The Spiritual Realm | The Unseen World (Part One)

Thank you for listening to Riverbend Church's podcast.

To find out more about this message or Riverbend Church,

connect with us online at Riverbend Church dot live.

We're starting a brand new series, I think probably the

best thing that we can. Do on the very front.

Edge of this new series is just to.

Pray together. So would you pray with me?

God, we thank you for this day and God we thank you for

bringing us here into this place, into the space, into this

moment. God, you know that none of us

are here by accident at all, whether in the room or whether

online. God, you know all the insurance

and outs. God, you know it's inside and

out. God, you know all of all of our

all of our giftedness that you have given us to be effective

for you. God, you know all of our

questions and all of our fears and all of our doubts, and God,

we know that you were big enough for all of those things.

God, we pray specifically that you would do something over

these next 9 weeks together. God that you would open eyes,

that you would open hearts. God that you would bring people

closer to you and bring more people to you.

And it's in Jesus name that we pray.

Amen. All right, so starting a brand

new series this morning, The Unseen World.

And as we kick it off, I want to read to you 4 headlines. 4

headlines, headline number 1C. Kirk, an American right wing

political activist, was assassinated while addressing

his audience on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem,

UT. The outdoor event was the first

stop of the fall 2025 season for the American Comeback Tour, a

speaking and debate series planned by Turning Point, USAA

conservative organization that he Co founded.

Headline #2A week long undercover operation by the Polk

County Sheriff's Office, which is in the Tampa Bay area, led to

the arrest of 246 suspects. The arrest included 230

individuals for prostitution related crimes and 16 for

attempting to sexually exploit children.

During the sting, authorities identified 10 potential human

trafficking victims and offered them assistance.

Headline #3 The DEA or Drug Enforcement Administration

conducted a major surge aimed at dismantling the Jalisto New

Generation Cartel. Agents arrested 670 people and

seized millions in cash and assets, along with significant

quantities of drugs including 92.4 kilos were over 200 lbs of

fentanyl, 22,842 kilos were over 50,000 lbs of cocaine, 6062

kilos were over 13,000 lbs of methamphetamine, and 33 kilos

were over 70 lbs of heroin. Headline #4 A man crashed his

truck into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and

Grand Blanc Township, MI during the Sunday services.

The suspect in Iraq War veteran then began shooting with an

assault rifle before starting a fire.

At least four people were killed and multiple others injured.

The shooter was killed in a shootout with police.

What do all four of these headlines have in common?

They have in common at least three things #1 all four of

these headlines happened within the last four weeks.

All four. And there are many, many more

headlines that happened over the last four weeks, but these four

happened over the last four weeks.

That last one happened last week, last Sunday.

Number two things these have in common is all four of these

headlines are, are great, just atrocious demonstrations and

exhibitions of just pure evil. And #3 all four of these

headlines and many, many more leave us asking the overarching

question. Man, what in the world is going

on? You found yourself asking that

question over the last several weeks, maybe over the last

several years. You, you look back and, and, and

you have the you, you, you have the the blessing of a lot of

experience and a lot of life. And you're comparing.

Present day culture and present day cultural norms with maybe

what you grew up under and you look and your heart just breaks

and you're just left asking God, what in the world is going on?

That main question right there, what in the world is going on?

That is the main question that we're going to be looking at,

exploring and diving into as we begin this brand new series

called The Unseen World and Church.

I am so convinced. I'm so convinced that this

series is going to be so pivotal for us as a church generally and

as individuals specifically, that I want to approach this

kind of this first week of this series in, in a, in a different

way, if you will. So the way that we're going to

approach this morning is we're going to take a look at OK, so

throughout these nine weeks, where are we going?

Where's our road map? Then we're going to take a look

at, OK, throughout these nine weeks, what am I asked to do?

What can I do to prepare for this series?

What can I do to come prepared for this series?

And then #3 we're going to take a look at like, what do I need

to know? What do I need to know about

this subject, the unseen world? That's going to give me a good

foundation for us to build on over the next 9 weeks together.

So like I said, we're going to approach this a lot differently

than we have other series in the past.

So I want to go ahead and almost like give you all the answers

upfront. And then we're going to be

walking through, we're going to be using those answers, those

pre given answers to kind of guide us throughout this next

chapter of our church, these next 9 weeks together.

And here's where it's going to start.

There's a big idea that's going to really become really the the,

the overarching truth or the principle of this series.

If you're taking notes with us here is that big idea is what I

or the unseen world is just as real as the one I can see and

it's shaping my life every day. The unseen world is just as real

is just as real as the one I can see and it's shaping my life

every day. There, there's a statement that

I wrote that I, there's no blanks to it.

Just because I want you to kind of hang on to this statement.

There's a statement that I wrote up underneath that big idea on

your note sheet that's so important for us to hang on to.

Here it is. Just because you can't see it,

that doesn't mean that it isn't there.

And just because you may not acknowledge it, it doesn't mean

that it's not impacting your life every day.

Just because you can't see it, it doesn't mean that it isn't

there. And just because you may not

acknowledge it, it doesn't mean that it's not impacting your

life. Every day and you may say Ben.

Where do you where where? Are we even coming from on this?

Is this just like thought? Is this conjecture?

Is this is like passed down heritage or tradition?

Where's this coming from? It's coming is it's going to be

rooted in an overarching verse that's given to us in the book

of Ephesians. And that verse is on the top of

your note sheet. It's Ephesians chapter 6, verse

Ephesians 6:12

12. Let me go ahead and read it and

then I'm going to invite you to do something with me that's

going to help us really unpack and digest and to prepare

ourselves for where we're going to be going over the next 9

weeks. Paul wrote in Ephesians 612 For

we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the

rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over

this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in

the heavenly places. Now here's what I want to invite

you to do. If you have a Bible with you, if

you have like a hard copy of the Bible with you and you like to

underline or highlight or circle whatever you can, you can very

much do it in your own Bible. If you don't have a hard copy of

the Bible with, you can use the note sheet.

But I want to invite you to do something with me that's going

to help us breakdown not only this verse, but give us a road

map and a clear understanding of where we're going to be going

throughout these nine weeks. Here's the first thing I want to

ask that you do with me, Church, I want you to take your note

sheet or your Bible. Underline that phrase, for we do

not wrestle against flesh and blood.

Underline that phrase at the top of your note sheet.

For we do. Not wrestle against flesh and

blood. For we.

Do not wrestle against flesh and blood.

Flesh and blood is actually referring to mankind, humankind,

humanity. So what Paul is telling us, at

the root of our issues, at the root of our problems, at the

root of all that we see going on around to us, we do not wrestle

with flesh and blood. Actually, what I want you to do

is when you think of flesh and blood, I want you to think back

to those four headlines that we just read together.

Those 4 demonstrations of just absolute pure evil.

Whether it's the assassination of a public figure, whether it

is the busting up of of prostitution and child

trafficking, whether it's a drug bust or whether it is it is the

brutal shoot, church shooting. What Paul is telling us is we

think that our main issue and our main complaint is against

the people that perpetrated these acts of evil.

Now listen, when Paul says, for we do not wrestle against flesh

and blood, it is not Paul saying, hey, listen, no one is

to be held accountable for their evil actions.

He is not saying evil people should not be held accountable

for their evil actions. What Paul is saying is there's

something far deeper and something far more sinister at

play than just evil people doing evil things.

Now he goes on to tell us what that far deeper and far more

sinister thing is. You got to continue reading.

For we do not wrestle with flesh and blood, but against the

rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers, over

this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in

the heavenly places. While you got your note sheet

out or your Bible. Open and your pen.

Available. I want you to circle several

phrases. Circle the the phrase the

rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers, the spiritual

forces of evil. So underline, for we do not

wrestle against flesh and blood, but circle the rulers, the

authorities, the cosmic powers, the spiritual forces of evil.

What Paul is telling us here is our true enemy.

It is not evil people doing evil things.

Our true enemy is something that's far deeper and far more

sinister, an unseen spiritual force of evil behind the works,

the evil works of evil people. So as followers of Jesus, our

main adversary, our main enemy is spiritual in nature, not

physical in nature. And this spiritual enemy, the

spiritual adversary that you and I face, it is unseen to us.

It is, it is existing there existing in a what we would call

the spiritual realm or the unseen world.

Do me a favor, pop that big idea back up on the screen for us

just kind of as a reporter, part of point of reminder, the unseen

world, the spiritual adversaries, the spiritual enemy

is just as real. The rulers, the authorities, the

cosmic powers of over this present darkness.

The unseen world is just as real as the one I can see and it's

shaping my life every day. It's shaping my life every day.

So again, whether or not you can see it, it doesn't matter if you

can't see this unseen world, it is there.

It doesn't matter if you acknowledge this unseen world or

not. It is impacting your and my life

every single moment of every single day.

So I want to walk through, and I gave this to you in your note

sheet. I want to walk through just kind

of where we're going to be going over the next 8 weeks together,

over these nine weeks together and over the next 8 weeks

together. If you look down at your note

sheet, there's kind of like a roster, a calendar of, of where

we're going to be going today, October 5th, we're talking about

the spiritual realm. We're talking about just the

nature and the very reality of this unseen world.

Next week, October 12th, we're going to be talking about cosmic

war. Basically asking this question,

where did it all go wrong? If God created everything in

absolute perfection, and He did, where did it all go wrong?

What is the war in heaven all about?

What happened in this war in heaven?

How do we get from God creating everything in absolute

perfection to just the brokenness and the foulness of

sin that we see around us? It all stems from the results of

this war in heaven. October 19th, we're going to be

taking a look at God, angels, and heaven.

Who are they? What are they?

What are their desires for us? The next week, finishing out

October, we're going to be taking a look at Satan, demons,

and hell. Who are they?

What are they, and then what are their strategies against us?

What are their desires for us? And then what are their

strategies that they typically employ to keep us far from God?

Starting off in November? We're going to start November

talking about spiritual warfare, talking about the very fact that

there is a spiritual war that is raging all around us.

Whether or not we can see it or not, it is still raging all

around us. And you have God and angels, and

you have Satan and demons, and you have the spiritual war that

is a war for our souls. So what does that look like?

Then from there, we're going to take a A2 week look, November

9th and 16th, we're going to talk about how you and I, we can

prepare for battle. Because whether or not you

acknowledge that we're in spiritual war or not, it only

takes one side of an equation to, to, to say that we're at

war, right? If you only have one side of an

equation, let's say, for example, let's say that Sweden

decides to go to war against the United States. the United States

goes, no, we're not. Sweden's still going to be

launching troops and missiles, right?

So we're at war. It only takes one side of the

war to declare war. So whether or not you

acknowledge we're in a spiritual war or not, we are in the midst

of a spiritual war. And we're not just, we're not

created just to be bait. We can actually prepare for

battle. How do we daily prepare for

battle? We're going to take a A2 week

look at that. And then we're going to be

finishing out this series, the last two weeks in November.

We're going to be looking at something that the Bible calls

spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts.

I don't know if you know this or not, but every single person

that has surrendered their life, his or her life, to Jesus Christ

has been uniquely equipped to be uniquely effective for the for

the cause of Jesus and devastatingly effective against

our enemy and adversary, you and I.

If we've surrendered our life to Jesus, we have been given a

spiritual gift or spiritual gifts.

So we're going to talk about what is a spiritual gift?

What is your spiritual gift? What is my spiritual gift?

And then how do we use that spiritual gift giftedness for

the cause of Jesus and then also to be devastating to our enemy

and to our adversary. So this is going to be just a,

an incredible, incredible series that I very much look forward

to. Now I want to transition or

before I transition, I want to get you to do something.

I want you to draw a bracket. While we're kind of in the note

taking stage October 5th to November 2nd, draw a bracket out

beside that bracket. I want you to write the word

informing, informing. These first five weeks are all

are all going to be about what the Bible says about the unseen

world and spiritual warfare and the cosmic war and God and

angels in heaven and Satan and demons in hell and the the the

very nature and reality of spiritual warfare.

It's going to be informing. And then after that last four

weeks, draw a bracket November 9th through the 30th and out

beside that, I want you to draw a write the word equipping

equipping. So this series we're going to

like kind of chop it up into halves, if you will.

The first series is like, listen, we want to be right in

our information, but then we also want to look to apply right

information. You see, God never gives us

something in his word for us just to sit back and go, huh,

that's interesting. And to do nothing with it.

He gives us truth in his word for us to apply to our lives.

So the first five weeks of the series, we're going to be look

at informing the second four weeks of this series.

The next final four weeks of the series, we're going to be

looking at equipping. Now here's what I want to do.

I want to go ahead and just ask a question.

What is required of me? You may be sitting here going,

OK, Ben, this is where we're going.

Kind of fascinated by this. What is required of me?

What are you asking me to do? I'm so glad that you asked.

Thank you so much for asking. There are four things on the

very front edge of the series that I want to ask of each and

every one of us. Four things.

Here's the first one. I want to ask that you pray for

clarity and that you pray for protection.

I want to ask that you pray for clarity and that you pray for

protection. Let's take that first one first.

Clarity you may have, you may have grown up in church and you

may be familiar with the unseen world and spiritual warfare and

all this sounds very familiar to you.

My prayer for you, if that's you, whether you're in the room

or online with us, if that's you, my prayer for you is that

you have a right understanding, that we have a right

understanding of what the Word of God really teaches us about

the nature of the unseen world and its impact on our lives and

what is offered to us and how God wants to equip us and

empower us. That that's my prayer, my hope.

For you if. If if all this kind of sounds

vaguely familiar. But I also.

Understand that there's some of us.

We may be new to church. Or.

We may just be highly skeptical of the fact.

Like, hey, Ben, I just got to be honest with you.

Not to sound rude. I just, I just don't know.

I don't know, man. I don't know if any of this is

real. I don't know if any, if any of

this is true or not. If that's you, here's what I

would tell you, man. Thank you so much for being here

with us. We're, we're never going to come

down on any type of fear or doubt or skepticism that you may

have, but you do need to know how I'm praying for you.

If, if, if you're, if you're doubtful or skepticism of even

the overall reality or the notion of this unseen world.

I want to pray and I want you to pray.

God, would you, would you open me?

Would you open my heart and open my mind to.

Receive your truth. God, I don't want, I don't want

any of my heart or any of my mind or any of my life to be

filled with, with, with falseness.

But would you open my eyes to truth and would you make it

clear? Because we're going to be wading

through and sailing through some pretty tricky and some pretty

deep waters that I think every single one of us in the room and

online, we need to pray at the very.

Beginning for clarity. And here's kind of like a, we'll

call it like a, a spiritual hack, if you will, a spiritual

hacker, a spiritual shortcut. Can I tell you how to grow?

Most on Sunday mornings come prayed up, come prayed up, come

pre prayed, pre prayed. God, would you when you wake up

in the morning, God, would you, would you open my heart and open

my eyes and open my mind to your truth?

Would you open me to your truth to receive it?

Second thing that we should pray is for protection.

Is for protection. Here's why it's so important

that we should pray for protection.

What we're about to talk about. If you're if you're familiar

with this whole issue of the spiritual realm and that our

enemy is not flesh and blood but spiritual in nature, then you

know that our enemy, our main spiritual adversary, loves to

lurk around in the dark and in the shadows and absolutely hates

to have the light of truth shone upon him.

And when the light of truth is shown upon him, that's when he

typically launches out in some of his most vicious attacks.

So go ahead and pray for protection.

So just kind of let y'all know. Some of you may know.

Some of you you probably don't know because there's no reason

that you would know. For the most part I have like.

Where we're going to be? Going in terms of our series,

our sermon series and our messages and our text, I have it

planned out well in advance. And I remember talking with

Julie, this is probably the very beginning of the summer or late

spring. And she was like, Hey, I know

that you're doing Joseph starting back from from school,

talking about the life of Joseph.

Where are you going after that? And I said, we're going to be

talking about the the spiritual realm.

We're going to be talking about the unseen world and spiritual

warfare. And I'll never forget what she

said. She goes, thanks a lot here.

Here's why she said that is, did you know that Satan and demon

and all demons and all of hell itself, they would love nothing

more than for us to not talk about this.

They would love nothing more than to stay hidden in the dark

and in the shadows. And here's one of the things

that we're going to come back and talk about.

This series is not about fear. This series is about victory.

This series is not about fear. This series is so much about V1

of the things that we'll see later on is how the end is

already written in this battle in spiritual warfare.

But I want to ask you as your pastor, I want to ask, I want to

ask that you pray for clarity and pray for protection

throughout this entire series. Here's a way here's a sneaky way

that Satan here's one of the reasons that we need to start

praying for protection now, because here's a sneaky way that

Satan will entice us, that all of hell itself will entice us to

stay away from this series. And it goes.

With my ask as your pastor for #2 prioritize being here.

Prioritize being here. Here's why this series, even

though I gave you the rundown, this series is not like, hey, I

really want to be here for that. I don't need to be here for

that. This series is not like an A la

carte series. There's something so powerful

about actually being together. Being together and experiencing

prayer and worship and the word of God together, That's that's

one of the reasons. And listen, I'm not coming down

on you. I'm just being completely honest

and transparent. Some of us feel like.

We're, we're, we're. We're lacking a sense of

connectivity to, to, to one another as the body, as the

church. And I just want to pose a

question to you. Could you be lacking a sense of

connectivity because there's an infrequency or an inconsistency

of you being here? And listen, I'm not, Again, I'm

not coming down on you. I'm just throwing this into the

spiritual realm because I'll go ahead and tell you, if you and

I, if we don't prioritize being here each week of this series, I

have no doubt whatsoever that we will have no shortage of options

and opportunities to be somewhere else, doing something

else or excuses not to be here. Like I said, our spiritual

enemy, our spiritual adversary does not want us going through

this, does not want you to hear this, does not want your family

to walk through this. So if he can distract you from

not being here, not being a part of what God's doing here, he has

won a minor victory there. So on the front end of it, I

want to just ask as your pastor, that you pray and make a

commitment to prioritize being here #3 is put what I learn into

practice. Put what I learn into practice.

Every week we're going to be walking through.

And this week, no is no exception.

We're going to be walking through some key truths and key

principles, whether it is informing or equipping.

I should always be looking not just to be a hearer of truth

only, but a doer of truth. And here's what that means.

That means that at the end of every service, at the end of

every service throughout this series and series later on down

the road, our prayer should be something like this.

God, will you show me what to do with what I just learned?

It's a simple prayer like that. God, will you show me what to do

with what I just learned? When you and I, when we pray

like that, God, will you show me what to do with what I just

learned? Did you know that for many of

us, we take our first step onto that spiritual battlefield?

You may go. I don't know if I want to take a

step on that spiritual battlefield.

Well, the battles raging around you and we either engage in the

battle or we're bait. There's no, there's no

neutrality there. God, would you?

Show me what to do with what I just learned.

And then here's the 4th ask that I have for you as your pastor is

bring someone with me for for for, for.

You to look down and go Who can I bring with?

Me church. I've shared this before and I.

Talk, we talk. As a as a staff about this

frequently and I hope that we're not the only ones feeling I

think that you can look around and you you would agree that we

sit where we are right now October 2025.

There is there. There seems to be this openness

like. Never before to people being

open to spiritual things. Do you, do you feel that a

rejection like this openness and a lot of times it's happening

among the younger generation, like 30 and below, it's a

rejection of just going through the motions and it's asking the

question. It's an openness, what is real,

what is true, what is going to be life changing and life

giving. There's this openness to it and,

and here's what we've said from the very beginning is that

openness, that void will either be filled by the truth of God's

Word or it will be filled by the filth of the world.

And we do not want to waste this strategic time.

So I guarantee you that there are people in your life right

now that they need to hear that they are open maybe for the

first time, or they are most open to spiritual truth and what

is real and what is true and what is authentic.

What is life giving and life changing.

There are people like that in your life that maybe God lays a

a a name or a face. Right there in your in your

mind, do we sit there and go, You know what?

I'm going to invite that person to come to church with me.

It's an easy invite, whether you're tomorrow or Tuesday or

Thursday at work or in school or or or on the golf course or at a

restaurant. Just say, hey, I don't know if

y'all have any plans on Sunday, but I think you would, you'd

really enjoy coming to church with me.

And even after that, like if you have to sweeten the deal, you

can tell them that we got Donuts and they're free.

And if you really need to sweeten the deal, you can say,

listen, we'll take you out to lunch afterwards.

We, we would love for you and your family to find what me and

my family have found. It's an easy invite.

So bring somebody with me. So that's where we're going.

That's what I need to do to prepare for where we're going.

And then as we head down the home stretch, there are 4

foundational truths that I need us to walk through to give us a

solid foundation and understanding of this unseen

world or this spiritual realm. If you're taking notes with us,

here's the first one. Is the physical and the

spiritual or different realms that form and affect the same

reality? The physical and the spiritual.

They are different realms, but they form and affect the same

reality. Now I completely understand if

you think that sounds really far out there, Ben, that sounds

really far out there. And that's kind of seems like

really like, I don't know, been watching like way too many like

Marvel multiverse movies out there.

But if you think, if you think about it, it's not such a far

out there idea that there is a physical reality that we can see

in a in an unseen reality that we can't see.

But they all form the same reality and they affect one

another. Let me give you an example of

something that's happening right now in this room, even though

none of us can see it. Did you know in this room right

now there are radio waves that are all throughout this room

that you and I cannot harness unless we have a compatible

device and we have the right login info or password?

And then from this compatible device and from that login info,

we can access the Internet. These radio waves, even though

we can't see them, if we're able to tap into them, it's called

Wi-Fi. It's something that every single

one of us use every single day. You see, there is a physical

reality that we can see, and there's a there, there, there's

an unseen reality, a realm that we can't see in these radio

waves. And they all come to form the

same form and affect the same reality.

Spiritual and physical, same thing.

And here's one of the things that we're going to see is what

happens in one reverberates and affects the other.

What happens in the physical, what happens in the spiritual?

Whatever happens in one is going to reverberate and affect the

other. Second thing that we need to

know, foundational truth is what we see and experience as good

and evil in our lives is rooted in the spiritual world.

What you and I see and experience.

And you can even interchange this word, what you and I see

and experience as good and evil in our world or you can even say

in our lives or you can even say world or or culture what you and

I see and experience as good and evil.

They're all rooted in the spiritual world.

Now do not get this miss mistaken as like we're talking

about some cosmic biblical yin Yang arrangement.

That's not what we're talking about.

What we are saying is all good is rooted in the goodness of of

God. Check out what the half brother

of Jesus James said about God. Every good gift and every

perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of

lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to

change. So all good things, all great

things, everything that we see that is good experience, that is

good, its origins are rooted in the goodness of God.

On the flip side of that, check out what Jesus said about our

spiritual adversary. He's talking to a group of

Pharisees, religious leaders that are trying to entrap Jesus.

Their hearts are dark as coal, and this is what he says.

He says you are of your father the devil, and your will is to

do your father's desires, and then he's going to talk about

what the devil's desires are. He was a murderer from the

beginning, and he does not stand in the truth because there is no

truth in him. When he lies, He speaks out of

his own character, for he is a liar and the father of law.

So all things that we see and experience as evil in this

world, all four of those devastating headlines and many,

many more that we could have cited, they are rooted.

Those exhibitions of pure evil are rooted in the spiritual

world. Third foundational truth force

this morning. There is a God who fiercely

loves me, and there's an enemy who fiercely hates.

Me. There is a God who fiercely

loves me and an enemy who fiercely hates me.

One of the most most well known. My favorite verse in the entire

Bible, and I would argue with anybody, the deepest verse in

the entire Bible is John 316. This is what Jesus said.

He said, for God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,

that whoever believes in him should not perish but have

eternal life. This is the fierceness and the

ferocity in which our heavenly Father God loves you.

He gave everything. He gave his only Son for you and

for me to die in our place, to take on the penalty of our sins

so that we could be made right with Him.

Man not only how great is his love for us, how fierce is his

love for us, but as much as God fiercely loves me and as much as

God fiercely loves you, we have an enemy, Satan, that fiercely

hates us. Check out what the apostle Peter

wrote in first Peter 58. Be sober minded, church, be

watchful. Why?

Because your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a

roaring lion seeking someone to devour.

In weeks to come, we're going to talk about what that phrase

prowling around means. There are, there are some very

subtle yet time tested improving techniques and strategies that

our adversary Satan and his demons employ all the time to

keep us from the heart of God at all points and times.

There is a roaring lion. As much as God fiercely loves

us, Satan fiercely hates us and Jesus very clear to where he

says the thief. Talking about Satan the thief,

he comes to steal and kill and destroy.

He is not a punchline. He is our enemy.

He is our adversary that hates you and that hates me and wants

to wreck your life and not just wreck your life, wreck

generations after you. He hates you.

But the 4th foundational truth this morning is this.

The war is real, but the end is written.

God wins. The war is real, but the end is

written. God wins.

It's not cheating to read ahead in the Bible.

I would recommend it to anybody. Read the last couple chapters of

Revelation. God wins and those with God win.

The end is written, the outcome is secure, God wins.

And guess what? It won't even be close.

It won't even be close. It's not like God's going to

like eke it out with one second on the clock.

And I shared this with y'all a couple weeks ago.

We were at a conference a few weeks ago and there was a pastor

there who made this statement. And it's never law.

It's never left me since then. The Bible describes Jesus coming

back wearing robes of white and all those with him are in white.

And he asked this question. Who shows up to a fight wearing

white? Someone that knows that the

battle is certain, the victory is certain, and it's not even

going to be close. So here's a.

Question that we should all be asking church if the war is real

and the end is written, why does God still allow Ain't God wins.

Why does God still allow the war to continue happening?

Why does God still allow the war to where there's so much pain

and hurt and loss Why does he allow it to keep happening?

These four headlines, we, we should, we should be asking the

question God, what in the world is going on?

And then follow that question up with God.

If you win in the end, why are you allowing this to continue to

happen? Listen, if you, if you didn't

pay attention to anything that I said, please lean into this.

The reason that God continues to allow the war to rage, even

though the outcome is certain is this.

He is patient. He is patient.

Let me kind of unpack what I mean by that.

Again, going back to Peter, second, Peter 39, the Lord is

not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness.

God, where are you? Why don't you speed things up?

Seems like you're behind. Don't you even see these

headlines going on? The Lord is not slow to fulfill

His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward

you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should

reach repentance. Do you?

Do you want to know why even though the war is real and the

outcome is secure, God wins? Why?

He allows the war to continue even now.

To give you one more chance to surrender your life to Him.

That's it. To give you one more chance to

surrender your life to Him. Listen, there will be a day to

where God goes, OK, it's done, it ends.

After that, there is no more chances to surrender your life

to Jesus. And I believe me when I tell you

eternity hell will be full of men and women that would give

everything. We give everything just for one

more moment, just for one more chance to surrender their life

to Jesus. If you want to know why God is

patient while he is allowing things to continue happen,

happening even though we see evil around us and devastation

and pain and loss and grief around us is because He is

patient. So with that in mind, can I ask

you a very pointed question? Has there been a point in time

to where you have surrendered your life to Jesus, that you've

asked Jesus to forgive you of your sin and to take control of

your life? Has there been that point in

time? Do not say, well, I grew up in

church or my grandfather was a pastor or I hear this often.

I've always been a Christian. No, you haven't.

Has there been a point in time? Has there been a place and a

date? Those are the 2 main pieces of

ammo in fighting spiritual war against doubt.

Place and date. Has there been a place and date

where you've surrendered your life to Jesus, asked Him to

forgive you of your sins, and asked Him to guide you?

If not, can I let you in on something?

God is being patient with you right now.

The reason that you are here now?

The reason that you're joining us online now?

Is because he's patient with you, he's giving you one more

chance. He's giving you one more chance

in just a moment. We're going to give you the

opportunity to respond to that one more chance.

But you know what some of us would say, Ben, I can go back to

that. Praise God, I can go back to

that for for me, I can go back 4th grader, month of May

football stadium in the East End zone talking to a family friend

of ours, praying to accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior.

I can go back to that. But you know what's on my mind

right now? The names in the faces of people

that I'm pretty sure God's being patient with right now.

Listen, I think that we are so, so apprehensive because we don't

want to come across as judgmental.

Listen, this is not being judgmental.

This is just being discerning. Is there anybody in your life

that you are fairly sure that God's being patient with right

now? Is there anybody that you've

discerned in your life by the way in which they live, that

you're pretty sure that they have not surrendered their life

to Jesus? You may say, Ben, I do.

I have that person. All right, I'm going to ask that

you do something really gutsy this morning.

I want to ask. Would you be?

Willing to come down here in just a moment and pray for that

person by name. How broken are we for people?

You see, I think hell has that person on their on their list.

How incredible it is to be able to lift up another person by

name to say been they are not here, they're far from church.

There is something supernatural about praying for somebody by

name and asking the Holy Spirit of God to invade their heart and

their mind exactly where they are right now.

If they're in bed, if they're at Waffle House or if they're at a

bar that he invades their heart, invades their mind, maybe wakes

them up from their sleep. Do you believe that he can do

it? I do.

So here's what we're going to do.

We're going to pray. We're going to pray closeout in

prayer. If this morning is the morning

to where you say, Ben, I have got to nail it down that I've

I've surrender my life to Jesus. I would love for you to come

down. You can either talk to me or

Pastor Todd. You can bring somebody with you

to pray. We'd love to pray with you.

Or you guys say, Ben, I'm just so thankful that I can go back

to that. But there's somebody in my

family, there's somebody in my home, there's somebody in my

workplace, my classroom, There's a there's a close friend of

mine. I'm pretty sure that they're far

from God. I want to come down and I want

to kneel down at this altar and I want to pray for them by name.

We want to give you the opportunity to respond.

So God, we love you and we thank you for being here with us.

God, again, there is not a single one of us who is here in

the room or joining us online that is here by accident or

coincidence. God, you are either.

You are either giving us one more chance to accept you as our

Lord and Savior, one more chance, or you've brought us

here to confront the reality that we have someone that is

near and dear to our hearts. That is, that we are close to in

our lives, that we discern that they're far from you and God.

We want to pray for them. We want to pray on their behalf

for them that your Holy Spirit would transcend location and

space and God, that you would invade their hearts and their

minds and their lives even now to bring them to a point of

conviction to draw them close to you.

God, I pray that whatever you are asking of us, God, that we

would be faithful and obedient to step out and to respond to

that call. And it's in Jesus name that we

pray. Amen.

Thank you so much for listening to Riverbend Churches podcast.

Riverbend Church exists to bring people to Jesus, grow

generations in Jesus, and send disciples for Jesus.

We hope that you enjoy this message.