VIA | Spiritual Warfare | Victory in the Spirit | Clayton Heath   

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Hello and welcome to Via.

It is so nice to see you.

Happy Thursday, friends.

It's uh good to be here.

We're almost to the end.

This is turn four.

We're almost there.

Uh but this do this for me as we get started.

Would you look at somebody to your left, in front of you, to your right, and behind you, and just say, I'm so glad to be at Via with you.

I'm so glad to be at Via with you.

Well, if we haven't met, my name is Clayton, and I have the privilege of serving uh with our team here at Young Adults, Silverdale.

And tonight I have the privilege of sharing with you God's word.

So do this for me.

If you have your Bibles, I want to invite you to open with me to Luke chapter 4.

Luke 4 · chapter mention

Luke chapter 4.

Luke 4 · chapter mention

It's a third gospel, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

We're in Luke chapter 4.

Luke 4 · chapter mention

And then hopefully on your way in, you got a worship guide, and we give those to you for lots of different reasons.

Uh, but we know, you know the drill, we give them to you primarily because it is no small thing that God is the creator of the universe and that he speaks to us.

And when he does, we want to be sure that we pay attention and that we write down the things that he says.

Um, tonight, we are truly almost there.

We've got, excuse me, this is really kind of our last uh normal-ish via of the semester.

We got worship night uh next week, and then uh over the summer, we'll do our summer calendar uh that's coming.

So keep your eyes on this space if you'd like to be a part of those things.

But we're wrapping up our collection of talks focused on spiritual warfare.

And we've spent six weeks looking at what scripture speaks to about this reality, this spiritual reality that you and I walk in and have to deal with uh in our life.

And so as we kind of wrap up this series, you know, we've spent the last six weeks, again, we've looked at the Apostle Paul and Ephesians chapter six, we've looked at what Jesus says about our our reality as as humans and our problem with sin and our heart and kind of that spiritual reality, excuse me.

And, you know, like if you if we can be honest, you know, when we talk about spiritual warfare, it can be kind of like heavy a little bit.

You know what I mean?

Like it really quickly turns into like a little yelly and like, you know, like, do you know what I mean?

You know, like it's like spiritual warfare, like it's like warfare, you know, like all this kind of like feels disconnected from our life or like what our you know day-to-day looks like.

And so we've looked at all these things our truths, the enemy, what God gives us, all this.

And we we fight that, right?

We don't want to over-elevate it, we don't want to minimize it.

And so tonight, as we wrap up, as best we can, um, here's what I want to do.

I'm gonna be a little shorter than I usually am, every preacher's famous last words, you know what I mean?

Uh, but I just want to encourage you.

Like I really do.

I want to encourage you where you are in your walk with the Lord, where what you've been doing this semester, what we've been a part of together.

And I want to encourage you.

I want to look at, okay, we've studied this.

Now what do we do moving forward, right?

And so we're just gonna read um scripture together.

I want to read it, have us read together in Luke chapter 4, verse 1.

Luke 4:1

We're gonna read in God's word.

It says this.

And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for 40 days he was tempted by the devil.

Thanks be to God for the power of his word.

Amen.

If you're taking notes tonight, the first thing I want you to write down is this it's that battles are won before they begin.

Battles are won before they begin.

Now, I'm not talking about literal like warfare, right?

I'm not talking about the art of war and that kind of thing.

I'm not talking about this.

I'm talking about our reality as Christ's followers when it comes to the spiritual battles that you and I face.

I believe what I'm submitting to you tonight is that those battles are won before they begin.

What do we know?

Here in Luke's gospel, Jesus has just been baptized by John the Baptist.

He's been in the Jordan River, John the Baptist has looked at him, he says, Behold the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sins of the world.

He's baptized, the heavens open, God the Father speaks, God the Spirit descends in the form of a dove, and he goes in, literally led by the Spirit into the wilderness.

And we know, and you know, because you're biblical scholars and you know the Bible, that when God comes out of the wilderness, Jesus comes out of the wilderness, he starts his ministry.

He starts preaching, he comes out, it says, repent and believe, for the kingdom of God is at hand.

He starts healing people, he starts providing, and word starts spreading.

Jesus is doing the thing, he's on the move, the platform is growing, the buzz is all that stuff, and we get, we're great, we're we're quick to jump to all these stories as we should, because it's Jesus doing miracle stuff all over again.

And I'm here to say that we skip over Luke chapter 4, verse 1.

Luke 4:1

And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit.

Before the temptation ever shows up, before the platform grows and the follower notifications are so many that we can't keep counting them.

Before all of those things, Jesus is full of the Holy Spirit.

What does that mean?

He's grounded, he's already prepared, he's already centered, he's already empowered.

And so what that means is that when he goes into the wilderness, led by the Spirit, when the devil comes to tempt him, Jesus is ready.

Like we know that he combats the lies and accusations of the evil one with the spoken, applied truth of the word of God.

And because he's fully God and fully man, we know that he's filled with the Holy Spirit, and there's some Trinity stuff in there that's really cool.

But when it comes to spiritual attack, here's what I'm trying to get you to see.

Jesus doesn't all of a sudden start going, Where are those scrolls that I need when I get to this moment in my life?

What's the point I'm trying to get you to hear?

You don't rise to the moment, you fall to your preparation.

You don't rise to the moment, you always fall to your preparation.

He doesn't all of a sudden start looking for the notebook to go, what was it that that preacher said again that I'm gonna need whenever this happens?

He doesn't do those things.

He's already prepared.

Why?

Because he's filled with the Holy Spirit and he knows the word of God.

Here's what I'm here to tell you tonight.

Ready?

This is great news for you and me.

This is great news for you and me.

Do you know what this means?

This means that you and I can be equipped right now for the battle that we'll face tomorrow.

It means that we don't have to wait until the temptation arises to find out the truth of God's word that would apply to our life in that situation.

We can know the truth now so that when the battle comes, we're already equipped to do what God's calling us to do.

We don't have to wait until the phone call comes that kind of shatters our world.

We don't have to wait until we're hanging on by a thread.

We don't have to wait till all stuff breaks down and we go, okay, I'm gonna really need God in my season of life.

Of course, you're gonna need God in this season of life.

Of course.

When everything breaks down, we run to Him because where else would we run?

We don't go all of a sudden go, well, I guess I'm gonna need some joy now.

I guess I'm gonna need some provision now.

We can be equipped now for the thing that's coming tomorrow and next week and next month and next year.

I mean, we've talked about this, right?

What do we know that Jesus says in John chapter 15?

John 15 · chapter mention

Jesus says, What?

Abide in me, be in me, depend on me.

Colossians chapter 3 says, Let the word of God dwell in you richly.

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

If you want victory tomorrow, it comes down to your dependence today.

Right?

If you want victory tomorrow, it comes down to your dependence today.

And so we don't get to the battle and then go, okay, what is it I need again?

What truth do I need again?

What was that verse again?

No, no.

We can say right now, we can know God's word.

We can be filled with the Spirit, we can be empowered now to deal what's coming then.

But this is the problem.

The problem is that for a lot of us, our spirituality, our faith, our walk with the Lord often becomes a compartmentalized part of our life.

Um, my mom was just a phenomenal Bible teacher.

And I'm gonna steal something that she used to talk about to help us illustrate like this.

She used to say that for many of us, when it comes to this disconnect that we have in our life, um, we often have that disconnect, again, because we view our faith as kind of this compartmentalized thing that we just have our faith, we got our Jesus box, and this is it.

And so we take our Bible and we we we say, okay, it's church on Sunday, it's Via on Thursday, and so here we go.

I've got my Bible, I've got my thing, and this is gonna be good.

And this is good, and Via's great.

Isn't Via great?

Don't you love Via?

I love Via.

Church was good this weekend, right?

Church was great, pastor really brought it.

Oh, worship was really powerful.

And then we go home and we say, Man, that was really helpful, and we put our Bible in the Jesus box and we go to the closet of our life, and we just put the box of Jesus up in the closet and we say, Okay, that's good.

I know where that's at.

I'll come back for it on Thursday, come get it, I'll come get my Jesus box.

This is so great.

V is so great, isn't this wonderful?

Community, yes, Clayton.

All this is wonderful.

Love it.

Okay, let's go back.

That was great, it's late.

I got an exam, I gotta go to work tomorrow.

We'll put it back in the box, we'll put it back up in the closet of our life.

And this is not, friend, the image, the life that God has called us into to walk into it as believers.

No wonder we don't have any victory when it comes to our life because we're we've we've put Jesus in the box.

What Christ is calling us into is a life that's dependent upon him, that's filled with his Holy Spirit.

We cannot have victory without being filled with the Holy Spirit.

We see it in Jesus.

Jesus! I mean, for crying out loud, people, Jesus Christ was filled with the Holy Spirit, and that is what enabled him to have victory over the evil one.

And you go, see, Clayton, I just, there you go again.

Filled with the Holy Spirit, dependence on the Lord.

You're it's a church.

I church people talk weird, you're using church language to describe something that feels really abstract to me.

I mean, maybe I've even been around church and this whole talk about filled with the spirit, it's like, I don't understand what that means.

Well, I want to teach you something tonight about what it looks like to be filled with the Holy Spirit that I use in my life.

I learned it from our pastor, and so this is what it looks like, right?

What do we know?

We know that in John chapter 3 that Jesus compares the Holy Spirit to wind.

John 3 · chapter mention

And so, what it means to be filled with the Spirit in some ways is to be guided by be directed by the wind of God, right?

So, for this analogy, we're gonna imagine that we're all boats.

I'm no sailor, but I can imagine for just a minute, and I implore you to do this with me too, okay?

So let's say that we've got a boat, and this is our life.

That's pretty good, right?

This is like a little wheel.

That's you, okay?

Well, you know, it's not just this is all of you.

You know what I mean?

Okay, so when it comes to being filled with the spirit, what is it that we're actually trying to say?

Well, there's a couple of things.

If I want this boat to win, to move by the power of the wind, what are some things that we're gonna have to do?

Well, there's three things in particular that we're gonna have to do.

The first one is that we're gonna actually have to untie the mass, we're gonna have to set the sail up, okay?

And so when it comes to what you and I do, when it comes to being filled with the spirit, this looks like, excuse my handwriting, confession and surrender.

This is what this looks like.

We just simply say, Jesus, God, Holy Spirit, I confess I'm not the Lord, I'm not God.

There is a God, I'm not Him, and I want to surrender my life to you.

That's that's what we would call untying the mast of the boat of our life, right?

Then what we get to in our prayer is we want him to lead and to guide us.

So when we pray, we say, God, I'm I confess that you are God, I am not, I need your help.

This is acknowledgement that God is the Lord.

I'm surrendering to you.

Jesus, I don't want to live my life in my own power.

I want to be empowered by the Holy Spirit.

So, God, I surrender my life to you.

I'm waking up today and I'm surrendering my life.

This meeting with my boss, my family situation, my school, my major, whatever it is, I'm surrendering that to you.

God, would you please lead me and guide me where you want me to go today?

God, I'm asking that you would give me direction.

Would you speak, whether it's through your word, whether it's through music, whether it's through another trusted believer, that you would speak to me on these things.

And then here's the most important part.

You ready?

We have to listen and obey.

We've got to listen and obey.

So, what does it mean to be filled with the Spirit?

We pray, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Lord, God, I'm surrendering my life to you.

God, I confess my sin.

God, I confess that I need your help.

I need your wisdom, I need your guidance, I need your provision, I need your joy, I need your peace, I need your life.

I'm asking, God, that you would guide me and lead me where you want me to go.

God, order my steps.

Put me in front of the customers today that I need.

Put me in front of the professor that I need, the administrator that I need.

Help me with this conversation that I have to have with my roommate or my ex-girlfriend or whoever it is.

And then when we pray these things, we listen and we obey what it is that the Holy Spirit is speaking to each of us.

Right?

Matthew chapter 7, Jesus says, He who hears these words of mine and does them is like the man who built his house on the rock.

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

It does us no good to confess and surrender and ask to be led in guide if we don't obey where the Holy Spirit is leading and guiding us.

If that makes sense, somebody say amen.

If you want to have victory tomorrow, it starts with your dependence today.

So, what I'm trying to get you to see is that your battle is already gonna be won before you arrive when and only when you are dependent upon the Lord to be filled with the Spirit, not that you will arrive certainly.

Let's just, the caveat, when you arrive to anything, God's grace is sufficient, God's word says, for every situation.

So even if I'm not prepared, we can still have victory.

But if you and I want to have victory over the things that you've been struggling for six years with, over that situation that's been around for a long time, it comes from our dependence and our surrender and our being filled with Him.

All right?

That's the first thing I want you to write down.

The second thing is this is that readiness is built through rhythm.

Readiness is built through rhythm.

Think of it.

I mean, how many post-game press conference interviews with athletes have you seen that they all say something like, well, you know, we've just been we've just been working, we've been trusting the process, you know, it's not we've not been focused on outcomes, we've really been working and grinding, really controlling what we gotta control and not paying attention to what we can't control, and you know, it just pays off when you work and you focus on the process, right?

This is the same thing with our spiritual life.

In all areas of our life, you don't win with intensity, you win with consistency, right?

You're never gonna win with intensity, you always win with consistency.

Since you were four years old, they've been trying to tell you this, right?

Because you read a story about the hare and the turt tortoise.

And guess who won?

The slow guy, because he was consistent in business, in investing, in relationships, in athletics, in nutrition, in dieting, in exercise.

Literally every category of our life, it is about consistency, not intensity.

So, why then would we come to our spiritual life and think like, all I need is kind of a shot in the arm and let's get rah-rah, and then I'll be able to do what it is that I want to do.

So, my question to you tonight is just very simple.

What's your rhythm?

Like, what's your spiritual discipline life look like?

What's your rhythm?

Because if we want to grow as Christians, our spiritual disciplines and our rhythms are a huge part of that.

You know this, right?

Imagine if I came to you and I was like, man, I'm just I'm really struggling.

I'm struggling with this sin that just keeps popping back up since seventh grade.

I can't really keep my my mouth, my tongue, I lash out in my anger, I feel no peace, I feel no joy, I'm just I'm riddled with anxiety.

I mean, can you help me?

Well, I just don't understand what it is.

And you know I'm a believer, and so all of a sudden you start asking some questions.

Like, well, when's the last time you read your Bible?

And I was like, Luke chapter 2 at Christmas, I guess, maybe.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

Well, do you like put yourself in community with small group or a Christian community like Via or anything like that?

Well, I mean, sometimes, but you know how it is.

I mean, it's busy, exams, work, family, sickness, allergies, we all have, you know, all that.

What are you gonna look at me and say?

How am I supposed to expect that one time a year reading my Bible and not being a part of the corporate gathering of God's people, how, where am I gonna be with in my faith without those two things?

Of course we're not.

You're gonna say, you gotta do some things if you expect to be healthy.

Spiritual strength is built in regular habits, not occasional moments.

And for so many of us, we've depended on summer camp and we've depended on the conference, and we've depended on this event that's gonna flame us up and we're gonna feel rah-rah.

And that's why everyone dogs on the camp high and the conference high and all these things.

And which is crazy is that I'm actually for it.

Because I think when you spend time with God's people, studying God's word, singing praise to God, of course you're gonna feel that way, right?

But that is not the thing of every day of our life.

God gives us those things in his grace and his kindness, paired with the daily spiritual rhythms of spending time with him in his word.

And scripture speaks to this all throughout it, right?

Acts chapter two, it says at the early church, they met at church and in people's homes, devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching, prayer, breaking of bread, and fellowship.

Later in verse 46, it would say, day by day, regularly they were doing these things.

Luke chapter 9, verse 23, Jesus says, and he said to all, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross when?

Luke 9:23

Daily and follow me.

Psalm chapter 1, verse 1 says, Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.

Psalms 1:1

Scripture regularly speaks to the rhythms of our life revolving around the Lord in order that we might grow in our faith to have a faith that will sustain us with the situations of life.

Think of it like this.

Let's say that I don't brush my teeth for a year.

Yuck, right?

No good.

You guys are all just like every week another foot further from me as we're talking.

I don't brush my teeth for a year, and then I got a dentist appointment coming up, and the day before the dentist appointment, I brush my teeth for eight hours.

Eight hours straight, I brush my teeth.

Now, all of a sudden, when I go to the dentist, what's he gonna tell me?

Congratulations, you have 97 cavities, we gotta rip out all your teeth, and it's gonna be 170 million dollars, okay?

Why?

I can't expect victory because I do one thing intensely, I have to do it consistently.

When I show up to the gym, I can't show up to the gym tomorrow and just think I'm gonna put 315 on the bar and rip it for five.

Shocking as that might be, I can't do that.

I can't just walk in and say, I'm gonna do this, right?

No matter how much I warm up, no matter how much pre-workout I take, no matter how much protein I eat tomorrow, it's just not gonna happen.

Intensity will not give me victory, consistency will.

I can't expect the joy, the peace, the life, and the life of the believer, friends, when I don't spend time in God's word with God's people, giving praise to God and obeying his commandments.

And I know this is not the most like catch-phrasy sermon.

You're gonna leave tonight, maybe you're gonna call your mom, she's gonna be like, How was V tonight?

She's gonna be like, well, I mean, it's pretty much like read your Bible and go to church, you know?

So I've been here my whole life.

But why do you think we've heard it our whole life?

Because Scripture speaks to it again and again.

It's the truth.

Rhythms produce success when we consistently do what God's called us to do.

So as we wrap up tonight, here's what I want to do here's what I want to do.

I want to encourage you, right?

I said I wanted to.

And you know, sometimes, right, when we get to church, preachers can be a little like, you know, feels like unnecessarily we're taking gut shots at like the people who show up.

But here's what I want to tell you, alright?

You're here.

You're doing it.

In fact, I want you to turn to the person you're seeing next to you and just say, hey, you're really doing it.

You're really doing it.

Like, let's just be honest.

Right, you're here.

You could be anywhere else in the world.

You could be getting high right now, you could be in your bed right now, you could be at Baskin Robbins down the street right now, you could be doom scrolling like you do probably other six nights of the week, but you're here.

You're here.

I'm proud of you for being here.

And maybe 2026 has been really hard.

Maybe you're still jobless.

Maybe you still don't know how your career is gonna work out.

Maybe you still don't know what your pre your your major will be.

Maybe you're still single.

You're still not sure.

And and and and and you're not not here.

Like life has not dealt you the cards that you want it to, and what I'm trying to say is you're not running away from the Lord.

You're here tonight.

And you being here tonight communicates something.

Do you know what it communicates?

You are communicating to yourself, there is a God, I'm not Him.

I want to meet with Him, I want to give Him praise because even if my life doesn't feel great, He's great.

You're doing it.

I'm proud of you.

And maybe this year you're crushing.

The girl said yes.

The job worked out, you got the bonus.

The tax refund was triple what you thought it was gonna be.

You are vibing.

And look at you, Deuteronomy chapter 8.

Deuteronomy 8 · chapter mention

Do not forget that it was the Lord your God who brought you out of slavery in Egypt.

You're here.

Why?

Because there is a God and you're not him, and he's worthy of our praise, and you want to meet with him.

And so, with everything and everyone trying to tell you that you're not man enough, you're not strong enough, you're not skinny enough, you're not smart enough, you're not rich enough, you're not something enough, they're trying to sell you something every swipe on Instagram, they're trying to fix whatever problem you've got today.

The comparison trap of our life that our friend is doing better than we are, and our ex-boyfriend is just like crushing, apparently, according to Instagram.

And we look at ourselves in the mirror and it's like, am I enough?

Is there something wrong with me?

I'm here to tell you there's something right with you because you're here.

You're worshiping God Almighty.

And I'm not saying that you're perfect or you're good or we don't expect you to grow, but you're here and we don't do a good enough job of commending you for that.

So here's what I want you to do.

I want you to look at the person sitting next to you and say, You're here, I'm proud of you.

Jed Bartlett in the West Wing, my favorite TV show, says the decisions are made by those who show up and you're showing up.

So here's what I'm gonna encourage you with, all right?

Keep doing it.

Keep showing up, keep leaning in.

I'm not expecting perfection, but I'm asking for consistency.

Do you want your life to change?

What would it look like to give one year of your life consistently to the spiritual disciplines God has called us to?

Come keep coming to via.

Come to church on the weekend, sing out loud, talk about your faith with your friends, take notes, bring a pen.

Don't just expect people to start the process of making friends with you.

You start the process of making friends with other people.

Go to small group, even when it's hard, even when you're sick, and even when you got a lot going on.

Your community will be the support system that you so desperately need because we experience God best in community.

James says, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, and you will be healed.

Do those things.

Build rhythms that prepare you for the battle.

Because I'm telling you, your victory tomorrow is dependent upon your dependence today.

I love you.

I'm proud of you.

We're here for you.

It's been awesome, and we're gonna keep going.

Somebody say amen.

Lord Jesus, we love you.

God, we're thankful for who you are and for what you've done for us.

God, we're thankful that you are God and that we are not.

God, we're thankful that you, in your grace and your providence, you have picked us to be here, that you don't make any mistake.

And so, God, we just we we're thankful that we live at a time that we can come to this place to worship you.

God, we're thankful that we met with you.

We're thankful that through the course of this semester that you've met with us, that you've spoken through your word.

Holy Spirit, that you've moved through worship.

And so, Jesus, we we ask, God, that you would continue to be glorified.

God, we ask for your help.

We don't need more discipline, we need more self-control, which is a fruit of the Spirit.

So, Holy Spirit, would you fill us?

God, we surrender and we confess that you are God and that we are not.

We need your help.

We need your help with school, we need your help with work, we need your help with relationships.

God, we need your help with our health and our provision.

And so, God, we're asking that you would lead and guide us, both individually and as a ministry.

And where you lead and guide, we'll surrender and obey.

God, we want to be filled with your spirit.

We want to have victory where you call us to go.

God, we love you, we trust you.

It's in your holy and precious name we pray.

And all God's people said, Amen.

Via is Silverdale for 18 to 25 year olds.

We gather on Thursday nights at 8 p.m.

in Chattanooga, Tennessee.