"Enemies" Pt.1

Hi, this is John Ozanting, lead pastor of Evolve Church, and this is the Evolve Church Podcast.

Thanks so much for tuning in.

We hope that you find today's message encouraging and full of hope for wherever you're at.

Come, Holy Spirit, deepen our awareness of your presence.

Our lives have already been filled and marked by the power and the gift of your presence today.

And yet we want to acknowledge that we haven't arrived.

We want more.

Come, Holy Spirit.

Fill us up again, we pray.

We just acknowledge, Jesus, that your name is greater, that you are worthy of it all.

And that your life still whispers and still speaks to us.

Your life still matters as we choose to build our lives on the example that you set for us.

And God, you know, you know this week moments I've spent with you and opened up my Bible and prayed and struggled, I just invite you to rest in this room.

Every home represented through online, every life listening to this podcast.

Would you just rest in a way that only you can bring peace, bring clarity, bring wisdom, we pray.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Is there good and evil in the world?

Is there good and evil in the world?

Some of you are nodding, some of you are saying yes, some of you are wondering, is there good and evil in the world?

Whether you've grown up in the church or perhaps maybe you're brand new to faith.

Maybe you're this journey of learning to trust and follow Jesus, you're fresh out of the gate.

Wherever you're at in your faith story, and what it what is costing you to surrender your life to Jesus, wherever you're at, this is an important question.

Is there good and evil in the world?

In uh kind of Western evangelical Christianity, I've I've heard it all.

And I'm grateful.

Like anytime someone from uh the life of the church or someone I know says, Pastor, I need you to pray for me.

I'm always grateful for those moments.

So if you need prayer, ask for prayer.

I've had moments today where someone, a few people have said, Hey, this thing's going on.

Can you pray?

This thing's going on, can you pray?

But a lot of times I've heard um Jesus followers say, Oh, Pastor, I'm under attack.

I'm like, okay, talk to me, what's going on?

Oh, I got a flat tire.

I'm like, okay, and I'm under attack.

I got a flat tire.

Pastor, can you pray for me?

I'm under attack.

I fought with my husband on the way to church today.

Okay.

Are you under attack or did you just lose your temper again?

Let's get real for a second.

Let's get real for a second.

I'm under attack, Pastor.

My kids aren't listening to me.

Those little suckers, those little heathens.

Well, when's the last time you carved out a moment to just sit and be present with your daughter?

Hear her heart.

Have you built relationships?

Maybe they're not listening to you because they don't think you care.

I don't know.

I'm just saying, maybe it's not an attack from the enemy.

Maybe you just haven't been on point in your parenting.

This and not I'm not saying this to make you feel bad or guilty.

Okay?

Hear my heart for a second.

But sometimes, as Jesus followers, we give the devil way too much credit.

When it's our our own misunderstanding or our own lack or our our own hearts that have actually created a circumstance that we just blame the devil for.

Also, I know that some streams of philosophy would have us believe that the concepts of good and evil are made up.

That they're just made up by humans, for humans, to help bring some understanding.

Some streams of philosophy would say, good, evil, that's not real.

Those are just made up things.

Some traditions hold that good and evil do not exist by nature, meaning that good and evil don't exist within the thing themselves, within the moment or within the experience.

All judgments of good and evil are relative to who's ever doing the judging.

So whatever you want to believe, just go ahead and believe it.

And that that exists even in some streams of Christianity in the world.

They would kind of pull in some philosophy and say, well, good, evil, you know, I can do kind of whatever I want as long as I'm happy, and then like God's grace is sufficient, so I'll be okay.

And Jesus loves me as I am, so I can do this thing or experience this relationship or or uh you know compromise this piece of my story because isn't God good after all?

And I just want to call us to attention as a community of Jesus followers that there are enemies pushing at your story.

And in the journey of learning to trust and follow Jesus and surrender every part of our story, are we aware of this?

I would say, as a dad, as a dad, I'm very aware that good and evil exist in the world.

I was reminded of that this week.

One of our children on their first day back at school literally went through hell.

And I was reminded of evil in the world.

And I was reminded of that because of the things that were said and done to him.

But I was also reminded of that of my response to what was said and done to him.

I was ready to murder some children.

And and I was, oh yeah, evil exists in the world.

Because I saw it in these students in my kids' grade, and I saw it in my own heart again.

I'm aware that good and evil exist in the world.

I want to ask that whatever you believe about good and evil, as we start this series called Enemies, can I just invite you to suspend your judgment?

Like suspend your the judgment of your imagination of your heart.

Could you suspend all judgment as we wade into this conversation?

Just open up your heart to what scripture wants to teach us and what the way of Jesus wants to teach us.

Over the past two decades of ministry and leadership, I've observed two things about most humans who say they trust and follow Jesus.

Two things that are very common, two things about how most Christians live.

Number one, when things are good, we're mostly oblivious to spiritual forces at work in the world.

Things are good, all is well.

And we hardly give any thought to the spiritual forces at work in the world.

Why?

Because life's good.

Things are happening for me, you know.

I'm successful, I'm happy.

And in that rut, we find pride coming out of our hearts and too much dependence on self and not enough dependence on Jesus.

And this creates an eroding of our ability to practice his presence and stay surrendered to Jesus every day.

But after all, things are good.

I know God's out there, I love him, but I'm not really thinking much about it because things are pretty good.

The other thing I've observed is this.

Actually, before I share, I read this quote from C.S.

Lewis in Screwtape Letters.

And if you haven't read it, I'll talk more about it at the end.

But this quote is this Indeed, the safest road to hell is the gradual one.

The gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.

Signed, your affectionate uncle.

Screw tape.

The safest road to hell is the gradual one.

And I've observed a lot of Christians, because things are pretty good, we don't give enough attention to the spiritual forces at work in the world.

The second one is that when things are bad, we question or worse, blame God for orchestrating our bad circumstances.

This is the other ditch I've seen a lot of really good Jesus surrendered people.

When bad things happen, their first response is, what the heck, God?

Because we didn't we don't say hell, we're good Christians after all, right?

What the heck?

This bad thing happened.

I thought you were supposed to be good.

So when good things happen, we don't really think about it.

When bad things happen, we assign most of the blame, if not all of the blame, onto God.

Unanswered prayer, disappointment.

This creates distortion and distance between us and the Father, creates hurt and pain connected to our faith story, and these are really real things.

Which is why this series matters.

We have enemies.

This shift to blaming God, it creates a narrative in our hearts that if God is so good, why did this thing happen to me?

Okay?

So as we're starting this new series called Enemies Today, again, I want to invite us to suspend our judgment.

Maybe you have really healthy beliefs and doctrine about good and evil and enemies.

And could you just choose an open posture, open hand, open heart to say, Jesus, what do you want to teach me?

And if you've been like poppycock, it's all made up, gobbledygook, could you also suspend your judgment and just say, okay, God, I'm in the room.

I desire you, I want more of your presence.

What do you want to teach me?

Because I believe that Jesus' truth and life, coupled with the power and presence of the Holy Spirit of God, wants to open our eyes, open our hearts, and set us free from the grip of the enemies and set us free today.

What's the first thing that comes to mind when I approach the topic of enemies in our faith?

What do you picture?

And I say there's a spiritual adversary, a spiritual enemy, what do you picture?

What comes to mind?

Satan, Dave says, Satan.

And in that, what do you picture?

Six foot six, a tail, red horns.

What do you picture?

Like what comes to mind?

What do you picture when I talk about a spiritual adversary?

Or maybe what's triggering?

What's painful?

What's confusing?

Spiritual warfare.

Maybe you were part of a church tradition that talked about spiritual warfare all the time.

And maybe maybe you were maybe you were one of many, many Jesus followers that somebody tried to cast a demon out of you because of something you had said or done.

And maybe this topic of spiritual warfare is actually quite hurtful for you.

And I want you to know, I see you, I acknowledge that.

That's not what this next number of weeks is going to be about.

But more if have you ever felt like your faith journey is hard?

Have you ever felt like drawing closer?

Pastor Nicole talking about a sense of belonging and anchoring our hope to Jesus and growing in our faith.

Have you ever felt, man, it's just it's just not working for me right now?

I feel like I'm under attack.

It's because you are.

We have enemies.

And there's three enemies that we want to talk about in this series: the world, the flesh, or the sin nature, and the devil, Satan.

We want to talk about all three of these: the world, the flesh, and the devil.

The world, simply meaning the external system that we live in that pushes against those of us who follow Jesus.

There is a world out there.

It has systems and structures and beliefs and culture.

And it will push at you if you're honestly sincere about learning to trust and follow Jesus.

1 John 5 says, every child of God defeats this evil world.

And we achieve this victory through our faith.

And who can win this battle against the world?

Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

So right out of the gate, there is a world system.

It's one of the enemies that we're going to talk about.

Romans 12 puts it this way: don't copy the behavior and the customs of this world.

But let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.

Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

And so there we sit in contrast to the world.

A life surrendered to Jesus, there's going to be something different about your customs and your habits and the way you think than the world system that you live in.

The second enemy is the flesh or the sin nature.

And that is actually within us, this internal old way, who we used to be pre-Jesus, it didn't like poof disappear.

It rests within in conflict and in tension with the new recreated self.

And now greater is he within us than he who is in the world, but it's still a real thing.

We still have flesh or sin nature that we have to be aware of, that raises its ugly head.

And I see that in moments where something bad happens to my kid and I want to murder somebody.

You have these moments too: the flesh, the sin nature.

And here's what scripture says in Galatians 5: when you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear.

Sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, desire to murder children, selfish ambition, dissension, division.

I threw that one in there.

Envy, drunkenness, wild parties, other sins like these.

Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the kingdom of God.

And so we have to be aware.

There's an old nature within us pushing at this new, recreated who we've been made to become in Christ Jesus.

Romans 7.25 says, Thank God the answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.

So you see how it is in my mind, I really want to obey God's law, but because of my sinful nature, I'm a slave to sin.

And so here's Paul in Romans kind of talking about this ping-pong match, this conflict of who I am and who I want to be and who I used to be and what I don't want to do, but who I want to become.

And so that's a very real enemy.

So number one, the world, number two, the flesh or the sin nature.

And number three, the devil.

The devil, an evil spiritual foe that rules this world and stands opposed to those who follow after the way of Jesus and stands opposed to humanity, period.

Not just Christians, humans.

Sons and daughters created in the image of Christ Jesus, whether they know it or not, we have an enemy, we have a foe.

Ephesians 6 invites us to put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all the strategies of the devil or the Satan or the accuser.

But it's a personification, not a spiritual blob or force at work in the world.

It's an identity.

1 Peter 5, stay alert.

Watch out for your great enemy, the devil.

He prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

This third enemy, the devil, is actually where I want to start today.

Hey, welcome to Evolve.

We're going to talk about the devil.

Isn't that fun?

Yeah.

But this evil spiritual foe that rules the world stands opposed, not just the idea of evil, but the personification of evil.

This perception we have of the devil, the Satan.

And again, our imaginations come alive.

We picture like Will Farrell's Saturday Night Live character desperately trying to write a love song, right?

I did, anyways.

Maybe you didn't, but like somewhere in pop culture, I think Jack Nicholson's played the devil somewhere along the way, Al Pacino, John Lovitz.

Lots of pulp kit, you know, both in like animated and live action and television and movies.

We've all seen pictures of the devil.

Is that really what he looks like?

No.

Well, then what does he look like?

It doesn't really matter, but we can talk about that.

But I want to talk more about how he works than what he looks like today.

And I want to start by reading from a book called Basic Theology, Popular Systematic Guide to Understanding Biblical Truth.

It says if one accepts the scriptures as revelation from God, rather than merely a record of man's thoughts about God, then the reality of Satan cannot be denied.

And so that's the first tension point.

Do you accept scripture as revelation from God?

Or do you just think a bunch of good people got together and wrote down their thoughts and opinions about him?

I believe that scripture is alive and well and revelation from God, diligently, faithfully, and meticulously passed down from century to century.

I believe it is scripture, it is truth, it is God, the revelation from God.

And so if you believe and agree with that with me, then the reality of Satan cannot be denied.

Satan did not evolve as a personal being, he existed and acted from the earliest to the last book of God's revelation.

Seven books of the Old Testament teach about his reality: Genesis 1, Chronicles, Job, Psalms, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah.

And listen to this.

Every writer of the New Testament affirmed the devil's reality and the devil's activity.

Every writer of the New Testament.

And this excerpt goes on to say, and I've put this on the screen so you can follow on, Christ's teachings also assume and affirm Satan's existence and activity.

In 25 of the 29 passages in the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, that speak of the Satan, our Lord Jesus is doing the speaking.

In some of those passages, there can be no question of Christ's accommodating his teaching to the crowd's supposed ignorances or faulty concepts of Satan due to Persian dualism.

And so in Jesus' day and time in the Roman Empire, there was this Persian religious system that was trying to teach of dualism at work in the world.

And the Jewish people that Jesus was teaching to had wrong beliefs and wrong ideas about the devil.

And so Jesus taught truth to help the church understand what it really means to have a spiritual adversary.

And I want to lean into one of Jesus' most prolific teachings on the devil as we kind of unpack and have three ideas and then we're done part one of this series.

Okay?

But I think what are our supposed ignorances today about the devil?

What are our supposed or faulty concepts of the devil?

And will we will we suspend judgment to invite Jesus' teaching to help us see clearly today?

And leave here battle ready, leave here armed.

Two years ago in 2020, in October, we taught a series called Battle Ready, and it was about the armor that God's given us to fight.

And if you want to beef up your teaching, go back, have a listen to that.

But John 8, chapter 8, starting in verse 31, here's what it says.

Jesus said to the people who believed in him, You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings.

And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

But we are descendants of Abraham, they said.

Can we just remember that Jesus is teaching Jewish people?

Descendants of Abraham, descendants of Joseph.

And so here's a whole here's a whole generation of Jewish people who are like, we've never been slaves to anyone.

And it the punchline is if you know Israel's history, they were slaves a lot.

Like, a lot, a lot.

A lot.

Already they're deceived.

Right out of the gate, there's a lie that they've believed.

Newsflash, that's the enemy's primary strategy.

This is an important moment because the Israelites, we've never been slaves to anybody, Jesus.

What do you mean?

Oh my word.

Jesus replied, I tell you the truth.

Everyone who sins is a slave to sin.

A slave is not a permanent member of the family.

The family.

But a son is a part of the family forever.

So if the son sets you free, you're truly free.

Yes, I realize that you're descendants of Abraham, and yet some of you are trying to kill me because there's no room in your heart.

For my message.

I'm telling you what I saw when I was with my father, but you're following the advice of your father.

And so Jesus breaks into this like, I've set you free.

Also, this understanding that God places us into family.

We're sons, we're daughters, we have a father.

Jesus represents the father.

And that if we don't listen to the father, we're actually listening to the father.

Interesting language.

Capital F Father, following the advice of your little F father.

To which they respond, our father is Abraham.

No, Jesus says.

For if you were really the children of Abraham, you would follow his example.

Instead, you're trying to kill me because I've told you the truth, which I heard from God.

Abraham never did such a thing.

No, you are imitating your real small f father.

And they replied, We aren't illegitimate children.

God himself is our true father.

And this is getting heated.

In case you can't hear that, Jesus just called Jewish people illegitimate children.

Eugene Peterson in the message translation says, bastards.

That's like that's the tone Jesus is using here.

He's calling that's what he calls them.

Whew! It's getting feisty.

Did Pastor just say that word in church?

Yeah.

Jesus told them, if God were your father, you would love me because I've come to you from God.

I'm not here on my own, but he sent me.

Why can't you understand what I'm saying?

It's because you can't even hear me.

You can't even hear me because you've been lied to and you have preconceived ideas and you've already made up your mind.

You are the children of your father, the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does.

He was a murderer from the beginning.

He has always hated the truth because there's no truth in him.

When he lies, it's consistent with his character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

So when I tell you the truth, you just naturally don't believe me.

Which of you can truthfully accuse me of sin?

And since I'm telling you the truth, why don't you believe me?

Anyone who belongs to God listens gladly to the words of God, but you don't listen because you don't belong to God.

And I want to pull it into perspective that verse 31 said, Jesus said to the people who believed in him, these were the people that were with him.

And so that left a lot of room for me to just like, oh, in what ways has my heart believed the father of lies?

In what ways is this old nature at war with new nature cause me to believe something that isn't life-giving?

C.S.

Lewis says, you can give the devil too much or too little.

Attention.

And for today, I just want to fight for some balance as we learn from Jesus and answer three questions together.

Number one, will you follow Jesus today in believing that the devil is real and his strategy is planned?

Jesus believed that the devil was real and that the devil's strategy was planned.

John 8, 44, you are the children of your father, the devil.

And you love to do the evil things he does.

And this speaks to identity.

This speaks to sons and daughters living in surrender to Father.

And Jesus says, I've shown you another way.

Let me teach you how to be not slaves anymore, but sons and daughters to God the Father.

That's the whole reason that Jesus makes us free.

You love to do the evil things he does.

It's actually a personification of a being, not just an evil force in the world, but an enemy.

The first enemy we want to talk about, the devil.

1 John 4, verse 4 says this: You belong to God, my dear children.

1 John 4:4

You've already won a victory over these people because the spirit who lives you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.

And so we have to be aware, first and foremost, that the devil is real and that the devil's strategy is planned.

Another C.S.

Lewis quote There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils.

One is to disbelieve in their existence, the other is to believe and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.

They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.

So make no mistake, one of the lies we can quickly believe is either that the devil doesn't matter or that the devil matters too much.

And I've seen, I've already said, in the last two decades, that's what I've observed.

Most Jesus followers fall into one of those two categories.

Everything's the devil's fault or everything's God's fault, or nothing at all really matters when it comes to the spiritual foe that we rise up against.

But let's find some balance today.

Let's fight for balance.

And that balance has us, first of all, saying that there's no fear or terror of the enemy.

Because often we think about the enemy's attacks as like some weird exorcism that we've seen in a movie, right?

Some wild, like a little girl's head spinning around.

Right?

We think of like the most horrific evil things.

But the devil doesn't have that much power.

He really doesn't.

As a defeated foe, most of us in the room probably haven't seen any real extreme examples of the enemy, the devil, at work in the world.

But we have seen powerful moments where we've known his existence.

But a heightened awareness of the enemy's strategy drives out fear.

An invitation from receiving the love of the Father drives out the fear of the enemy.

We don't have to be afraid, we just have to be aware.

Aware of his strategy.

1 Peter 5, stay alert, watch out for your great enemy, the devil.

He prowls around.

Ephesians 6, 11 to 12 puts it this way: put on all God's armor so you'll be able to stern, stand firm against all strategies of the devil.

For we're not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, mighty powers in this dark world, against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

And that's why being aware really, really matters.

And again, that battle ready series will really help you.

Some of you might have spent some time this weekend tuning into a brand new TV production called Lord of the Rings.

Anybody?

The Rings of Power.

Anybody watch episodes one and two?

Or just me?

And I was because I was really curious.

I was a big Tolkien fan when I was a kid and read all the Lord of the Rings books, and then I saw all the movies when they came out.

And it was brilliant to see this writing come to life on the big screen.

And now we've got a whole new set of writers honoring the story and the tradition of Lord of the Rings.

And so I was like, I gotta, I gotta know.

I gotta know what's going on.

But in episode one of Lord of the Rings, the Rings of Power, I'm gonna quote the elf military leader Galadriel, because here's what she said, and I rewound it three times.

I'm like, whoa.

She said this evil does not sleep, it waits.

And in the moment of our complacency, it blinds us.

I was like, that'll preach.

I'm gonna add that to my notes.

We have an enemy, he's real, he has a planned strategy.

We don't have to live in terror, we don't have to live in ignorance, we have to live in balanced understanding that he's at work and doesn't much care for us because we're human beings.

Because we were created in the likeness and image of the Father.

And so evil doesn't sleep, it waits, and and then when we're complacent, when we let our guard down, it blinds us.

Number two, second question.

Will you follow Jesus in believing that the devil is real and that the devil's persistent goal is death?

That's his aim, that's his goal, that's his strategy.

He was a murderer from the beginning, Jesus said in John chapter 8.

John 8 · chapter mention

His persistent goal is death, physical death, absolutely.

Emotional death, 100%.

Relational death, you better believe it.

That's his goal.

Dreams, calling, purpose.

He wants to end those things in your life.

Some of you saw a dream or a sense of calling or purpose die years ago, and you thought it was just a season change.

What if it was a strategic whisper and lie of the enemy to keep you out of God's best for you?

Keep you out of God's calling.

Some of you are wondering, man, this relationship feels really hard.

Is it even worth it?

Maybe you're under attack for real.

So what are we going to learn about the enemy's strategy?

John 10, 10, well-known verse, the thief's purpose is to steal, kill, and destroy.

Jesus says, My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

If devils exist, their first aim is to give you an anesthetic, to put you off your guard.

Only if that fails do you become aware of them.

C.S.

Lewis.

And so that's why we're teaching on this.

We want that anesthetic to wear off as quickly as possible to become aware of the strategies of the three enemies that we fight against.

And if we're going to continue to lean into the presence of Jesus and grow in our faith and build community, I want us to be really on top of our game when it comes to the three enemies of our soul and how we strategize against them.

Earlier today I said when things are bad, often we can question or worse blame God for orchestrating bad circumstances.

I've done that.

Unanswered prayer, disappointment, hurt, pain connected to our faith story.

What's created distance between you and God the Father because you shifted blame off the enemy and placed it on him.

What's creating distance and distortion in your walk of surrender to Jesus right now?

Because of something you've blamed God for, because you forgot that we have an enemy, he's real, and his number one priority is death.

And will you invite the Holy Spirit to turn that light back on today?

Oh, wait a minute.

I have an enemy.

God is actually for me, not against me.

Third and final, will you follow Jesus in believing that the devil is real and that his powerful strategy is lies?

It's lies.

So number one, we say, Holy Spirit, would you help us understand that Jesus believed, and so we should too, that the devil's real, his strategy is planned, his persistent goal is death, and that his powerful strategy that's planned is lies.

John 8 44.

In the New Living Translation, Jesus teaches about the devil.

He's always hated the truth because there's no truth in him.

When he lies, it's consistent with his character, for he's a liar and the father of lies.

The NIV says, There's no truth in him.

When he lies, he speaks his native tongue, his native language.

He's a liar, the father of lies.

And Eugene in the message says, when the liar speaks, he makes it up out of his lying nature and fills the world with his lies.

That is his planned intentional strategy.

To sow lies.

Interesting note, Jesus' Messiah.

We've taught on this a little bit, but it was expected that when the Messiah came, that the Messiah would be a military leader, right?

The Israelites were in captivity generation after generation after generation.

Currently, when Jesus arrived on the scene, they were under Roman rule and they expected Jesus to show up as a military leader.

Like to take a sword and like set them free.

And it was the expectation that the Messiah, when he finally came, would be like a militant force and that they'd push back and finally the people would be set free.

The freedom that Jesus brought had more to do with our hearts and our identity than where we lived and geography.

But it's interesting that the expectation for a military leader, the reality of Jesus was that he showed up as a rabbi.

He showed up as a teacher.

He showed up as a truth teller.

Why?

Because the enemy's strategy is lies.

Not slavery captivity in terms of a geographical sense, but slavery captivity in terms of what we believe to be true.

That's the strategy of the enemy.

Jesus' Messiah shows up as a teacher and a rabbi and says things like, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one can come to the Father except through me.

In John 8, Jesus says, You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

Jesus came as a truth teller, not as a military leader.

John 6, 13, when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.

And this is Jesus' teaching about Holy Spirit's power released into our lives after Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven.

The invitation to know and follow Jesus is actually an invitation to build our lives on truth, not relative truth, not perceived truth.

Jesus as our truth, the way, the truth, the life.

Only then will we find victory and freedom as his followers.

And our enemy, the devil, is not only real, but strategic in bringing death through lies.

John Mark Comer quoted us saying, Jesus sees our primary war against the devil as a fight to believe truth over lies.

That's the fight that we're in.

So not only are we aware that we have an enemy, not only are we aware that the world and the flesh and the devil are all working against us to try and convince us that God's not as good as Jesus says he is.

But today we're reminded that Jesus believed that the devil was a very real spiritual foe at work against humanity, and that his strategy was planned, and that his goal and aim was to bring death, and that how he did that was through lies, which is why we anchor our lives to the truth that is only Jesus Christ.

John 8, 44, for you are the children of your father the devil, he says, and you love to do the evil things he does.

He was a murderer from the beginning, he's always hated truth.

There's no truth in him.

When he lies, it's consistent with his character.

He's a liar and the father of lies.

And so when I tell you the truth, you just naturally don't believe me.

To which us in the room and watching from home today say, But but I want to believe you, Jesus.

I have chosen to believe you.

I've chosen to follow you.

I've chosen to surrender my life to you.

I've chosen to follow in your ways.

And so as we begin this series, will we follow Jesus by believing Jesus as we believe in Jesus?

I'm gonna say that again.

Or believe in him.

But believing in him impacts how we live, how we think, how we pursue truth.

And as we start a series on the enemies of our soul, can I just be honest for a minute?

And say in the last four years there's been some things that I've been really excited to come up and teach about.

But this isn't one of them.

It's not.

But it matters.

And I was convicted of that in my preparation this week.

Like I no longer this isn't something I I need from you.

I just want to be honest and say, I no longer want to live complacent or ignorant to the truth that we have an enemy and a foe whose sole aim is steal, kill, destroy, whose sole strategy is to sow lies.

And if us anchoring our lives to the truth that is Jesus Christ is to bring us into freedom, and us building our lives on the truth of Jesus is to open up our arms and our lives and our homes and our community to say there is hope in this beautiful man named Jesus Christ.

We found this hope, it's changed our lives, it's gonna change yours.

More than ever the world we live live in needs the hope that is Jesus Christ.

So what if we just chose to suspend all judgment over the next few weeks and open up our hearts to truth, Jesus' truth, his way, his life, what he believed to be true, and just learn some strategies to push back against the adversaries that face us the world, the flesh, the devil.

So will we follow Jesus by believing Jesus, believing what he taught, believing what he thought, believing what really mattered.

Thank you so much for listening to today's message.

If you're ever in the Edmonton area, pop by for a visit.

And if you need any more information, visit Evolvechurch.com.

We hope to see you soon.