The Art of War . Truth

Wonderful.

All right.

So out of war we are continuing our series on spiritual warfare.

Take your stand It's been really good, hasn't it?

So very good, and I know for a lot of you it's gotten many of you thinking

some of you have been asking really great questions or asking, Oh, where

can I get more information on this?

Where can I, you know, what books do you recommend?

That kind of thing.

So I've got here just this first slide here, Sabrina.

Thank you.

Here's some suggested reading resources.

Screw tape letters by CS Lewis is just absolutely brilliant.

Who's read it?

Yeah, many of you have read it.

Just a brilliant fictional understanding of how evil spiritual forces work.

Understanding Spiritual Warfare by Sam Storms is a really accessible, solid book.

Overarching view on this topic.

Live No Lies by John Mark Comer.

I'll use a bit of his teaching today.

And Victory Over the Darkness by Neil T.

Anderson.

And I would also, if you guys want to do a bit, a really kind of deep

dive, the Biblical Training website, which has a lot of great resources on

it, has a class on spiritual warfare.

It's a lecture series, has about 18 different lectures,

about 20 25 minutes each.

Again, quite accessible.

Not super, technical language, but some really, really helpful stuff there.

And taught from quite a broad perspective as well, which I think is helpful too.

Is that good?

Beautiful.

All right.

Yeah.

Let us dive into today then, shall we?

So where we have been so far in this series, If you dial all the way

back and if you have, if you just, you know, tuning in now for the

first time on this series, I would highly encourage you to listen to the

podcasts over the previous month or so.

But where we began all those weeks ago, we, we kind of kept.

Leaning into that basketball picture that we had with our

APES series, the starting five.

And so the starting five series was all about understanding these five key

positions on this court that we play, in this, this thing called life with Jesus.

And it's as described in Ephesians four, these five functions, the apostolic,

the prophetic, the evangelistic, the shepherding function, and the

teaching function and how these operate kind of like, you know, the

five positions on a basketball court.

And when we understand, the strengths and the roles of each one of these

positions, and we understand how they all work in harmony together, what do we do?

We become an effective team.

We become a team that is able to, manifest and know

and make known each other.

The fullness of Christ.

That's what Ephesians 4 says.

These five in harmonious operation.

That's what they are there for.

To bring us in to the fullness of Jesus.

So to lean into that analogy, that basketball picture even more, it is

one thing to know these five positions.

It's one thing to know, you know, where we fit.

in these five and where, you know, the rest of our family, our church family

fits within this five, but we've also got to know the opposing team, haven't we?

If we are going to play victoriously, we need to know the

enemy that is coming against us.

We need to know who it is that is opposing us.

I use this quote right at the beginning of this series and I'll say it again

now because it's really quite poignant.

It's from Sun Tzu's classic book, The Art of War.

If you know the enemy and you know you're which I add to his quote,

and know your God, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.

So this series has been about knowing our enemy, but it's also being, being

about knowing the playing field as well.

Knowing the, I guess the rules of

engagement, in this arena

of spiritual conflict and

in Hosea, 4 verse 6,

Hosea 4:6

God says, my people are destroyed by lack of knowledge.

And there can be a shocking, not just a shocking lack of knowledge

in this area of spiritual conflict.

But.

A lot of really unhelpful knowledge in this area as well.

And sometimes, and I think this is one of the enemy's greatest strategies, we can

live like this isn't a reality at all.

We can live this life like we're on a cruise ship when

we're actually on a battleship.

And when you live life expecting cruise ship vibes and then battleship

reality is what actually hits you.

It can be a little bit disorientating, can't it?

You know what?

Oh, what's going wrong?

Why is all this stuff coming against me?

Now, well, because you're in a war zone.

You're in a conflict zone.

And you know what?

You might go, but that's not fair.

I didn't choose that.

Well, take it up with God.

Boo hoo.

This is the world you were born into people.

You know, you don't get to just decide a different reality.

This is the reality in which we live.

We have all been born into a spiritual world.

That is what scripture testifies to but we are not victims in this and

this is the good news my friends And this is what we are going to explore

something of today We're going to be looking at the subject of truth and

the power of truth so far We've looked at knowing our enemy knowing the armor

that we've got in Christ knowing the authority that we've got in Christ We've

talked about the topic of deliverance, but today is about knowing the truth.

And next Sunday, we're going to be talking about specific strongholds that

are really relevant for a lot of us here in our time and place and culture as

well, and how to see those strongholds demolished as the scripture says.

And so the goal of the message today.

is really to equip you with an understanding of the power of truth

within this context of spiritual warfare, spiritual context, specifically, relating

to the truth of the gospel, knowing the truth about who God is and the promises

of God and knowing the importance and the power of knowing the truth about

who you are according to what the Word of God has to say about your identity.

Good?

Yep.

So there's nothing rocket science about my message today.

There is nothing clever.

It is very foundational stuff.

So often though, we forget the foundational stuff, don't we?

And then things get wobbly and shaky and hard and we go, why?

It's like, Oh, cause we've forgotten the foundational stuff.

All right.

Key scripture for today.

John 8 31.

Oh, excuse me, 32.

To the Jews who had believed in him, Jesus said, If you hold to my

teaching, you are really my disciples.

Then, you will know the truth.

And the truth will set you free.

So often, and we're really grateful for as Christians at quoting this scripture,

but usually just the second part of it.

Yeah, you'll know the truth and the truth will set you free, right?

You just can't divorce the first half of this passage of what Jesus

is saying from the second half.

It's not just enough to know truth conceptually,

objectively, abstractly.

Truth has to be known relationally, through relationship with Jesus

because Ultimately, Jesus is the truth.

He is the way, the truth, and the life.

Truth is found in relationship with the one who is truth, and it's

found in holding to his teaching.

So yes, he's teaching as we read it and hear about it in the Gospels,

as recorded in the Gospels.

He's teaching as it's understood.

and implied through, applied through the epistles, through the

latter part of the New Testament.

But remember, Jesus is the Word of God.

Jesus is the Logos and everything in the Old Testament is fulfilled

in him and points to him.

So it's not just his direct teachings as we take them from the Gospels

or from the teachings of Paul or whoever else in the New Testament.

It is the whole of scripture is as we hold fast to all of it, then we know,

and the word no here, it's not the word.

So we can rabbit off a bunch of facts that the Bible says.

It is relational knowing, yeah?

It is that in my bones knowing, under the soles of my feet knowing,

a lived truth, a lived reality.

Not just

one that's, not just

mental assent, but one that I actually Allow the weight of my life to rest

upon so I live According to this truth.

I don't just say the right things, but I live truth.

So no truth Ultimately, no authority.

No authority.

No victory.

No victory.

No freedom.

No freedom.

No abundant life.

No abundant life No witness, but the question is as we lean into this

scripture is How do we know the truth?

How do we know it, get it into us, that it would actually become, here's

a word, weaponized in our life?

Oh, that's a fun way of thinking of it, isn't it?

How do we weaponize the truth of God?

Not against one another, because oh my wordy, we can be good at that, can't we?

Weaponizing the word of God in our self righteous pharisaical little

ways to not build one another up but to sometimes do the opposite.

But to weaponize it against the enemy, our true enemy, which is not your spouse,

not the person you're sitting with, not the person who votes differently

from you because that's a little bit relevant right now, but our true enemy.

So I'm out for this morning.

Just where we're going to go this morning.

We're just going to look quickly at the centrality of truth.

We're going to look at the basic template for the schemes and the

message methods of our enemy.

We look, at the truth about the gospel, the truth about who God

is, the truth about who you are.

And then finally a strategy on how we can.

Weaponize the truth to defeat the lies of the enemy.

So vision six looking at the centrality of truth Yep We have already visited this

passage of scripture quite a bit through this series, but rightly so because

it is a fantastic foundational passage of scripture on the topic of spiritual

warfare, and it is profoundly Rich, and it is well worth us Investing a lot of

our attention and focus on this passage.

There is a lot of wisdom here for us So let's read it together.

Finally be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power put on the full armor

of God So that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes, for our

struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the

authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual

forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil

comes, you may be able to You may be able to stand your ground, and after

you have done everything, to stand.

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist,

with the breast, breastplate of righteousness in place, and with

your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.

In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with

which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God

and pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests

with this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people.

So what is the full armor of God?

Belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, shoes of the gospel

of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of

the spirit, which is the word of God.

And prayer in the spirit as well.

That's what we did last Sunday.

Did you know we did spiritual warfare last Sunday church?

As we participated in all that beautiful prayer for the persecuted

church and we hear, we heard those people praying in their native tongues.

Native to these four key regions that we were praying into.

It was an act of spiritual warfare that we were engaging in.

It's powerful and it's necessary and it matters and sometimes we

discount that because we can't see it.

We're so grounded and trapped in our physical reality.

We're not aware or we're blinded to the power of it, but

it actually really mattered.

We took it to the enemy last Sunday when we were praying.

We're doing exactly what Paul is talking about here.

At the end of this passage, but did you notice with the armor of God?

Where did it begin?

What was the first bit of armor was the belt of truth wasn't it?

It's significant that it begins with truth that as we're armoring up For

warfare for battle to take our stand it begins with truth And where did our

armor end with it ended with the sword of the spirit the word of god these things

intimately and intricately connected.

So John Mark Comer in his book, Live No Lies, writes this, Jesus sees our

primary war against the devil as a fight to believe truth over lies.

Our war against the three enemies of the soul, the world, the flesh, and the

devil is not a war of guns and bombs.

It's not against other people at all.

It's a war on lies, and the problem is less that we tell lies, this is

really significant what he says here, the problem is less that we tell

lies and more that we live them.

We let false narratives about reality into our bodies, this is what we

call strongholds and we're going to talk more about that next Sunday,

and they wreak havoc in our souls.

The problem is less that we tell lies and more that we, more that we live them.

Yes, that is a very big problem indeed.

See, truth isn't just about factual accuracy or mere beliefs, but it's about

alignment with reality as God intended.

So what we're talking about here is living according to reality,

real reality, not deceptive reality that the enemy has worked into.

For his evil purposes to steal, to kill, and to destroy.

You know, this morning, just during worship, which, oh my

gosh, was so glorious, was it not?

Where was I going with that?

Oh, just this sense of like, how many of you precious souls here, Through the power

of lies, the enemy has stolen from you.

Stolen your God given identity.

Stolen your calling from you.

Yeah, and yet we don't get all despondent about that, right?

Because victory is just a grabbing hold of the truth just a moment away

and bringing it to bear in our minds and our hearts and renewing our mind.

God is able to redeem all things and work all things together for good But some

of you are satan's whipping post He just has you right where he needs you and he

is kicking your backside Yeah, and it's time to take what we're going to explore

now incredibly seriously and take it to heart This stuff is not complicated.

It is about as simple as it comes But there is victory here for you if you will

lean in and hear it But this is the other thing we've got to Here too, which I think

is really poignant for, for, this series.

So often when we talk about spiritual warfare, it's done in a

really individualistic kind of way.

I just need to take the truth for myself and I need to put on the

armor of God for myself and I need to wield the sword of the Spirit,

which is the Word of God by myself.

Okay, there is a degree of victory that can be had in that space.

You know where real victory comes?

It's when we are fighting for one another.

Yeah.

Sometimes we can't fight for ourselves.

The strongholds are so strong and we need our brothers and sisters around

us to fight for us, to be that voice of truth into our souls, to be the other

that tears down and demolishes that stronghold on behalf of someone else.

We need one another in this space, this, we're not lone wolves,

we're not gunslingers out riding the planes on our own, right?

We are a family, we are an army, and we are doing this together,

for one another, for the sake of the world and the glory of God.

Alright, first, let's, let's move on.

Yes, let's.

Alright, The Devil's Schemes 101.

Let's look at this classic passage of spiritual warfare

from Genesis 3 verses 2 to 5.

Genesis 3:2–5

Now, the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman, did God really say, as I'm, as we're reading this

now, I want you to frame this through this context of spiritual warfare.

I want you to frame this through the understanding of truth versus lies.

Yeah.

And then see what sticks out to you.

Did God really say, the serpent says to Eve, that you must not

eat from any tree in the garden?

The woman said to the serpent, we may eat fruit from the trees in the

garden, but God did say, you must not eat fruit from the tree that is

in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it or you will die.

You will not certainly die, the serpent said to the woman, for God

knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened and you will

be like God, knowing good and evil.

So this is a really powerful passage within the context of

the topic of spiritual warfare because what we see unfold here is

representative of the enemy's tactics.

This is Enemy Strategies and Tactics 101, all contained here

in this passage of scripture.

And what do we see the enemy doing?

Begins by undermining God, doesn't he?

Dequestion!

All of us will hear on the regular.

Did God really say?

Did God really say?

You'll have a moment of choice set before you.

And that moment, that conviction will rise about what God's truth is in this moment.

What his commands are in this moment.

What are the way of Jesus in this moment.

And then that little subtle voice will come.

God really say?

Did God really say?

That's why we've gone so hard on this topic of sex with our young adults

because, oh my gosh, that's a massive one.

When temptation is raging and that little whisper, that little hint of

suggestion comes in, did God really say?

Does it really matter?

Won't really matter.

Won't really matter.

There's no cost to this.

You'll be fine.

God didn't really, God loves you.

You just start sowing, undermining, these, undermining God's character,

God's words, God's truth.

We've got to be really wise to this scheme.

He's really good.

Like he does here with Eve at stirring up the lie of FOMO within us.

We sin because we believe a lie about what will make us happy ultimately.

And what the enemy does convince us that God, the way of God won't make you happy.

You actually need this other thing.

It's what he does with Eve here.

You need something else.

What you have with God isn't enough.

God's holding out on you.

You need this other thing.

See it, see how good it is.

Now take it, have it for yourself.

This is enemy strategy 101 again.

And so Eve gets suckered into this temptation and these

strategies of the enemy.

And in her actions, what does she do?

She then tells a lie about who God is.

In that moment, she lives a lie.

And her life then tells a lie about who God is.

When she takes, in that taking, she's not just taking, she's telling a story.

She's telling a story that says, God has withheld something good from me, and I

deserve it, and it is my right to have it.

She is calling God a liar.

in that moment.

Now we sometimes wonder at the extremity of God's response in this moment.

She just took a bit of fruit.

Oh my word, no.

She did the equivalent of standing there going, God, you are a liar.

You don't love me.

Your promises are lies.

I, you cannot be trusted.

You are not good.

In her actions, she hurled false accusations at the, at the,

at the God who had created her and who had only cared for her.

for her and the God who will then work out a plan of rescue and redemption for

her, even in the face of her telling these gross accusatory lies, being tempted to

falling for the strategies of the enemy, God will still make a way because he

is good whether we believe it or not.

And so she lives By her actions, she lives a lie, and her life then

begins to tell a lie about who God is.

I was thinking this morning, during worship, one of the things I love to

do during worship when Vinny is up, is watch Vinny, which I know I'm

supposed to be, you know, the Lord, but still, it is the Lord, because when

Vinny is up here worshipping, Vinny tells us true story about who God is.

I don't know if any of you guys noticed, probably not because you're all a lot more

spiritual me and you all had your eyes closed and we're very focused on the Lord.

But Vinny's beautiful little face during worship tells such

a true story about who God is.

Because he is so happy up here and he's just in his little zone delighting

in the Lord and it tells a true compelling story about who God is.

See we're not called to just go out into the world and speak truth.

That's got a certain power.

But the real power lies in us living truth, living lives that

tell a true story about who God is.

That's what we're called to.

That's where the real power lies.

Yes, there is power in the declaration of our words, but really only powerful when

it's backed up by the truth of our lives and how we live according to the truth.

So what do we need to stand against the lies and the schemes of our enemy?

What truth do we need to know and hold to?

All right.

A lot of scripture coming your way.

A lot of sort of the Spirit Word of God coming your way.

All right.

Some of you just be, just be mindful as we're reading, all this

scripture that's about to come.

Just be aware of what's going on in your own mind, body.

As we

read this, there'll

be passages that are read for some of you, it'll be just like,

oh, whoa, I need that, right?

You write that scripture down, okay?

That's your sword for whatever situation you have right now.

Or it could be for someone else too, yeah?

And for others of you, what you're going to notice as I read out certain

passages of scripture, ones that tell us about what the gospel is, ones

that tell us about who God is, ones that tell us about who we are, what

you're going to find is resistance.

A word will come and you will just, you'll find resistance in your spirit.

It's probably a sign there's a stronghold for you in that particular area.

Also write that down because that's, that's also going to be a

powerful weapon for you as well.

So, all right.

What is the truth that we need to know about the gospel in this war

against the lies of the enemy?

All right, 10, For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath, but to receive

salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

He died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we

may live Together with him.

That is a great little gospel passage there.

He's given us salvation through Jesus.

He died for us.

That whether we, no, no.

Okay.

He's not talking about literal night and day sleeping, waking, whether

we are present here in our physical bodies or whether we have past through

death, we have life together with him.

Imagine if we actually live like this was true instead of grasping at this life at

like it's the only life that there is.

John three 14 to 16, just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness.

So the son of man must be lifted up that everyone who believes

may have eternal life in him.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever

believes in him shall not perish.

But what have eternal life now and forevermore.

Next Colossians 1 13 for he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and

brought us into the kingdom of the sun that he loves We are now citizens of the

kingdom of heaven now and eternally and nothing can rob us of that citizenship

Ephesians 2 8 to 9 for it is by grace that we have been saved through faith

and this is not from ourselves It is the gift of God not by works so that

no one can boast And this passage, tri Galatians, which is the implications

of the truth of the gospel when it is trusted in and believed and received.

The Apostle Paul writes, I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer

I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me, the life I now live in, the body.

I live by faith in the son of God who love me and gave himself for me.

Imagine if we lived like this was true.

Yeah, this is a powerful scripture.

And the reason why I began with the gospel, right, because one of the

greatest tactics of the enemy is to get us to believe that the gospel isn't

true, that there's more we've got to do.

Yeah, when we don't believe the truth of what these scriptures tell us, we

will spend a lifetime trying to prove ourselves, trying to justify ourselves,

trying to save ourselves, sanctify ourselves, earn our way into God's good

graces and favor, and that is bondage and slavery because it is never enough.

It is never ever enough.

That is why Paul, particularly in Galatians, he goes so very hard against

the Galatian church when they begin to get tempted into believing that there's

more they have to do to add to the gospel.

You foolish Galatians, he says, who has bewitched you, who has

confused you, who has convinced you that you need more than what Jesus

Christ has accomplished for you.

All right, what do we need to know about the truth of who God is?

Let's read some more delicious scripture, shall we?

All right, firstly, God is love.

And remember as we go through this, See what resistance might rise up in you.

Okay, where you might resist these truths.

God is love.

1 John 4, 8.

Whoever does not love does not know God because God is love.

Psalm 86, 15.

But you Lord are compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger,

abounding in love and faithfulness.

God is holy and pure.

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty.

The whole earth is full of his glory.

God is light.

In him there is no darkness at all.

Next slide, Sabrina, thanks.

God is good and kind.

God is good and kind.

The Lord is good.

A refuge in times of trouble.

He cares for those who trust in him.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

God is faithful and he is trustworthy.

The Lord your God is good.

He is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love

to a thousand generations.

Because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed, for

his compassions never fail.

They are new every morning.

Great is your faithfulness.

Next, God is righteous and he is just.

The Lord loves righteousness and justice.

The earth is full of his unfailing love.

For the Lord is a God of justice, blessed are all who wait for him.

God is merciful and he is compassionate.

The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger,

abounding in love and faithfulness.

Who is a God like you who pardons sin and forgives the transgressions

of the remnant of his inheritance?

You do not stay angry forever, but you delight to show mercy.

God is patient The Lord is not slow in keeping his promises as some understand

slowness instead He is patient with you not wanting anyone to perish But

he wants everyone to come to repentance to come to a knowledge of who he is

You God is our provider and protector.

The Lord is my shepherd.

I lack nothing.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside quiet waters.

He refreshes my soul.

God is our refuge and strength and ever present help in trouble.

And I think, nope, that is it.

Beautiful.

All right.

The truth about who God is.

That is just a quick snapshot right there.

Might try and add these lists, to the podcast.

Is that possible, babe?

Some of you might find that helpful if you want to refer to them.

What?

On the app, the Red Door app.

All right.

Let's have a look at the truth about who we are.

All right.

I am a child of God.

Yes.

I am a friend of Jesus.

What a thing that is, hey.

I have been justified and I'm at peace with God.

I am united with the Lord, one in spirit.

I have been brought, bought with a price and belong to God.

I am a member of Christ's body.

I am chosen, holy and dearly loved.

I am a new creation in Christ.

I am God's workmanship created for good works.

I am a citizen of heaven.

I am redeemed and forgiven.

I am complete in Christ.

I am free from condemnation.

I cannot be separated from God's love.

I am an heir of God and a co heir with Christ.

I am established, anointed and sealed by God.

I am a temple of the Holy Spirit.

I am secure and safe in God's hands.

I am God's beloved.

I am more than a conqueror through Christ.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Man, we should all be pretty encouraged just after reading that, eh?

Seriously, it's like a Red Bull for the spirit, right?

Oh gosh, but you know that list we just read, right?

Okay, these things, for those of you, you know, if you say that Jesus is

my Lord, that is true of you, right?

You haven't earned it.

It's a gift of his grace, this identity given to you through his sacrifice,

his death and his resurrection, right?

But you know what's also true the person sitting next to you who also calls Jesus

their Lord It's also true of that really bothersome brother and sister in Christ

Who are right royally giving you the irrits at the moment or perhaps the one

that you abjectly cannot stand right now I know nobody in here would do that because

we're all such very good christians in here, but that is true of them, too

Yeah, yeah, it's not just true of you.

It's true of our neighbor It's true of our brother and sister as well.

And, you know, I just, it just really occurred to me as I was

preparing, this message,

you know, I've touched on this already, you know, it's very great power in

preaching this to our own souls, but there is a very great power in being a

vessel of deliverance in the hands of the Lord for the sake of another and

preaching this truth to one another.

So where you are seeing a brother or a sister struggling, right?

Where you are, see them giving way to worry, to anxiety,

to fear,

to anger, to frustration.

Okay.

There are ways that people can behave that

actually, can elicit

our compassion, right?

And there are ways of brokenness that people can behave that actually offend

us and cause us to want to step back.

But actually both the strategy to actually be a vessel of deliverance is the same.

It is to speak truth of identity and promise into that person's soul

where you have the permission and the

proximity,

to do so.

Married couples here, I really felt to say this, in one's marriage, something

happens sometimes, often, once the ring is on the finger and the party's been

had and the honeymoon has gone, right?

And conflict suddenly begins to bubble with this beloved that's, you know, just

looking so wonderful and rosy, right?

And suddenly there can sometimes seem to be more of the enemy, and sometimes

in that place of conflict, when the real enemy is not actually us, but us,

it is our spiritual enemy, we can very easily adopt the posture of the accuser.

It can happen in class.

our relational context, but I think it's particularly poignant

within the context of marriage.

So next time that you are entering into a conflict space in your

marriage,

be on guard against the temptation to adopt the posture of the accuser.

And what do I mean by that?

When you start saying things like, you always, you never, you're such

a, they are accusatory postures.

You're adopting the posture of Satan.

You have now joined team Satan.

You still might be citizen of heaven.

Yes, right?

Nothing can separate you from the love of God, even your most obnoxious behavior.

Praise the Lord for that.

But in your marriage resolved, I will not adopt the posture.

I will not be the accuser of the brethren who is my very own spouse.

And we fall prey to this all the time.

Where the pointy, wiggly finger comes out, right?

Maybe not literally.

Oh my gosh, don't do it literally.

That's awful.

Somebody points a finger at me.

Oh, man.

Anyway, there's probably some strongholds there.

But, If you, if you catch yourself doing that, take a step back,

regroup and go, I will not adopt the posture of Satan in my marriage.

Lord, show me how to adopt the posture of the encourager.

Yeah.

Of the one who speaks truth in love, truth with very great grace.

All right.

Let's, Oh, I'm actually not doing too awful.

Were we gonna do a song at the end, or not?

I know we did, but I just, it was so good.

Alright, we're not, alright.

It does give me a little bit more time, you'll all be so happy to know!

Okay, alright, let's, here we go.

Okay, now we're gonna go into a spiritual practice.

To actually put this into practice, how do we apply this?

Yeah, good.

All right.

I may have done this before so it might be familiar to some of you, but let me begin.

So this spiritual practice is called talking back.

The spiritual practice of talking back.

Sounds good.

Hey, some of you are like, oh, my toddler has this nailed.

This is a little bit different.

All right.

I'll begin with a story.

A little boy visiting his grandparents was given his first slingshot.

He practiced in the woods, but he could never hit his target.

As he came back to grandma's backyard, he spied her pet duck.

On impulse, he took aim and let fly.

The stone hit and the duck fell dead.

Okay, it's just a story, alright.

No real animals were hurt in the making of this story.

The boy panicked.

Desperately, he hid the dead duck in the woodpile, only to look

up and see his sister watching.

Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing.

After lunch that day, Grandma said, Sally, let's wash the dishes.

But Sally said, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen today.

Didn't you, Johnny?

And she whispered to him, Remember the duck.

So Johnny did the dishes.

Sally is a right piece of work, isn't she?

Later, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing.

Grandma said, I'm sorry, but I need Sally to help me make supper.

Sally smiled and said, that's all taken care of.

Johnny wants to do it.

Again, she whispered, remember the duck.

Johnny stayed while Sally went fishing.

After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally's,

finally he couldn't stand it.

He confessed to Grandma that he'd killed the duck.

I know Johnny, she said, giving him a hug.

I was standing at the window and saw the whole thing.

Because I love you, I forgave you, but I wondered how long you would

let Sally make a slave of you.

It's a poignant little story, isn't it?

So Satan's strategy.

1 Peter 5.

8, you know, Peter talks about Satan being a prowling lion seeking someone

to devour through lies and accusations.

And he's known as the accuser and the father of lies.

And his tactics aim to deceive and destroy and to enslave and to keep

us bound up in guilt and shame.

shame and condemnation for his own purposes, which is effectively what

lovely little Sally has done in this

story.

And so there

is an impact of these lies and accusations when we believe Satan's accusations,

we become enslaved to these things of guilt, shame and condemnation.

And like Johnny in the story is controlled by Sally's accusations,

accepting these lies, they can lead to enormous amounts of bondage in our life.

But, the truth will always bring us freedom, and we know it, as we read

about in John 8, 31 to 32, right at the beginning of this morning's message.

And so we are called to resist the devil, aren't we?

James 4, 7.

Resist him, and he will flee from us.

And so the spiritual practice of talking back, You know how we, we use that passage

from Genesis as a bit of a blueprint for, to understand the enemy's tactics?

Well, the blueprint that we can take for this spiritual practice

of talking back to the lies of the enemy is actually Jesus encounter

with the devil in the wilderness.

And so what did Jesus do when he's led out to the wilderness and Satan begins

to attack him with lies, effectively?

What does he do?

Well, he talks back.

Yeah, he doesn't get shouty.

He doesn't manifest his

authority and,

get all angry.

He simply speaks back with the word of God, doesn't he?

And that's what this spiritual practice is.

It's identifying the lie.

It's identifying the truth and it's talking back with the truth.

It's learning how to weaponize the truth to defeat our enemy and his lies.

And so this

comes from, you know,

second Corinthians 10, four and five, which we'll dive into more next Sunday.

The weapons we fight with are what?

Not the weapons of this world.

On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against

the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient

to Christ, and this is how we do it.

So, three things, three things to this strategy.

We notice in ourselves where there is a lie of the enemy.

And how might we notice that?

Because it's, You know,

sometimes we just notice I'm believing a flat out lie.

Sometimes it's a toxic feeling that we observe within us,

like shame or worry or anxiety.

Or it could be, yeah, a sensation in our body that we feel.

You know, a lot of us, you know, we feel things deeply in our bodies, don't we?

We're not disembodied beings.

We're, we are whole beings.

Our body matters.

Our body is telling us a story as well about what is going

on, about what we believe.

And so we notice these things in ourselves.

And when we do, If we're doing this practice, we go, okay, well, what is the

lie that is underneath that is behind this thought or this feeling or sensation?

So we take it, we sit with it before God and we ask the Holy

Spirit, illuminate what is the lie here that I'm believing, right?

Because the Lord's way is the way of freedom and is the way of peace.

So wherever we are not experiencing freedom and peace, there is a lie

somewhere in there that we are believing and we are living according to.

So we ask for that revelation.

What is it?

So that we can confess it and repent of it and replace it with the truth.

So then what?

Write out a scripture or a word of the Spirit that counters that lie.

And then whenever that lie comes to assail us, we turn our mind to the truth.

See, it's not enough to just go, Oh, that's a stupid lie.

Stop believing the stupid lie.

That's like saying, don't think of a purple elephant, right?

It just doesn't work, like condemning the lie, condemning

ourselves for the lie, doesn't work.

We've got to replace it with what is true.

And this is how we capture our thoughts.

And this is how we resist the schemes of the enemy.

So let's do a bit of a living example of this, shall we?

The one that's perhaps a little bit relevant at the moment.

So we had something, I don't know, rather large in the global scale

happened this week, didn't we?

US election.

Varying degrees of investment in this room.

I know some of you just think it's like.

Some kind of fun sport to watch.

Others of you are highly invested.

Perhaps, you know, there will be a gamut of responses to the outcome of the US

election, right, in this room right now.

Some of you have perhaps just induced quite a lot of anxiety in you.

Yeah, just like, like the end of the world is nigh, right?

And there's, and it's stirred up a lot of fear.

Maybe anger, maybe frustration, maybe confusion.

Who knows what it might be?

A lot of unhappy, non peaceful feelings.

But again, know at just possibly at the other end of the spectr right?

Some of you're feeling quite pleased about it, you know, this is, you know, this

is, this is what should have happened, and you're feeling all victorious and

kind of proud because you're like, oh no, I knew this is what needed to happen.

And a little bit of spiritual prides riding up and rising

up, that kind of thing, right?

Both of those indicate you're believing a lie.

Both of those responses, some of you like what?

Really?

Ah, yeah.

Really, really, because the

lie underneath.

Most likely, either one of those extreme responses to what has unfolded,

is that your safety and security depends on who is in political power.

And that is big fat lie.

That is a horrible way to live.

With your safety and security dependent upon a man, or woman, I

meant humankind more, in power, like that is an incredibly shaky

foundation from which to live your life.

So that's the lie.

If you're being rattled or if you're over exalting in this situation.

Psalm, and the truth is, here's the truth of scripture.

Psalm 20 verse 7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses,

Psalms 20:7

but who do we trust in?

The name of our Lord, our God.

Hebrews 13, 6 So we can confidently say the Lord is my helper, I will not fear.

What can man do to me?

This is the truth.

That was just a very simple little example.

And so it's a simple practice.

Hey, there's actually a really great book, written by a desert father

back in like the 4th century, Evagrius of Pontus, I think his name is.

And it is a monastic handbook for combating demons.

And it goes through just pages and pages of different deceptions

that we can believe and the word of God that replaces that deception.

All right, shall we bring this home people?

What do we think?

Do we need a, need a worship or should we just want to bring it to a close?

I don't know what that means.

Do a song.

All right, team, you're up.

Come on team.

All right.

As they're coming, I want to leave you with this thought.

Why does all of this matter?

We can just automatically assume, well freedom's good, we should want freedom

and we should do whatever, you know, well we're touching it already, a little

bit, because we want to live lives that tell a true story about who God is.

The world needs us to be living lives that tell a true story about who God

is, to be bringing light into the world.

And so really it is,

it is for the sake of the world around us.

You know, we have our assurance of our salvation, yeah?

And you know, when I first got saved, I used to wonder for quite a while, why

doesn't God, when we first get saved, just like, take us there and then?

Right?

Because I had that misunderstood notion that the gospel was just

about getting me to heaven.

I didn't realize that it was actually about bringing heaven

to earth now through me.

That that is what salvation was for.

My salvation was never just about me.

Your salvation is never just about you.

Because, Jesus.

Laughter.

He's all about the broken.

He is all about the lost.

He is all about bringing his kingdom.

That was his good news.

Not that here's your ticket to heaven.

His good news was the kingdom is among you.

The kingdom is at hand.

The kingdom is here now.

And that kingdom will only be made manifest as the people of God live

according to the truth of God.

Truly live the truth.

Not just rabbit out scriptures at people.

No, no, no, no, no.

But live lives, yield, surrendered, manifesting the truth and making

God beautiful in the world.

Because our lives are telling us true story.

It's pretty compelling vision, isn't it?

And we are blessed in all of that.

With such joy and such freedom and such peace, we become unshakable.

We become beautiful non anxious presences in a world riddled with anxiety, don't we?

What a glorious thing to participate in, hey Church?

All right, what are we ending with?

That'll belong.

Oh yeah, let's stand.

I'm just going to give Michael a second because he's All right.

Hurry up, Michael.

No pressure.

Thank you guys.

I know I caught you a little off guard there, but let's stand church.

Let me just pray.

And then we'll end with this beautiful declaration.

Father God, please, please, by the, by your grace and by the power

of your spirit, the illuminating of your spirit, open our eyes.

to the truth.

Help us to see the strongholds in ourselves and one another.

Help us with great compassion and mercy.

And yet with such conviction, see those strongholds demolished

through the power of your truth.

Help us to hold to your teaching, to know the truth that we would know freedom and

make your freedom known in the world.

Amen.