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Ep. 053 Warning Against Worldliness

Potter's House Church - Salmon Arm, BC Canada

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  1. Welcome to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. We are a Bible-Believing Church located

  2. in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. We are proudly part of the Christian Fellowship

  3. Ministries with 3,000 churches around the world. We are a church focused on world evangelism,

  4. discipleship and church planting. Here we will share recent sermons from P.H.S.A. Church

  5. and other sermons from throughout our fellowship. I am Pastor David Bigford and I will be your

  6. host for this podcast. I thank you for listening today and we hope these messages are a blessing

  7. to you and bring you closer to God.

  8. Hello and welcome back to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. My name is David Bigford

  9. and I am the pastor here in Salmon Arm. Today I have a message called Warning Against Worldliness

  10. and a subheading if you want it is called Pride in What? We tend to gravitate towards

  11. in society and what has kind of captured you that could be in a harmful way and that is

  12. kind of the picture of worldliness as well. What are you allowing yourself to be captivated

  13. by that might seem okay on the surface but if you were to like pick away at a little

  14. bit you would realize that you are giving up a lot of what the scripture tells us is

  15. right in favor of stuff that is unholy. So to jump off here, sorry I am mumbling my words

  16. today but to jump off like our text will be James 4, 1-12. So if you have your Bible,

  17. if you are following along for the purpose of that you can turn to James chapter 4 verses

    James 4:1–12

  18. 1-12. We will be jumping in there in just a second. So you might have heard of a book

  19. called the 48 Laws of Power. It is by a guy named Robert Green and I am going to jump

  20. in with an excerpt about this book but I want you to pay attention because this is not a

  21. book that I recommend. In fact far to the opposite I would actually disagree with this

  22. book vehemently in a lot of different ways but let's jump in with the preface to the

  23. book just so you can get an idea of where I am coming from.

  24. The feeling of having no power over people and events is generally unbearable. To us

  25. it feels like when we feel helpless we feel miserable. No one wants less power, everyone

  26. wants more. In the world today however it is dangerous to seem too power hungry or to

  27. be overt with your power moves. We have to seem fair and decent so we need to be subtle,

  28. congenial yet cunning, democratic yet devious. This game of constant duplicity most resembles

  29. the power dynamic that existed in the scheming world of the old aristocratic court. Throughout

  30. history a court has always formed itself around the person in power, the king, queen, emperor,

  31. leader. The courtiers who filled their courts were in an especially delicate position. They

  32. had to serve their masters but if they seemed to fawn, if they seemed they curried favor

  33. too obviously, the other courtiers around them would notice and would act against them.

  34. Hence to win the masters favor then had to be subtle and even skilled courtiers capable

  35. of such subtlety still had to protect themselves from their fellow courtiers who at all moments

  36. were scheming to push them aside. So let's read our text in James 4, 1-12. What causes

  37. quarrels and what causes fights among you? It is not this that your passions are at war

  38. within you. You desire and do not have so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain so

  39. you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive

  40. because you ask wrongly to spend it on your own passions. Your adulterous people, do you

  41. not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes

  42. to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is no

  43. purpose that the scripture says he yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made

  44. to dwell in us but he gives more grace therefore it says God opposes the proud but gives grace

  45. to the humble. Submit yourself therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from

  46. you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands you sinners and

  47. purify your hearts you double minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned

  48. to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you. Do

  49. not speak evil against one another brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges

  50. his brother speaks evil against the law and the judge is the law. But if you judge the

  51. law you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one law giver and judge. He

  52. who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge? Your neighbor. And that

  53. last part your neighbor is a question. We're getting a question from our brother James

  54. in this scripture. Because the question of this is where is your heart going to lie?

  55. So as we jump into this let's pray. Dear Lord God I pray that your word will pierce the

  56. heart with spirit of conviction and that we will see that the word of God that we just

  57. read illuminates the wickedness of that first preamble of that book that we just read. The

  58. two things are at odds and I pray that through this message that we'll be able to show the

  59. desire of our Father that is summed up in the commands to love God first and to love

  60. your neighbor as the next primary command. So in Jesus name I pray amen. So our world

  61. today is made up of two groups. The first and largest group is the group that wants

  62. to be left alone. This is a group that's not interested in dominating the other group.

  63. There are you know they're primarily interested in being taken care of in life. If their basic

  64. needs are met they are most likely to not involve themselves in the comings and goings

  65. of the other group. The second group is made up of an ambitious and striving people. This

  66. group desires to influence change. They often want to exert control and dominate the first

  67. group. But this idea is nothing new to the world and it's presented in the scriptures

  68. when Jesus calls the people sheep without a shepherd in Matthew 9 36 he was drawing

  69. attention to the masses of people who are without godly direction in their lives. The

  70. trouble is that is not that there are leaders and followers in life. No the problem is where

  71. the desire to lead stems from in the heart of those called to lead and why some who choose

  72. to follow or refuse to serve because some who refuse to serve or refuse to lead who

  73. are called they're doing just as much of a disservice as those who want to lead but want

  74. to lead from a wrong heart. So that's what I want to look at today. Why do some desire

  75. more than anything to dominate and why do others only desire comfort and what links

  76. these two ideas together. So I want to contend it's the same route that drives some to power

  77. and others to comfort in first John 2 16 it says for all that is in the world the desires

  78. of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life is not from the father but

  79. is from the world. The struggle is against worldliness as Christians we are called to

  80. stand for Christ against the world. This is a tall order and it's easier said than done

  81. clearly but let's think of the root of the issue. The core issue is one of sovereignty.

  82. Are we giving God the rightful place of kingship in our lives and are we allowing or are we

  83. allowing something else to take the throne in our lives and in our hearts. This brings

  84. me to my first point which is the great deceiver. The power or this book that we read the preface

  85. to is lauded in many circles especially like business circles and it's amazing because

  86. what drives this message and when we look at that preface we get this picture of what's

  87. true you know what is the author what is in the author's heart and we get an idea of

  88. the condition behind it this desire for power but to be devious. So meanwhile the court

  89. was supposed to represent this height of civilization refinement we read about this when he's talking

  90. about the courtiers and the kings and the emperors all the stuff we see this. We also

  91. know that violent or overt power moves were frowned upon. Remember we read that they they

  92. you had to act silently and secretly you had to be mischievous you had to be you know operate

  93. in the shadows. This was the dilemma that was presented in that preface with the courtiers

  94. dilemma while appearing to be a paragon of excellence you had to outwit and thwart your

  95. opponents in the subtlest of ways and when he talks about opponents what are they talking

  96. about if you put this in context of your workspace this would be your colleagues at work if you

  97. put this in your friend circle this literally be your friends or in a family it'd be your

  98. brothers and sisters. This is such a dramatic idea that you're always having to be you know

  99. trying to out move your friends and family and your co-workers like everything is chess.

  100. In the book it talks about how the successful courtier learns over time to make these moves

  101. indirectly so that if he stabs one person in the back he can do it with a velvet glove

  102. you know so that he comes across as you know sweet with and he has a smile on his face

  103. so that it's like almost like yeah I might be stabbing you in the back but it's okay

  104. because I did it in such an elegant way. Instead of using coercion or outright treachery the

  105. perfect courtier got his way through seduction or charm or deception or these subtle strategies

  106. always planning several moves ahead. What kind of weird travesty is this if you were

  107. to have to like worry about your friends your family or co-workers always trying to manipulate

  108. the situation to their benefit and to your detriment. So life in the court was there

  109. was this never-ending game that required constant vigilance and tactical thinking and that's

  110. what the book says. So when the book was recommended to me to read I first thought okay let's give

  111. it a chance but I couldn't even make it past the preface. I immediately was confronted

  112. by the spirit of this book. It right away is telling you that in order to obtain power

  113. you have to be scheming duplicitous and willing to betray all of those around you. Right away

  114. this does you know like alarm bells are going off and this doesn't sound like a you know

  115. something that that I could follow because it doesn't sound anything like the teachings

  116. of our Lord Jesus. In fact it sounds a lot more like our enemy or Satan or the devil.

  117. The message isn't even veiled it's right out in front of the reader. It doesn't require

  118. much discernment to see that this is not a good book for Christians to read or worse

  119. yet to implement. The root of this kind of book and its larger message is one of power

  120. at any costs. It is the open call to take what is not yours by any means necessary.

  121. There's nothing new or innovative in this message. Satan has been spinning this old

  122. tale for a very long time. It's important to remember that God did not create Satan

  123. or create the devil as we know him today because everything God made was good. Right we have

  124. to we have to recognize that he was an angel and at one point he was good. In Genesis 1

  125. 31 it says and God saw everything that he made and behold it was very good and there

  126. was evening and there was morning the sixth day. So why do I bring that up? I bring that

  127. into this discussion because at this book I'm not purposely writing this just to rail

  128. on this book but rather the larger picture that you're not starting out being a wicked

  129. manipulator and betrayer in the court of the king but it all starts with little steps over

  130. time so what we know is that when creation was finished everything was good. In Ezekiel

  131. 28 12 through 19 we get a more detailed picture of Satan's original beauty and his wisdom.

  132. It says you were the signet of perfection full of wisdom and perfect and beauty. You

  133. were an Eden the garden of God every precious stone was your covering. Sardius, Topaz, diamond,

  134. barrel, onyx, jasper, sapphire, emerald, carbuncle and crafted in gold were your settings in your

  135. engravings and on the day that you were created they were prepared. You were an anointed guardian

  136. cherub. I placed you you were on the holy mountain of God in the midst of the stones of fire you

  137. walked. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till unrighteousness was

  138. found in you. In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence in your midst and you

  139. sinned so I cast you as a profane thing from the mount of a god and I destroyed you oh guardian

  140. cherub from the midst of the stones of fire your heart was proud because of your beauty. You

  141. corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor I cast you to the ground I exposed you

  142. before kings to feast your eyes on feast their eyes on you by the multitude of your iniquities

  143. and the unrighteousness of your trade you profaned your sanctuaries so I brought the brought fire

  144. out from your midst and it consumed you and turned you to ash on the earth in the sight of all who

  145. saw you all who know you or know you among the peoples are appalled at you and you have come to

  146. a dreadful end and shall be no more forever. So as we read that it tells us a little bit more about

  147. Satan's fall but then we can read also in Isaiah 14 12 through 14 to get a little bit more of a

  148. picture. How are you a fall how are you or how you are fallen from heaven oh day star son of dawn

  149. how you are cut down to the ground you who laid the nations low you said in your heart I will ascend

  150. to heaven above the stars of God I will set my throne on high and I will sit on the mount of

  151. assembly in the far reaches of the north I will ascend above the heights of the clouds and I will

  152. make myself like the most high. So to discern the world we live in it's critical to know that the

  153. devil is real and that he does influence our culture our governments and if we let him he will

  154. also he will also affect what you allow to be your desires. He does influence your desires if you

  155. allow him to. Satan is the great deceiver in the garden he was there that's why Paul tells Timothy

  156. and first Timothy 3 6 that the early church leaders must not be novices. He says lest being

  157. puffed up with pride they fall into the same condemnation as the devil. The sin of the devil

  158. was pride the sin of the devil was his aspirations for power power above the most high and so when

  159. Paul's telling Timothy this he's telling him that you need to have discernment so that when you place

  160. people in positions of authority within the church they can't be new believers because if you allow

  161. people who are new or novices they'll be puffed up and they'll think they're they're bigger than

  162. themselves and they could fall victim to pride. Satan's greatest device in opposing the work of

  163. the Lord is his deceptiveness and so F.C. Jennings wrote about how false notions of Satan have led

  164. people to reject any belief in Satan. He says in considering the person of Satan it may be well

  165. first to look at the common vulgar popular idea such it is still held by masses of Christendom

  166. and such it has made the basis or at least one of the basis for rejection of his very existence by

  167. many of the learning of the day. The lowest possible and yet most widespread conception we

  168. have is that in what one may term the stage idea as we constantly see it on posters in our streets

  169. a human form with a leering face characterized by a grim by a grin of low cunning horns hoofs in a

  170. forked tail utterly obscene and provoking nothing but contempt ridicule and disgust but when we read

  171. the Bible we certainly don't get this kind of picture of Satan. If he came looking like that

  172. no one would follow him. Quite contrary to this popular notion Satan's dominant purpose is not to

  173. be unlike God or to be the opposite of God. His transcendent objective is to be like God to be like

  174. the most high as it says in Isaiah 14 14. So scripture gives us a great number of different

  175. names and descriptive titles for Satan so we'll examine Satan's name and titles to recognize his

  176. various approaches and to reveal his true character. So what are some of the names that are given to

  177. Satan? Well first we have a very common one or one that we're pretty aware of is called Lucifer.

  178. This is you know from the King James the new King James version and it it's basically a translation

  179. out of the Latin Vulgate today in which was used to translate the Hebrew word which is

  180. Hylal in Isaiah 14 12. Hylal literally means a shining one and the Latin word that we pull Lucifer

  181. from means light bearer or morning star. So the name Lucifer seems to refer to Satan's position

  182. in heaven before his rebellion and fall. How are you falling from heaven oh Lucifer son of the

  183. morning? The Bible tells us that. We also get the name Satan which means adversary or one who

  184. opposes because that's what the devil does is he is the opposition to the righteousness of God.

  185. The name devil means slanderer or accuser because he is a slanderer of the saints. He is a slanderer

  186. of the of God's message of Christ's message and he is a slanderer of us. Beelzebub is Lord of the

  187. Flies and Belial means worthless. So other names that are attributed to Satan are tempter, wicked

  188. one, ruler of the world, prince of power of the air. So many of these names given to him in the

  189. Bible with the purpose of bringing our attention to his nature and tactics. He is an enemy of God

  190. but he is not the victor. But before we move on to my next point I just want to emphasize the fact

  191. that he doesn't come looking like some terrible creature from the cartoons. He comes as an angel

  192. of light because he was an angel of light and his desire is to present himself as a replacement for

  193. God because he, you know, in his bride desired to be above God. So why would he try to come and look

  194. like something that's opposite to God when he was trying to take God's place? So as we move on I

  195. want to make sure I emphasize this point you know with with a lot of intensity is the idea that he's

  196. a defeated foe. In Isaiah 14-15 it says, but you are brought low to shoal to the far reaches of the

  197. pit. We know that Satan was cast out. He lost his position in heaven and he was cast out of the

  198. Garden of Eden. He failed to turn Christ aside from his mission and Satan was judged finally at

  199. the cross of Calvary. So when we think about that and we look at Isaiah and we think about, you know,

  200. the fact that, you know, we know that he's brought down, that he's been judged. We know he lost his

  201. position in heaven from the very beginning of the Bible where it talks about that.

  202. We know he was cast out of the Garden of Eden so he's already been tried and convicted and he is

  203. waiting for his sentence to be fulfilled. He attempted to turn Christ aside from his mission

  204. of salvation for us through the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary but he failed. He failed to tempt

  205. Jesus because Jesus is God and he needed to be a pure sacrifice for us and he was. So he was

  206. so he failed in his mission to stop us from receiving grace through Jesus' name

  207. but he had already been himself convicted. He was still awaiting his punishment

  208. and his final judgment came with his mission when Jesus died upon the cross and rose from the grave

  209. because Satan had failed at his goal of keeping humanity from being able to obtain grace through

  210. the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. So we know that he's a defeated foe. We know he's a failure. We

  211. know all these things. So why do we give Satan so much time in our lives? When we think of this

  212. book and this grasping for power, why is it that we are just so willing to dive in and

  213. do people wrong in order to gain a step up in a company or to gain more accolades from a group

  214. of friends or a group of colleagues at work? Why is it that we're so willing to do harmful

  215. things to ourselves and others for this trivial attempt to power? When we read in our text earlier,

  216. it talked about the route that we're supposed to go in our life. So when we look at James and we

  217. go down to verse 7, it says, submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil and he will

  218. flee from you. We need to be strong enough to stand against the devil and these kind of

  219. pulls from society that go constantly contrary to the word of God. He tells us to draw near to God

  220. in verse 8, and if we do, he'll draw near to us. He tells us to cleanse our hands, purify our hearts.

  221. He tells us to humble ourselves before the Lord in verse 10, and if you humble yourself,

  222. you will be exalted of God. So the reality is, we know from other messages I preach

  223. that Jesus brings this upside down kingdom. He is the King of Kings. He's the Lord of Lords,

  224. but he was humble and he came as a servant, and he calls us to be humble and to be servants as well,

  225. and in doing so will be elevated. It tells us in verse 11, do not speak evil against one another.

  226. Brothers, and again this is from James chapter 4 verses 1 through 12. So we're not meant to speak

    James 4:1–12

  227. evil against one another. We're not meant to judge each other wickedly,

  228. because there's only one lawgiver and there's only one judge, and it's that judge, the judge Jesus,

  229. who is able to save, but is also able to destroy. And who's he going to destroy? We know because

  230. he is the victor. The devil is convicted, he's sentenced, and he is awaiting

  231. his punishment. This brings me to that final point, which is victory in Jesus.

  232. The believer's course of action regarding Satan should be, one, to recognize Satan's limitations.

  233. Two, we have to understand with clarity that Satan has been conquered,

  234. and three, that Jesus intercedes on behalf of us believers.

  235. So when we're recognizing Satan's limitations, we're recognizing that Satan is the one who

  236. is the most powerful. When we're recognizing Satan's limitations, what does that look like?

  237. Well, we need to understand that Satan is not God. He is not omnipotent. He is not all powerful.

  238. He is limited. He is not omniscient. He can't know your thoughts. He is not all knowing,

  239. which means you guard your tongue, because if you're struggling, if you're having a hard time,

  240. he's not going to rule you, because he doesn't know what you're thinking. That's why we lay our

  241. burdens down in prayer, and we cry out to God for help, because he knows what we're going through.

  242. And also, Satan is not omnipresent. He is not there all the time. And obviously, there are demons,

  243. who work behind the scenes. But my point is that our God is all powerful, omniscient, or actually

  244. omnipotent. Sorry. He's all powerful, omnipotent. He is all knowing, omniscient, and he is everywhere

  245. omnipresent. And he resides even in us, and he is all around us all the time.

  246. The devil cannot bestow life and raise anybody from the dead. We know that from John 10, 10.

  247. But our Lord can. Not only did he rise and was able to raise from the dead himself,

  248. but he has the power over life and death. Satan has been conquered. Number two, right?

  249. He has been convicted. He stands condemned, and he has been sentenced, but the sentence has yet to be

  250. carried out. We live in a society that disregards this fact. In fact, we see the wickedness that

  251. wages war against the church all the time in every country, some countries more than others.

  252. But the reality is, is that they're all on borrowed time.

  253. Our part is to claim by faith and to stand in Christ's victory over the deceiver, over Satan.

  254. The scripture states that Satan has been conquered for his purpose the Son of God was manifest that

  255. he might destroy the works of the devil. In 1 John 3, 8, Satan is a conquered foe overcome

  256. by our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the son of God, and he is the son of the devil. He is the son of

  257. Lord Jesus Christ. Nowhere are Christians told to fight the devil. Jesus fought Satan once and for

  258. all on the cross. Our part is to claim by faith and stand in his victory and resist the devil.

  259. 1 John 3, 8 says, whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been

  260. sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the

  261. devil. So believers are not commanded to fight the devil but to resist the devil and he will flee

  262. from you. James 4, 7, we read that. First, Peter 5, 9 explains how believers are to resist Satan,

  263. resist him steadfast in the faith. Faith in the account of Christ's victory over the devil and

  264. in God's promise is the secret of victory for believers. Jesus made Satan's tactics quite clear

  265. in the parable of the sower and the seed. Jesus said that some of the seed fell by the wayside,

  266. the birds of the air devoured it. Jesus explained those by the wayside are the ones who hear,

  267. then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be

  268. saved. The devil knew that if the word were allowed to remain in the hearts of the hearers,

  269. it would bring forth faith. So then faith comes by hearing and hearing of the word of God.

  270. Romans 10, 17. Faith in God's word is the secret to believers' daily triumphs. FC Jennings summed up

  271. this truth in this comment here. He says, this then suggests very clearly the root aim of his attacks.

  272. It is always to destroy faith in God and on our side of the conflict is to maintain that faith

  273. in spite of everything he can bring against it. So the apostle Peter says, whom resists steadfast

  274. in the faith and our apostles calls, joyful song is I have fought a good fight and I have finished

  275. my course. I have kept the faith in second Timothy four seven. And he passes back the words to us,

  276. fight the good fight of faith. First Timothy six 12. So we don't fight the devil. We fight the good

  277. fight of faith because in resisting the devil because of our faith, he will flee from us.

  278. He is already defeated. And finally, Jesus intercedes on behalf of the believer.

  279. Luke 22, 31 to 33 says, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you that he might sift

  280. you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned

  281. again, strengthen your brothers. Hebrews seven 25 says, consequently, he was able to save to the

  282. uttermost those who draw near to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for them.

  283. And I want to make sure I point this out to it was something that came to mind, you know,

  284. just a little bit ago when I was, you know, in a different section here.

  285. See if I can remember what I was going to say.

  286. When we're talking about the seed, we were talking about how the devil tries to swoop in and steal it

  287. for someone so that it can't take root. What is a good takeaway from that as believers,

  288. as Christians, part of part of the body of Christ? To me, that speaks to the reason of always

  289. preaching the gospel unceasingly. Right. The fact that we would tell someone about Jesus

  290. and we might see that it they catch a little bit of a glimpse of what salvation is,

  291. but they don't fully accept it because the devil comes and steals it. Are we supposed to just stop

  292. and say, well, they had their chance? I think that's pretty ridiculous thought, right?

  293. Of course not. We're going to continue to preach the gospel to our friends, our families.

  294. And when when available, our co-workers or those we come in contact with the grocery store on the

  295. street and align somewhere, even if we've told them before, we're going to continue to share the

  296. gospel with them. They're going to continue to see our example of our Christianity so that

  297. there's always the possibility that they will turn to Christ in time. We're going to keep

  298. spreading that seed. Maybe the devil came in and took it once, but maybe the devil came in and took

  299. it twice or three times. But maybe that's fifth or sixth time it'll take root.

  300. And we might say, you know, bring someone to Christ so that they can be saved by grace in Jesus.

  301. We need to practice unceasing vigilance as Christians as well. In 1 Peter 5, 8, it says,

  302. be sober minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion,

  303. seeking someone to devour. So for me, as a pastor, as someone who's striving to see people save,

  304. what this tells me is that we all know from the scripture that we, you know, pastors and leaders

  305. are going to be held to a higher standard. We're going to be held to a higher standard.

  306. So what that means to me is I need to be a better example and I need to be a better father. I need

  307. to be a better husband and I might not be perfect and I might fail more than I, you know, you know,

  308. more than I win sometimes. But the reality is that you're always trying to do better. You're

  309. always trying to grow. And that portion of the 1 Peter 5, 8, where it talks about being sober

  310. minded, be watchful. It tells me, you know, someone who used to be like a binge drinker,

  311. and now people go, well, why don't you drink? The Bible has drinking in it. Well, that's fine.

  312. But the reality is it tells us to be sober and to be sober, to be watchful. So that means you can

  313. never imbib of anything to the point where you are not sober. And if you have the control

  314. to do that, well, then you're better than I am because I tend to live a life of excess

  315. if I'm not under the blood of the lamb. And so I would be sober so that my testimony can't be

  316. tarnished and so that I would be a better example for somebody else. So we have to deny Satan a

  317. foothold in Ephesians 4, 27 says, and you give no opportunity for the devil. So this goes back to

  318. that earlier point. Don't give the devil a beachhead to work from. If you struggle,

  319. like let's say you like dance and rave music, but you struggle because there's always bad things

  320. at those events. I'm sorry, but you're going to have to give no opportunity for the devil.

  321. You need to allow the Lord to work in your heart. You need to allow him to have kingship

  322. over you. In John 14, 30, it says, I will no longer talk much with you for the ruler of this world.

  323. This is from Jesus, right? He's talking about what's coming.

  324. The devil has no claim over you, so don't give him the beachhead into your heart. You're into

  325. your life. And finally, put on the whole armor of God. You can read this on your own Ephesians 6,

  326. 13 through 18, where it talks about the whole armor of God.

  327. But the Lord has provided this complete set of armor to protect Christians from every fiery dart

  328. of the wicked one. But believers have to put on the armor. You have to do it daily. You have to do

  329. it constantly. The admission of any part may be fatal to you or your Christian life and testimony.

  330. This is something we all do as Christians. The devil is a

  331. devil. He's a devil. He's a devil. He's a devil. He's a devil. He's a devil. He's a devil.

  332. He's a devil. He's as many as picators are known. This is something we all do as Christians. The

  333. devil is defeated, but really it is on us to be that testimony so that we can see others saved,

  334. because that's what it's always about is the lost sheep. The people that pick up this book and think

  335. And they say, oh, the word of God, the Bible is nothing but fairy tales, but the Bible

  336. is far more moral and perfect than anything else on this planet.

  337. It is the word of God.

  338. It is the logos.

  339. So we need to put our faith in God and what he is going to, you know, what he has done

  340. for us in Jesus name.

  341. And with that, if I could have every head bowed, every eye closed, wherever you are,

  342. unless you're driving, I haven't said that in a while.

  343. I want to take this quick opportunity to give you an invitation.

  344. Maybe you've read this book, maybe you've read other books like that.

  345. I come into these books a lot from a business standpoint.

  346. People get really excited about the idea of taking power from the world, but it's wicked

  347. because God calls us to be humble so that he can exalt us.

  348. He calls us to humble ourselves so that he can be the one that bestows blessing upon

  349. us because when we try to rip blessing away from someone, we live in pride.

  350. We try to tear people down or stab people in the back or, you know, manipulate the system

  351. situation and be very Machiavellian in the way that we act.

  352. It's darkness, it's wickedness, it's from the devil.

  353. And I don't mean that to be hyperbolic.

  354. I mean that to say quite literally that you are allowing a beach had to be created your

  355. heart that will fester and create hate and strife and bitterness.

  356. You don't need that.

  357. Give it to Jesus.

  358. Give it to Jesus.

  359. He's right here.

  360. He wants to save you from a life of miserable, miserable pain and suffering.

  361. So that's you and you know that you're not living for God and you want to get your heart

  362. right.

  363. You can signify that with upliftoed hand wherever you are because even though I can't see it,

  364. God sees it.

  365. He knows your heart.

  366. And if you do that, if you're doing that right now and God spoke to you and you raised your

  367. hand, I want to pray a quick prayer or lead you in a quick prayer.

  368. Just repeat after me.

  369. Dear Lord, I know that I'm a sinner, but I know that you sent your son Jesus Christ that

  370. he died for my sins.

  371. I accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior and I repent of my sin.

  372. In Jesus name I pray.

  373. Amen.

  374. So that's a quick sinner's prayer.

  375. So if you said that you meant it, then you need to get to a church.

  376. You need to read and pray.

  377. Read the Bible and pray.

  378. Because the Bible tells us to preach to everyone, baptize them in the name of the Father, the

  379. Son, the Holy Ghost and get the baptism of the Holy Spirit and disciple people.

  380. We preach to disciple so that we can create more beachheads for Jesus in the church body.

  381. So if you're in Salmon Arm and you want to come to our little church, we're a tiny little

  382. church, but we have a huge vision and we are striving on fire for God Christians.

  383. And we'd love for you to come.

  384. And so all the details for that are in the show notes that you could reach out to me

  385. and I'd love to have you come for service.

  386. I just want to thank you for listening.

  387. Again, if this message has impacted you, I'd love it if you liked, shared this message

  388. and subscribed to the podcast.

  389. It really helps us to get the message out to more and more people.

  390. And I just want to give God all the praise and glory for everything He's doing in our

  391. town and in the hearts of our people.

  392. And to everybody who listens to this message, I want to thank you for listening and I can't

  393. wait for you to come back next time.

  394. God bless.

  395. Thank you for listening to the P.H.S.A.

  396. Potter's House Salmon Arm Podcast.

  397. Be sure to follow us on Instagram at pottershouse underscore salmon arm to keep up to date on

  398. what we're doing.

  399. Join the conversation and discover how Jesus Christ can revolutionize your life.