Q5: Spiritual Warfare | June 28, 2026

Ishmael LaBiosa: Well we continue our series, you ask and you did ask, and that's why I'm answering. So if you don't like the questions, talk to your fellow congregation because I didn't pick the topics, you picked the topics. I'm just trying to provide the answers. Today's topic, which I'll announce in just a moment, is either profoundly sensationalized when it's talk or ignored. Very rarely do I hear a sober minded assessment of what I'm going to talk about today. The beauty of this message series is I have to answer a big question in a reasonably short amount of time. You'll have to look up the scriptures on your own to check what I'm saying because we go at a reasonable clip where you can't probably keep up with me. If you can, go for it. But what I'm going to try to do is to cut a straight path in a topic that is often not talked about very much at all. And when it is, it can be talked about somewhat in a sensational way. The question you ask, which is our fifth question in this series, is what does the scripture teach about spiritual warfare, the devil, demons, and the believers' armor and victory in Christ? It would seem to me that there is a clash of worldviews among many Americans. ⁓ some Americans believe in what we call naturalism. Naturalism states that all that exists is nature and that there is no supernatural. All that is there is that which we can see. However, there's another worldview called supernaturalism, which it does affirm a spirit world. God is spirit, by the way, He's the greatest of all conceivable beings. And so it would seem that you either affirm naturalism and you carry it out logically, or you affirm supernaturalism and And carry it out logically, but that doesn't seem to be the case among most Americans, because when you ask most Americans what do they believe about God, still, even after all the secularization that's happened in America, still about 75%, actually 74% in the latest major poll in 2023, still says they believe in God. So that's an embrace of the majority of Americans in the supernatural. But if you follow up that question with do you also believe in the devil? It drops by somewhere between fifteen and twenty percent. And I always think that's quite odd because ⁓ I can certainly understand why you would believe in God. ⁓ it's a good explanation for the cause of the universe. And also when you see anything good, there cannot be objective good if there's not an ultimate objective standard, which is God. And so that makes perfectly good sense to me. But in light of the unbelievable evil that is around, it would seem that if I am already open to the supernatural and I'm already affirming God that especially in light of the profound evil that is in the world, and I'm already open to that there being a spirit realm that I would affirm that there are there's a literal devil and that there are demons. Now part of the reason that there's a problem here is because most of the conceptions of the devil ⁓ come out of the Middle Ages and they are caricatures of the devil. They're not ⁓ biblical descriptions at all. ⁓ Satan doesn't have a body. He is a spirit being. Okay, there you have it. And ⁓ so th the medieval medieval conceptions that you may have in your mind can be reduced away and kind of forgotten because they're not accurate. So maybe that's got something to do with it. But today that's what I want to squarely look up ⁓ on today. What does the Bible teach about the devil and demons and spiritual warfare? But here's the big takeaway. Ultimately about your victory in Christ. You should never leave a message like this scared or unnerved because Christ has provided victory for you. Seven big ideas today that are going to kind of frame out this conversation. And since we don't have this conversation very often, I think some new concepts are coming your way. And ⁓ hopefully you'll digest these ⁓ this afternoon and maybe into next week and maybe a lot longer than that. Here's the first. Big idea today. Scripture teaches that Satan is a real personal fallen angel, an adversary of God, leading organized demonic powers as personal evil spiritual beings. So just a few Bible verses to kind of get us warmed up. First Peter chapter five, verse eight. ⁓ Simon Peter warns us and says, Be sober-minded, be alert, for your adversary, the devil. is prowling around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. There's a clear affirmation of a biblical devil in the Bible. Ephesians two, which talks about demons. It says, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil spiritual forces in the heavens. So let's talk a little bit about the devil first. The devil, if you want a good definition for the devil, the devil is a once glorious angelic being who became a chief adversary through pride and rebellion. He is intelligent, powerful, deceptive, accusatory, destructive, but ultimately defeated in Christ. Now you hear so many titles when it comes to the devil. Even the word devil is not a name, it's a title. And so if you just go through the Bible, you get a lot of titles, but no names. For the devil and the titles convey what the devil is like. So let's go through some of the names, or rather, some of the titles that give us a sense of who the devil is. A Satan i it's the Hebrew word, Satan, which actually means adversary, opponent, or accuser. That gives us insight. He's the one who accuses the one who opposes us and God. The word devil. ⁓ means slanderer, means false accuser, means the one who divides and separates. That's what the term means, diabolos. ⁓ where you can hear diabolic. ⁓ not that those two words are necessarily related, but that's the word underneath devil. ⁓ the serpent or the ancient serpent is another designation for the devil, referring to the fact a serpent is his cunningness. Did God really say the serpent said in the garden? He's also called the dragon in the book of Revelation due to his power, ferocity, chaos, and destruction, also called the tempter in the temptation of Jesus. In Matthew four three it says then the tempter approached Jesus, also called the accuser Revelation twelve twenty, the accuser of the brothers. Also called in Ephesians. 2-2, the prince of the power of the air. I'll talk a lot more about that in a moment. In 2 Corinthians 4 4, it is Satan who is called the God of this age. He is also called in the gospels Beelzebub, which is actually the way Jewish people ⁓ mockingly call for the ruler of the demons. And so when Jesus was, he cast out spirits. demons by Beelzebub. Woo, ⁓ bad moment there ⁓ for everybody. By the way, Beelzebub means Lord of the flies. That's actually what it means. Just for the fun of it. Just throwing a tidbit here and there just to keep myself interested. ⁓ Abidon and Apollyon. That's the Hebrew Abidon and Apollyon is a Greek word, which means destruction or destroyer used in Revelation 911. In the King James, because it translates through the Latin, calls Satan Lucifer. Which means light bearer, which seems to correlate with Second Corinthians eleven fourteen, that he is called an angel of light, and last but not least, he's called the evil one. So all of those titles are pointing towards an individual, a personal spirit being. Now, if you were going to try to understand who Satan is, it actually falls under the category of angels. Because you have angels who are spirit beings, who are created spirit beings. You say, what differentiates God from an angel? God's uncreated. But an angel is a created spirit being. You see? An angel has a beginning. God has no beginning. And fallen angels are called demons. And the leader of the fallen angels seems to be Satan. That is the biblical. set up and the Bible says when we're going about our life, we're not wrestling merely with flesh and blood, but there's more on the table here. We wrestle against authorities and cosmic powers of this darkness. Now you say, what is the role of Satan in the world? Second big idea. Satan is presently the prince of the power of the air, the God of this age. You say, is he God Little G? Yeah, I didn't say that. The Bible says that. I'll read the text that says it who holds sway over the world system and blinds unbelievers. Just to let you know that Satan is just not a concept, he has authority. He is in control of the world system. Ephesians 2 2. Listen to this text. It says, in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, talking about unbelievers. That they walked according to the ways of this world, and then it says, according to the ruler of the power of the air. You see, you have both there. Also, a clear statement that Satan is the God of this age. Second Corinthians 4 4, it says, Regarding unbelievers, in their case, the God of this age has blinded the mind of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. And then first John five nineteen, it says, We are we know that we are from God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the evil one. So again, the devil is a real being, and second of all, he has authority over the world system. Now we need to flesh this out a bit more, and I think on point number three, I'm gonna try to slide my first New concept to you, which you probably have heard, but we're gonna try to put it together for you. The third big idea is these powers actively entice believers to sin through the world, the flesh, and the devil, and may oppress or hinder spirit indwelt Christians. Now, let's do a test. You look like you're interested in one today, and I'm going a hundred miles an hour. So ⁓ 'cause I wanna I gotta give you a complex subject in thirty minutes. Okay. If I were to say the word rulers, just listen to that. If I were to say the word authorities, if I were to dig out an old word from the King James and say principalities, what would you think I'm talking about? Speak up loud louder for me. Kings. The government, you people on the government, I mean of all things. Now the reason that you think the government and by the way, we're not just talking about the government, we're talking about the world system, which is a lot bigger than the government. But actually the same word, Romans thirteen, where it says, submit to the authorities, same word, right here, where it says, We don't wrestle against flesh and blood, we wrestle against rulers. And authorities. And if you just said the word rulers and authorities, you might think it's the world system, but Paul tells us under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, no, there's a system above the system. ⁓ You know, even non Christians, they're like, Man, the system stun got me down. I don't know what they mean by that. ⁓ it means they're breaking laws and they can't get out of jail. ⁓ you know, so it's not the system, it's you, man. ⁓ but but understand this. Let's talk about the big three. Because this is where I want to paint to you what I'm very confident is the multi-leveled view of reality that is in the Bible. This is the way I w felt like I was taught it in Sunday school. You have the flesh. By the way, there was a guy named Flip Wilson, is that right? Yeah. And the devil made me do it. All right. Well, here's the deal. You made you do it too. Okay? So don't go passing this off on the devil. The flesh is our proclivity to rebel against God. Okay, so you have the flesh. There's a world system. Now, this is where I think we ought to think a little more deeply because we can think in very individualistic terms. We don't just sin as individuals, we get together. And sin is groups. Okay? And so there's not just individual sin, there's collective sin. By the way, many of the prayers of the Old Testament are God, we have sinned. A collective sense of our our sin. And the world system is this. And then you have the devil and demons. Okay? The devil is one, demons are many. I hope I don't come off with a and by the way, the devil can't be all places at one time, he's not. He doesn't know all. And so hopefully I don't run into the devil. Okay? And we go somewhere else. ⁓ you know. But I think sometimes we think about it like this. You have the flesh and like, well, I got that. The world, I know I got this context of sin, and but then it's like the devil. Most people are like, Woo, I hope I never come up on him. And and and I don't think that's right. That that 'Cause you got ⁓ too separated. I think rather than seeing the flesh, the world, the devil, you ought to see ⁓ like this. The flesh Which operates in the world system, which is influenced by the unseen realm. That's a multi-leveled view of reality, and I think that's the one that the Bible paints. So what does this mean? You ever heard this phrase, power corrupts, absolute power corrupts? Absolutely, that's because once you once you start getting up in a certain place in the world system, guess who starts? Still, kill and destroy. If you're naive to this, you're naive to, I think, the biblical witness. Now I want to talk a little bit, so you have that. Multi-level view of reality. The flesh, the world, the devil. The truth is, the devil influenced the world system, which gave an opportunity for my flesh to sin. So it's not as simple as either I did it or the devil did it or the world system. They are separate in a sense, but highly interacting in another sense. You've got to have this. visions I have a right view of spiritual warfare. Now ⁓ do I believe spirit endwelt Christians can be demon possessed? No. Okay? Full stop. I think when we talk about ⁓ but Christians can be oppressed. And listen carefully to this demon oppression in the New Testament is on a spectrum. Okay? You ought to know this. It's on a spectrum. And now let me provide ⁓ some biblical data. And oftentimes, again, multiple things are going on, right? My flesh is so multiple things are going on. So someone comes to me and they say, you know, every now and then I get really angry and I'm not quite myself. They say, I'm going to go to anger management. Well, maybe you should go to anger management. Breathe in a bag, de-escalation techniques, beautiful. Okay? It's probably good. But listen to how Paul talks about this. Ephesians four twenty-six and twenty-seven. Paul says, Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger. And then he says, and if that doesn't work, go to anger manager. No, no. He says, Be angry, do not sin, don't let the sun go down on your anger, lest you give Satan foot in the door. Ha ha! And I've seen some Christian people get angry. And I'm like a little bit of Satan to come out. I mean, and and this unresolved anger, which is bitterness, is like a cancer in the soul that gives an opportunity for the flesh in the world system that Satan he's pulling your chain. And that needs to be resolved. Now here's the deal: you don't resolve it, footholds grow into strongholds. The apostle Paul's not at all unaware about this. He says in 2 Corinthians 10 3 and 5, though we live in the body, we do not wage war in an unspiritual way, since the weapons of our warfare are not flesh, but are divinely powerful for the demolition of strongholds. There it is. And you say, what does spiritual warfare look like? Well, we demolish, Paul says, arguments, and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God. You may not see this, and I don't want to overly sensationalize what I'm doing here, but as I set truth on the high ground in preaching and demolish arguments and every proud thing that ra is raised up against the knowledge of God, Satan gets beat on. That's what Paul says. We demolish arguments. It's very interesting to me ⁓ at how much influence I think when we hear arguments we may overintellectualize this. ⁓ I got so interested in this, I took like ⁓ well, about a seven year I don't know what we call it. Well, seventy year something. Seventy year adventure. On like becoming a licensed therapist. 'Cause I'm like I wanna understand the difference between the clinical and the spiritual and I'm still working on it. Okay? Just to be straight with you. ⁓ but man I I I have been amazed You get a guy who his dad told him you're just a worthless human. And that person now, by the way, was the Holy Spirit of God influencing dad to tell his son he's a worthless human? No. Dad said that for whatever reason, but my opinion, it's Satan who ultimately wants to kill and to steal and to destroy. And you know what I come to find out? When dad tells son that he's a worthless human, most of the time the son lives up to his identity. And ⁓ if you think demolishing arguments, demolishing lies like that is a small thing, on more than a few occasions, mercifully this doesn't happen every time. But sometimes I've just talked to people and I've been talking to them and I said, Don't you think you act this way because this was said and because that was said, you've taken it to be the truth, and now that's who you think you are? And they are not aware that all of that is deep down inside of them, and more than a few occasions they have such a visceral reaction to me simply slowly pointing that out that they puke. Like in my office. So I'm telling you, it's deep down in you. There's something going on on multiple occasions. I've said, I think you hate yourself. Don't think you receive Christ's forgiveness. The old empty chair technique. Let's bring your former self in the room so you can give him or her a talk to see how you feel about him or her. I have invited people that are not real into the room. You know, like let's bring in your former self and in my office on more than one occasion. People have gotten up and punched an empty chair. It's themselves that they're so ticked off at. Do you understand this? If you think, and most people say, well, it's just biology. ⁓ it's biology for sure. Well, there's something deep in the heart of a person that has to be resolved for them to become fully whole. I've learned that there is a thin layer of civility and underneath a great deal of chaos. And so we have to be we have to face up to this. Now I want you to notice that it two of my points today, number four being one of them, is Christ has been victorious. This is not a place of fear. We don't move from a place of fear but a place of victory, but a place of sober mindedness. Point number four is Jesus Christ has decisively defeated Principalities and powers at the cross, disarming them and making a public spectacle of them, transferring believers into his kingdom. Colossians chapter one, verse thirteen says, He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves. Colossians chapter two, verse 15. We just read this in our Colossians series, but you probably didn't catch it. Here's a very important text. It's talking about Jesus and his victory. It says he disarmed the rulers and the authorities. That's the demonic rulers and the authorities, and disgraced them publicly and has triumphed over them. Now, this is the context for me to get into what is my major part of the final part of this message. If you're going to conceptualize spiritual warfare well, here's the deal Ephesians 2 is an excellent place to go. Because Ephesians 2 says we were dead in our trespasses and sins as an unbeliever. We walked according to the ways of this world, according to the spirit of the air that's now at work. Do you understand? We're locked in, baby, because it's we're unchristian. We live like unchristian, non Christians. We live in the world system and Satan has its sway. And we don't get out of this because we want to. Okay? We get out of this because Jesus rescues us. Okay? It says He has delivered us from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of His Son. The Apostle Paul says, For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light. Very important. And this is the ⁓ essence of spiritual warfare is this is that we live in a the new realm. The new realm of Christ's victory, but guess what? The old realm still right around. Satan is defeated. The best analogy I have, since it's on the 250th here. D-Day, we basically won World War II. That was basically, we won it. But V Day, V, was the day we kind of said we won it. Okay? And in some ways, the cross is D-Day. We've won it. But V Day in the future where Christ's return is the ultimate victory. And so we live in Christ's power, in light of Christ's victory, right? Because D Day has happened. V Day, the ultimate, Christ has not come. Satan is not bound fully. So we still have engagement with the, even though we live in the old the new realm of Christ's victory, the old realm, well, I mean, is it doesn't take a lot of looking, is right here at the door. Okay? That's very important to set up the next ⁓ big point. The fifth big idea is this. I'm gonna go there and talk about the stuff I know some of you want me to talk about. But before we talk about that, I want to put ⁓ what I think is normative on the high ground. Fifth point spiritual warfare consists primarily. Spiritual warfare, people say what is spiritual warfare? It consists primarily of resistance to temptation, ethical conduct according to the scripture. Bold gospel proclamation. These are the normative first line things we should do for spiritual warfare, rather than dramatic exorcism or direct territorial confrontation. You say, ⁓ boy, Rusty, what are we talking about? Well I'm gonna tell you. ⁓ let me just tell you what's normative. You know what? I've come to find out people love sensationalism. ⁓ they love it, you know. ⁓ they just can't get enough of it. And Here is how you engage in spiritual warfare is a primary tool. You put on the full armor of God. You say, What's that? Well, it's listed in Ephesians six, ten through eighteen. The belt of truth, you live in light of truth. The breastplate of righteousness, you live a holy life. You set apart to God in ethical conduct. Shoes of the ⁓ fit for the gospel of peace, you share the gospel. You have the shield of faith, you trust God even when it's hard. You put the helmet of salvation, say, I am a child of God. And no enemy formed ⁓ no ⁓ weapon formed against me will stand. You have the sword of the spirit, I walk in the spirit, so I don't give to the l lust of the flesh. And the place of prayer, I I am vigilant in prayer. These are the normative ways in which you engage in spiritual warfare. And what I come to find out, people sometimes want the dramatic, but they don't want the mundane. These are not mundane. These are the weapons that you have for spiritual warfare, truth, righteousness, the gospel, faith, salvation, the spirit and prayer. Now that doesn't answer the question that some of you want me to answer, so I'll answer it. Here is the question. For especially unbelievers. ⁓ believers can be demonically oppressed. And I would propose that unbelievers, not every unbeliever, they're locked in the system, can be possessed. So what do you do then? I thought it was interesting to note, you read the gospels, Jesus performs exorcisms, which he sells the demon to leave. Matthew chapter 5, the maniac of the Gadera. It's a clay case in point. Jesus says, Who's in there? And he's a and and the demons say legion, a lot of us. You're like, ooh. In the book of Acts, you also have casting out of demons. So I just thought, well, it'd be interesting for me to at least notice. ⁓ there's a famous not a fan, I don't know how famous he is, ⁓ very famous, famous to me scholar Abraham Twelfthree, who just historically analyzed: did exorcism happen outside the New Testament period? That was a very interesting question to me. Like once the apostles were dead. Where were Christians praying and asking demons to leave? And the simple answer to that question is yes. I give you some examples. Just a martyr in one hundred fifty AD, he said Christians across the Roman Empire were successfully exercising demons in the name of Jesus. Irenaeus of Leon in ⁓ eight ⁓ one hundred eighty A.D. he said true followers of Jesus cast out demons. Tertullian in two hundred eighty said pagan audiences are noticing that Christians could expel demons. Origen in two thirty A.D. said ⁓ stating that even unordinary, uneducated Christians could drive out demons. So you have outside the New Testament period this happening. So you say, ⁓ let me tell you what Christian exorcism looked like over against pagans trying to do the same thing. Listen carefully. It's simple. You ready for how you do an exorcism? In the name of Jesus, I ask the demons to leave this person. There it is. That's it. Whatever oppression is on this person, we ask in the name of Jesus they leave. Now you say, Rusty, everybody comes to your office and got a headache. Are you saying, in the name of Jesus? No. I don't do this too often. Do I do it every now and then? Well, sure I do. I'm a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. ⁓ you say, are you sure that you understand differential diagnosis? Yeah, I'm pretty sure I understand it. I'm a licensed professional therapist. I memorize the DSM five TR. Okay? I mean, ⁓ you come into my office, I can easily spot you. You know, I mean I can I I'm I'm pretty good. ⁓ do you think do you believe in biological issues? Sure I do. Do you believe in wounds from the past and childhood? Sure I do. But do you also believe by the way, listen carefully, ladies and gentlemen. You talk to some people and they are so disintegrated that they can't keep continuity session to session. Which you told them last session, they got no clue what they said. I mean no clue. And they well let me we call it Dr. Jekyll Land. I mean it's just And there's a lot of factors involved here. I remember discussing spiritual issues and clinical practice with my counseling mentor who thought a lot a lot of, and I said, Okay, I think I can see this is going on, but I clearly think there's a spiritual issue going on. And he was just a guy from New York who was a conservative Presbyterian who'd run the counseling practice and he says, Rusty, people can have ticks and fleas. I said, Okay, so they got this and this. He says, Exactly. He said, Give ⁓ the pills and pray ⁓ down, pray down to heaven. Although I don't dispense medication. Okay, so don't don't don't think I'm dispensing medication. Don't come to me. Go to a psychiatrist. Okay. ⁓ so here's what I want you to hear on this. Every now and then you'll get the sense I need to pray this person to be liberated, and that's it. It's not dramatic. Anyone who tells you, come to me, I have a seminar, we're gonna do something dramatic, don't go. Because it's not the person, it's in the power of Jesus that we have any power that we have. And ⁓ I think that's reasonable enough. By the way, in the last six months, okay, you ready for this? In the last six months, just dealing with people in Appomattox, I've had no less than ten people tell me, we're just talking about baseball, ⁓ isn't the weather nice? Tell me a little bit about yourself. And they said, Yeah, I became a Christian. But before that I was deeply involved, ten at least ten people, it's last six months, Appomattox, I was deeply involved in the occult. I don't know, like what? And they start telling me and I'm like, ⁓ boy. I'm like, You've been doing some sinning. Like on the deeper levels. So now I'm not even surprised at it anymore. Like we've been going in deep, calling up grandpa, summoning spirits, the whole night. They just tell me. And I'm thinking, ⁓ here in little old Appomattox. And they say, ⁓ yeah. Yeah, and going down the road to this person and I got my crystals out and I'm thinking and we wonder where we got problems. I'm like this Like here's a Bible and Sunday school's that direction and come back and see me next week. This is not uncommon now. Again, there's this thin level of civility, and underneath there's a torrent of chaos. Let me say this other thing. I need to move along. So there's a conversation. Exorcism, if it happens, should be simple in Jesus' name, and it is not our primary tool. Our primary tool is the armor of God. Said that full stop, right? Here's the other thing that I hear that's also being sensationalized that I would like to both affirm and say, chill out, you don't have enough information to do as much as you're doing. So here's ⁓ the the scholar who came up with this years ago ⁓ was a man by the name of Peter Wagner, and he he conceptualized this. Now there is a passage, I put it in your I put it in your notes. It's Daniel chapter 10, and Daniel prays. Daniel's praying in the book of Daniel, okay? And Daniel's prayers are being hindered. I I mean he's not getting an answer to his prayer, okay? So Daniel's praying and no answer is coming. And then finally an angel shows up to tell Daniel, Okay, I made it. I'm here to answer your prayer. But says, I got tangled up. Fighting the demonic realm, and I finally made it to you. It's right there in the book of Daniel. If you haven't read it, now you give you something fun to read today. Okay, Daniel ten, where Daniel prays and and and the angel is hindered by a demon getting to Daniel and finally shows up and says, Okay, I'm here. That was rough. Okay, here's your answer. So Wagner began to to postulate this, which I think is probably true in some sense. Okay, so just think about this. We don't just sin as individuals, we sin in what did I say? Groups. Okay, good. I'm almost done. ⁓ and which means that clearly in some places where people have sinned more in groups, there's more oppression. I mean, I actually hear people walk into a place and what do they say? This place feels oppressed. And I'm like, uh-huh. And so it's surprising to me, a bunch of Baptists were doing this years ago. And I think totally unaware of Peter Wagner's work. ⁓ because we used to do something, and some we still do it. He was the guy who popularized this, it's called prayer walking. And it was based upon this. You've got to be on site with insight, because what Wagner thought is you walk to places and you go, Woo! This household, there's been some sinning going on up in here. We need a more focus prayer here. And I think on some level that's perfectly true. That that That there are strongholds in certain places. Who could say if you traveled around the world, there are some places that are darker than others? And if you haven't traveled around the world, you don't know what I'm talking about. But sometimes we're blind to like the the stronghold of consumerism and materialism and celebrityism that's all tangled up. I mean, people come to see us and they go, ooh, you guys are really tangled up in consumerism and materialism. We don't see it anymore because it's like the air that we breathe. What am I trying to say? that some people have tried to say you oughta like pray against particular territorial oppression. That can be profoundly abused. So I'm not against the practice of prayer walking reasonably enough. Every now and then I'll get a sense. I really need to pray over this house. I really need to pray over this place. Do I think that's do I am I living my whole life trying to figure that out? No. I don't think I have enough biblical data. So I think it's a I think that's a reasoned middle ground. And that's the one I try to ⁓ hold. What am I trying to say? I'm just giving you the sixth point which I've already given you. ⁓ and I I I just put point six because I've just talked about this. God equ this point six, God equips believers with the full armor, truth, righteousness, gospel readiness, faith, salvation, the word in prayer to serve to stand firm against the devil's schemes. Listen carefully, ladies and gentlemen, those are your primary tools. Those. Are there times that you pray God release this person from demonic oppression in Jesus' name. Do you do that? Yes. It does happen. But these are your primary tools. The armor of God. Are there times where you walk into spaces and places and say, I sense this this place is quite oppressed. God in Jesus' name, would you begin breaking down walls and liberating this? Yes, but these are your primary tools. Truth and righteousness and gospel preaching and faith and salvation and word and prayer. And the reason some Christians don't like this because they're mundane, they're hard work. They have to do happen every day. They require spiritual discipline, and that's the stuff we run away from. But take your medicine Christians, this is what you ought to do for spiritual warfare and the other as needed. Here's my final point. ⁓ you either don't care about this subject and are ready for me to wrap this up, or some of you are already getting like chills running up the back of your neck, okay? So here's the final big idea: you are victorious in Jesus. This is what we know historically from both Colossians and Ephesians, Colossae and Ephesus. These were two Christian communities that were mired up in paganism. They had seen the underbelly of the demonic. Colossae and Ephesus. And they were scared to death. To death. We know this from archaeological digs. They put amulets on their on their doors to keep the demons away. Colossae and Ephesus. And Paul, in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, writes Colossians and Ephesians and says, Chill out. Jesus got you back. So nobody should leave here today going, That's not the way you should leave. You should say I'm more than a conqueror in Jesus' name. That's the way should leave. Let me say this. Believers united in Christ should enjoy present security from which nothing, including the powers, can separate them while awaiting the final subjugation of all evil at Christ's return. Here the Apostle Paul writes these words in Romans 8. Now in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. The Apostle Paul says, For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, listen to the next phrase, nor angels. Nor rulers, demonic rulers. Nor things present, nor things to come, listen to this phrase, nor powers, nor demonic powers, nor heights, nor depths, nor any other created thing, which includes the visible and the invisible created things will be able to separate us from the love of God that is found in Christ Jesus our Lord. And so Christians should be. Conducting spiritual warfare from a place of victory, but from a place of soberness, because if we choose not to walk in Christ's power, we can let Satan have a foothold and develop into a stronghold. And since we don't want life, we don't want to choose death but life, we walk by the Spirit so we don't fulfill the lust of the flesh, and that we are sober. That our adversary, the devil, does in fact walk around seeking whom he may devour, and we say, I submit to you, Jesus. Would you fight for me? By the way, this is a I guess is a wonderful image. You know, most people think Ephesians 6 is a Roman soldier, you know? You seem like in VBS, they dress you up like a Roman soldier with a the helmet and the breastplate. That's true in some sense, but actually the vision of Ephesians six is actually taken out of the book of Isaiah, where it is God who is the warrior, who fights before you, and you put on his armor as he does all the work. That's what's in the backdrop of Roman ⁓ Ephesians six, for sure. And ⁓ I think that's the idea. Christ fights our battles, we submit to him, we are more than conquerors through Christ who loves us. Christian be encouraged. Because you can be victorious. You know what I pray in so many situations when people come to me so broken? I say, I pray now from this moment forward, Satan will have no more victory. I pray that for you today. You say, Satan's having victory in my life. From this moment forward, in Jesus' name, may Satan get no more victory. May you surrender your life to him. May you humble yourself before God. And may you say, I trust you, Jesus. Satan gets no more victory here. If you're here today and you're not a Christian. You need to be rescued from the domain of darkness to the domain of light. You say, Rusty, what do I do? You turn from sin and self. You say, God, I admit I'm a sinner. And God, by faith, I trust in Jesus. And at that moment, you're saved. This altar is open. I'll be here. Pastor Ishmael will be here. If you're not a Christian, the altar is open. Some of you also today are Christians. You need to do business with God today. You say, I just need to pray. Protection over myself, protection over my family. I need to be more alert to what's going on around me. This altar is open. If you feel compelled just to say, God, I submit myself to you, have your will and way, this altar is open. Use it. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we ask you. God, that we would that we would engage the battle that's in front of us in the power of Jesus. That we put on the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, hold high the shield of faith, put on the helmet of salvation, have the our feet ready for the gospel of peace, have the sword of the spirit and be found in the place of prayer. God may that be our normal everyday readiness. God may Satan have no more victory in the lives of these people and the lives of this. in the in this church and the lives of this community. God, we pray that Satan would realize he's a defeated foe at present and his ultimate defeat will be seen in the future. God, we pray for your wisdom in Jesus' name. Amen.

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