Spiritual Warfare | Pastor Dave Kinney

All right, 11 30.

How are we doing today?

Alright, if you have your Bibles, Ephesians chapter 6 is where we're gonna be today.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

We have so many people who are joining us on the other side of that camera.

Church, it's an amazing thing.

God opened the door for us a couple years ago to be able to stream our services in all the correctional facilities throughout the state of Texas.

And we've got thousands of people watching right now.

Can you help me welcome all of them joining with us today?

So thankful for you.

Being a part of our church.

And church, this is the third time I'm having to do this today, so my ability to suppress my emotions is about no longer there.

Alright, so bear with me.

If you're a first-time guest, just come back next week and everything will be fine.

We are surrounded by an invisible world, things we cannot see, but we can experience the effects of those things.

Let me pull the room real quick.

How many of y'all stream music through Spotify?

Spotify users in the house?

Alright.

What about Apple Music?

Passionate group right here.

A lot of people don't listen to music, which is cool.

What about Pandora?

Anyone Pandora?

Wow, you guys just missed 2010 that much.

That's great.

That's really great.

And now I'm gonna find out who my people are.

Alright?

How many of y'all don't do any of that stuff?

And you get in your car and your AMFM radio, baby, like you're right here.

Come on.

These are the OGs, the greatest ones.

I like it.

That's really good.

We are surrounded by invisible things, things that we cannot see, but we can experience the reality of them.

There is Wi-Fi signals going all throughout this room right now that we cannot see.

We're surrounded at all times by radio frequencies that we cannot see, but the effect of them is very real.

Ephesians chapter 6, starting in verse 10.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

It says, Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

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.

Today we're closing down our sermon series, Invisible, and we're going to be talking about spiritual warfare.

And here's where I want us to go today.

I want to answer the question what is spiritual warfare?

I want to tell you what spiritual warfare is not, and I want to give you three things that you need to know about spiritual warfare.

Let's start at the first one.

What is spiritual warfare?

Very vague definition of it that I'm going to spend the next 28 minutes trying to help put some legs to.

It is the ongoing battle between the forces of good, God and his angels, against the forces of evil, the devil and his demons.

See, spiritual warfare is happening all around you.

Ephesians 6.12, we just read it.

We don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers over this present darkness.

1 Peter 5.8 says, Be sober-minded, be watchful.

Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

It is all around you.

Spiritual warfare, it's going to affect you.

You have to understand there is a battle waging on in the unseen world around us.

And it not only affects the spiritual world that we can't see, but it can also impact the physical world that you and I both live in today.

Here's all of that just to say this.

What is spiritual warfare?

It's real.

It's real.

There's typically two sides to one spectrum here.

On one side, you've got people that believe that spiritual warfare is just kind of like a lot of hocus pocus stuff, and everything in life can be explained by science, and otherwise it's coincidence or chance.

And then you've got the other extreme that thinks every time you sneeze or hit a red light, that's the devil trying to take you out.

Like any of y'all people up in here, it's not the devil, that's just living in a city, all right?

Um our job is to allow scripture to interpret what we believe about these things, and it is somewhere in the middle of those two extremes.

So, what is spiritual warfare?

Spiritual warfare is real.

What is spiritual warfare not?

Spiritual warfare is not the devil running around wearing red tights, having a long tail, carrying a pitchfork, trying to mess up your day.

That is not what spiritual warfare is.

Spiritual warfare is not anything in your life that goes wrong or inconveniences you.

And listen, this is very important for you to hear and understand.

Spiritual warfare is not an attack on you, it's the enemy's attack on God by coming after your faith.

It's not the enemy of God coming after you, it's coming against God by attacking your faith.

There's three things that you need to know about spiritual warfare.

The first is this you have to know your enemy.

You have to know your enemy.

There is an enemy.

Pastor Chris talked about the devil, Satan, and his demons last week.

If you missed that message, you should go back and listen to it.

It was very well done.

This is what the Bible says about the devil, though.

2 Corinthians 11 14 says that he masquerades as an angel of light.

Job 1.7 says that he walks the earth.

John 8 44 says he is the father of lies.

1 John 5.19 says he has power in this world.

Matthew 25.41 says he has help in accomplishing his desires.

His mission is to oppose God.

And here are the descriptions that the Bible most often used to describe Satan.

So I want you to think of these not as just characteristics, but also as the names of Satan in your Bible.

Ready?

And I'm going to connect them back and show you how these characteristics display themselves in the story of Adam and Eve in the garden in the very beginning.

See, throughout all of Scripture, the devil is called liar.

He will distort the truth.

He will distort God's truth to you.

Look back at Adam and Eve.

He lied to them by telling them that they could become like God if they eat the fruit.

The devil is called the accuser.

Not only does he accuse God of holding out on Adam and Eve and not wanting what was best for them, but also then he lorded an accusation over Adam and Eve after they sinned, the idea of guilt and shame.

And by the way, for everyone who's hearing my voice today, that is exactly how Satan wants you to feel as you navigate through life.

He's going to lord guilt and shame over you, thinking that you are not redeemable, you are not forgivable.

That is exactly how he will accuse you in your life.

The Bible calls him the adversary.

Satan knew that Adam and Eve sinning by eating the fruit would ultimately lead to death and destruction entering into the world and into the story of all creation.

By the way, that's the goal of any adversary to bring about death and destruction.

The enemy of God, Satan himself, had the end in mind.

He's called tempter.

He will lead you to believe that doing something outside of the will and the way of God is something that is best for you, or something that you deserve.

Or something that you might enjoy.

He's going to tempt you to believe those things.

Through temptation, Satan made the forbidden fruit something to be had instead of something to be avoided.

He's the destroyer, John 10 10.

He did everything that he could to destroy a relationship between Adam and Eve.

To destroy a relationship between Adam, Eve, and God.

He understands that his job as destroyer was to enter into the garden and destroy a perfect union.

Destroy a paradise.

Destroy a trusting relationship.

He destroyed the innocence of man by exposing the option of brokenness.

He's called deceiver.

Look how he tells Adam and Eve that they surely will not die if they disobey God and eat the fruit.

He deceived them to believe that his ways are better than God's ways.

This right here is Satan's playbook.

And what I want you to see and understand is that from the beginning of creation, his playbook hasn't changed.

Why?

Because it works.

His playbook works.

2 Corinthians 11 3.

This is one believer talking to another group of believers, says this, but I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

Another translation says it like this.

So the lies, the temptation, the destruction, the deception, they are all methods that Satan and his minions use to drive a wedge between God and you, between you and God.

And what he does is he sets the bullseye on your faith.

Notice that Satan didn't attack Adam and Eve.

He attacked their faith.

He attacked them by saying, wait, God told you this, but I'm going to try and get you to believe something else.

He tried to help them understand that their ways, that what God had told them, was somehow deception, worse than what Satan had for them.

The same is true for you and I today.

See, the devil does not care about you personally.

He just doesn't.

He's much less concerned with ruining your day or your week or your month, and much more concerned with chipping away your belief in God or your trust in God.

His mission, after all, Isaiah 14, is to become like God.

It actually says that he wants to be above God, above the Most High.

Therefore, his desire is to take glory from God and have it for himself.

And listen to me, he will settle for tiny flakes of belief shifting over to him.

He will settle for the smallest nod of disobedience in your life because he knows disobedience to God is destruction to your soul.

Disobedience to God is the divorce of you believing God's ways are actually best.

Disobedience to God is pledging allegiance to the devil's deceit rather than God's divinity.

How will he do this?

He'll be strategic.

He prowls around like a what?

John 10, 10, he comes to steal, kill, and the devil will wait you out.

Did you know that the devil can't read your thoughts?

1 Kings chapter 8.

1 Kings 8 · chapter mention

There are things, there are certain powers that only God has that the devil does not have any access to.

Only God can know the heart of man.

But here's what the devil does: He can see you.

Here's what his demons do.

They can watch you, they can listen to you, and he'll use these observations to know when you may be weak.

And then he sneaks in as quiet as a snake and begins to whisper.

So what in your life does the enemy of God see?

What does he hear in your life?

Here's just Dave's belief.

I believe that every person on planet earth will face the attack of the enemy.

But here's what I know is true: the devil is intimidated by faithful, diligent, passionate, vocal followers of Jesus who are living their lives in such a way where they assign glory to the one king who is the Lord above all other lords, the name above every other name, and their life gives praise and allegiance to that God.

He is intimidated by anyone who chooses to live their life like that.

Why?

Because he is on limited time.

Not every fight that the devil wants to pick does he have time to pick?

Here's how I want to want you to think about it.

Imagine your favorite store.

Alright, like whatever store is your favorite store, you could spend a ton of money in that store.

And what happens is like you got the biggest version of that store.

So for me, it's like a sporting goods store, and it's like makes Bass Pro Shop look like 7-Eleven, all right?

Like it is massive, like it is a massive store.

Someone rents the whole thing out, comes up to you, and it's like, hey, I got all the customers out, I got all the employees out.

Here's the thing: you go through there, anything you touch, anything you carry, anything you put in your shopping cart is yours.

All yours.

No one's standing in your way.

But you only have five minutes.

Here's what I know.

Ain't nobody in this room walking around that store, all right?

Like we are all running.

I know that you're not gonna be super concerned with taking measurements.

You're not gonna be like, all right, this 112-inch TV, is that gonna fit in the den?

Like, no, you're just gonna grab it, you're gonna touch it, you're gonna put it in the shopping cart, whatever it's gonna be.

You're not gonna be rifling through all different sizes of everything and then being like, you know what?

I like this shirt, but I feel like it might go better with those other pants.

So, do you have a fitting room?

Maybe I could try this on real quick and just feel it out.

No, why?

Because you have a limited amount of time.

See, the devil in his limited capacity, with his limited power, and because he has limited time, he might see your faith in God, he might see your devotion to following after Jesus, he might hear you give praise and worship to God alone and simply think, you know what?

I don't have time to fight that battle.

I'm gonna go find an easier target.

And just again, Dave's theory, I feel like we have Job to thank for that.

Here's the Dave Clip Notes version of the life of Job.

See, Job was a faithful man, he was faithful to God in all things.

The devil came to God and said, Your faithful servant Job is only faithful to you because of the circumstances of his life.

And God says, Fine, do your worst.

And the devil absolutely does his worst.

He brings destruction to Job's life in ways that you and I can only imagine.

A lot of hurt, a lot of pain, a lot of divisiveness, all of the like he attacks him full court press.

And at the end of it all, you know what Job says?

The Lord gives, the Lord takes away, but with every breath I've got, forever and ever, I will offer him up, offer my praise up to him and him alone.

So I think the devil learned on that day, if you have a real faith in allegiance to God Almighty, then he might look at you and be like, you know what?

I don't know if I want to pick that fight today.

That one might take too much time for me.

He will be strategic in his attack.

He will also try and isolate you.

Let's read that passage again.

1 Peter 5 8.

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

Y'all know how lions hunt, right?

Anyone seen National Geographic?

Alright, what happens?

You got the lion that's kind of like prowling, you know, walking around, staying low.

And then he goes after the gazelle or antelope or whatever, when?

When it gets a little bit separated from the herd.

That's when the lion attacks.

You and I, we are vulnerable when we are alone.

You are never meant to live life.

You are never meant to navigate the Christian life on your own.

If you think that you can best live out your faith apart from a local church or a small group or a serve team, I love you enough to tell you you're wrong.

And it makes you vulnerable.

It makes you weak to the attacks of the enemy on your life.

Ecclesiastes chapter 4 says this two are better than one.

Ecclesiastes 4 · chapter mention

If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.

Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.

A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

Back to the garden.

Satan got Eve alone.

Alone, isolated.

And then he attacked.

He's running the same play today.

Three things you need to know about spiritual warfare.

One, you have got to know the enemy.

Second thing you need to know, you gotta know your weapons.

We did this just a moment ago, but I think it's worth doing again.

Um, if if you're here and and you served in our military, or you have a loved one that paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms, church, can we just honor them one more time in this place?

Just give it up for those people.

So thankful.

It is not lost on me.

It is not lost on me.

That the reason that I'm able to open up this book and we're able to freely worship our God is because of the faithful service to men and women who have served our military.

And it's just something I'm so thankful for.

Here's what I know about the military.

I I know that when you enlist, you go get your training, you get your assignments, and you're deployed.

They don't look at you and they're like, All right, man, what weapon did you bring?

Did you make sure to stop by Academy on the way?

What you got?

What are we working with?

They don't do that.

But instead, when you enlist, when you're trained, when you're given your assignments, you're deployed, you are issued weapons from the United States military.

Here's what I want you to hear.

When you have given your life to Christ, when you have been bought by the blood of the Lamb, when you enter into the battle of spiritual warfare, you have been issued weapons from God Almighty Himself.

Here's what they are.

Ready?

Weapon number one.

Weapon number one, we have the truth.

The truth right here, the word of God.

And now would not be a good time for you to tune out of this message and just think, like, oh, here we go.

They're gonna tell me to read my Bible more.

But like, yeah, that's what I'm gonna do.

You need to read your Bible more.

You need more of the Bible in your life, not less.

Second Timothy chapter 3 says, All scripture, everyone say all.

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Hebrews 4 12.

For the word of God is living, living.

Someone say living?

It's alive, it's active.

Someone say active.

It is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, and joints of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Psalm 119 105.

Your word is a lamp into my feet and a light into my path.

Jeremiah 23, 29.

Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock into pieces.

Psalm 119, 28, my soul melts away for sorrow.

Strengthen me according to your word.

Ephesians 6 17, take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

You look at the life of Jesus Christ.

Hebrews chapter 4 tells us Jesus was tempted in every way, just as you and I are, and yet he is without sin.

Hebrews 4 · chapter mention

Jesus in Matthew chapter 4 goes away into the wilderness to be with God, to fast and to pray.

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

Satan meets him there and begins to tempt him three different times.

What does Jesus respond with?

He rebukes the temptation, he rebukes the tempter, and then he quotes scripture right in the enemy's face.

And what happens next?

The enemy flees.

There is power in the word of God.

There is no substitute for the word of God in the battle of spiritual warfare.

It is holy, it is anointed, it is true, and it is powerful.

If you hear nothing else from the message today, please hear this.

You need to read it, you need to memorize it, you need to depend on it, you need to use it.

This is your lifeblood as a follower of Jesus.

If you want your life to be changed, if you want your life to be changed, pick it up.

Read it and use it.

Weapon number two.

Weapon number two, we have God's authority on our side.

I'm gonna need the room's help with this one a little bit.

I'm gonna say a word, and I want you to say the opposite of that word out loud.

All right?

Everyone's gonna do this together.

Otherwise, I'm gonna look like a buffoon.

So y'all just help me out.

Ready?

Say the opposite.

Left.

Up.

Light.

Truth.

Slavery.

Sickness.

Dead.

I got one more.

I'm gonna say this word, and I don't want you to say what you think the opposite is.

I just want you to think it in your mind.

Ready?

God.

And you and I may be tempted to believe that the devil is God's opposition.

But here's what I want you to hear today: God has no opposition.

There is no comparison.

He has no rival.

There is no equal.

Nothing and no one can compare to the power of Almighty God, who right now is reigning over heaven and earth with Christ on his right, making sure that he is the Lord of all creation.

Nothing else can compare.

Nothing else is worthy.

Nothing else is worthy of your praise, of your worship.

He is God.

He is supreme.

He is almighty.

He is omniscient.

He is omnipresent.

Satan is none of those things.

Don't give Satan too much credit.

Does he have power?

Yes.

But his power is also limited.

He is lacking.

He is the conquered one whose story begins and ends in defeat.

His story started by being cast out of the presence of God, the Bible says, like a bolt of lightning plummeting to the earth.

And it ends with him being thrown into a lake of fire where he will live forever and ever for all of eternity.

He is defeated.

You have God's authority on your side in the midst of a battle called spiritual warfare.

Do not minimize that.

Nothing can compare to our God.

If he For you.

Who can be against you?

Weapon number three.

We have the armor.

We have the armor.

Ephesians chapter 6, starting in verse 10.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

Finally, be strong in the Lord, the strength of his might.

Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

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.

Therefore, so because of all of that, this is what you should do.

Take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand firm.

Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and the shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace, and in all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish the flaming darts of the evil one, and take the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication, to that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.

I was studying this week.

Want to know one reason that this is so important?

This armor right here, according to Isaiah 11 and Isaiah 59, is exactly what the Messiah King Jesus is going to wear at the second coming of his when he redeems the entire world and does away with evil at all times.

So what Ephesians is telling us right here is you need to suit up like Jesus.

How do you do that?

Thanks for asking.

Appreciate it.

James 4 7.

Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Draw near to God and God will draw near to you.

So how do you resist the devil?

You put on the armor, you put on the belt of truth.

The enemy is a liar.

Combat his truth or his lies with God's truth.

He lies, but truth wins.

Put on the breastplate of righteousness.

The enemy is the accuser.

God's righteousness fights off the enemy's accusation.

The enemy accuses you of saying, you're disqualified, you're too messed up, you're too broken, you've done too many wrongs, you're not redeemable, you're not forgivable.

All of those things.

Yeah, you may be right, but my righteousness is not found in anything that I bring to the table.

My righteousness is found in the blood of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

2 Corinthians 5 21.

For our sake he made him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

You got to put on the shoes of peace.

This fights the temptation of the enemy.

The Roman soldiers at the time would have small spikes on the bottom of their feet to give them better footing.

So when the den when the devil comes to you, tells you to go this way, try this, he tempts you over here.

Look how much fun that looks like over there.

Maybe you should try this.

You can have sure footing under the word and command of Almighty God.

1 Corinthians 10 13.

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.

God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability.

But with the temptation, he will also provide a way of escape that you may be able to endure it.

There is always a way out of temptation.

Take up the shield of faith which combats the adversary.

What does the devil do?

He fires flaming arrows.

He attacks your faith.

He's not after you, he's after your faith.

Not only does the shield of faith protect you, but it also extinguishes the flames that the devil threw against you.

Isaiah 54, 17 says, No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment.

This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord.

You gotta put on the helmet of salvation.

This fights the destroyer.

The enemy will try and steal, kill, and destroy your mind.

Isaiah 26, 3.

You keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you.

Listen, depression, anxiety, fear, worry, they do not win.

They do not have the final say.

God does.

Those things will bow the knee to God.

You gotta take up the sword of the spirit.

This opposes the deceiver.

The primary attack of the enemy is deceit.

And I love how a sword can be defensive in warding off an attack, but it can also be offensive.

God's word is your offense.

It's a sword in our hand that can not only protect us, but it will also make the devil flee.

What I want you to understand is the enemy of God can come at you in one direction, but he will leave in seven.

Deuteronomy chapter 28.

Deuteronomy 28 · chapter mention

There is nobody like our God.

He's got nothing protecting his back.

Why?

We were never meant to cower in the corner in fear.

We are meant to advance the gospel of King Jesus.

We are meant to take enemy territory back for his glory and for our good.

We are meant to work heartily unto the Lord, giving him glory for everything, telling people about his son Jesus, who went to the cross, died on the cross for you and me, so that we could be redeemed, so that we could have eternal life, so that we could experience the grace and the majesty of him alone.

We do not flee, we charge.

That is the calling that God has placed on our lives.

You know the one of the greatest, one of the greatest weapons that you have at your disposal, it's not something anyone else can do for you.

It is a personal decision that you have to make.

Nobody else can help you do this, but you can start it today.

The greatest way for you to fight the enemy is by you having a passionate zeal for the things of God.

Trusting in him, being diligent in following and chasing after him.

Satan celebrates nothing more than an apathetic Christian, the kind of Christian that is just going through the motions, who claims to be a follower of Christ, but doesn't really live like it.

Again, the devil doesn't care about you, he cares about your faith.

So if you have a sleepy, dead, inactive faith, then you are not a threat to the enemy of God.

And if you're not a threat to the enemy of God, who are you a threat to?

God is very clear about his thoughts on a lukewarm faith.

Revelation chapter 3.

Revelation 3 · chapter mention

The devil may look at your life and think, yeah, they're going to heaven, but at least they're not taking anyone else with them.

Yeah, they're going to heaven, but they're not telling other people how to get there.

You gotta know your enemy.

You gotta know your weapons, and last, you gotta know God's promises.

The kind of promises in Romans chapter 8 that say we are more than conquerors.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

In all these things, we're more than conquerors through him who loved us.

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

You gotta know God's promises.

The enemy is defeated.

Colossians 2 15.

He disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities and shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

Romans 16 20.

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.

Revelation 20 10.

Then the devil who had deceived them was thrown into a fiery lake of burning sulfur and tormented day and night, forever and ever.

You got to know the promises of God.

The promise that says He is in control, Deuteronomy 31.8.

The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you.

Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged.

The gates of hell will not prevail against God's church.

Listen to me.

The church isn't a building.

The church is the people, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against God's church.

It's a promise from him.

You gotta know the promise, you gotta trust the promise that we are not fighting this battle alone.

Psalm 125.2, as the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people, both now and forevermore.

Isaiah 41, 10.

Fear not, for I am with you.

Do not be dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Psalm 91.4.

He will cover you up with his wings, and under his wings you will find refuge.

His faithfulness is a shield and a buckler.

There is no one like our God.

Nothing can compare to him, nothing can oppose him.

He alone is worthy, he is supreme, and he reigns now and forevermore.

See, church, we're living the movie, but I've read the book.

You know how this thing ends?

God victoriously reigning over heaven and earth.

Providing hope to the hopeless, providing life to those who are dead, providing mercy to those who need it.

I'm gonna ask everyone to bow your head and close your eyes right where you are.

And if you're here today and you would say, Dave, I don't have what you just talked about.

I've never given my life to Jesus.

I've never placed my faith and my trust in him.

I've never experienced the victory that Jesus extends to me through the finished work of the cross.

And if that's you, all I want you to do is just look up at me.

If today you want to give your life to Jesus, you want to surrender to him, place your faith and trust in him, just look up at me.

I see you.

I see you.

It's awesome.

I see y'all.

Today you want to give your life to Jesus.

That's awesome.

If that's you, today you'd like to surrender to him.

You'd like to experience the victory that he has afforded to you by the finished work of the cross.

Would you just pray this prayer with me in the stillness and the quietness of this moment?

Say, Jesus, today I give my life to you the best way that I know how.

Pray that you would come into my heart, you would lead me, you would direct me, and that you would save me.

I believe in the finished work of the cross, and I believe it covers my sins.

I confess with my mouth that you are Lord right now, and believe in my heart that you were raised from the dead.

So come into my life and change me.

You're here today, and you would be honest enough in this moment to say, Dave, I'm a Christian, but if I'm being honest, I've been kind of apathetic.

I I don't feel like I'm living out my faith in such a way that I'm a threat to the enemy.

Just a moment of humility.

Would you just slip your hand up?

I'm gonna I'm gonna pray for you in just a moment.

I see you.

I see all y'all.

Say, I want to live different.

I see you.

I see y'all.

I see you.

I'm gonna pray for you here in just a moment.

If you're here today, you'd like to be baptized, just like what we've seen earlier in our service.

Like to make a bold claim for all people to see that you belong to Jesus, that you're gonna follow after Him.

Our staff team is down front.

We would love to talk with you.

If you gave your life to Christ just a moment ago, our team is here.

Just walk up to them here in just a moment.

We're gonna stand and sing.

And if that's you, you gave your life to Jesus, you want to get baptized, you need prayer for something in your life, then come up and just say that to someone on our team up here.

We would love nothing more than to get to pray with you and celebrate what God is doing in your life.

And finally, if you're here and you simply need prayer, you need victory in your life today, kind of victory that only Jesus can give you, whether it be financial, whether it be something health-related, something relational, whatever it may be, love to have you come and pray with someone on our team.

If you'd like to join a church, I can promise you, there is nowhere like United City.

This church will love you, it will challenge you, it will feed you with the word of God, they'll encourage you, and they'll be right on your side, ready to charge hell, carrying a water pistol.

They'll be ready to take territory back from the enemy and put it where it belongs to the glory of God.

If you want to join United City today, you can make your way forward and talk to someone on our team.

Church, I'm gonna pray.

We're gonna stand and sing and you respond to the Lord.

God, thank you for these moments.

Thank you for how you're gonna move.

I pray a spirit of boldness and courage over this room.

God, I ask that you would give people clarity of thought in their mind, that your Holy Spirit would move in power.

Ultimately, God, I pray that your kingdom come, that your will would be done here at 19901 Townsend Boulevard in ways like it never has before.

Draw people to yourself and receive glory from this place.

It's in the powerful name of Jesus that I pray.

Amen.

Y'all stand up.

Let's worship together and respond to the Lord today.

We'd love to pray with you.

Nothing can arrival, our God.

Thank you for how you're moving.

Today's all about you.

Do you have your way in the hearts of your people?

Draw them to yourself.

It's in Jesus' name that I pray.

Amen.

Y'all can be seated for just a moment.

On behalf of the Kenneys, we love you.

We love this church.

And you have meant more to us than you'll ever know.

We believe in you.

And we have greatly benefited from this place.

To our staff.

There's nobody better.

We're very, very thankful to have been called Pastor Dave.

To have your kids call me Pastor D Town.

For y'all calling me Coach D Town.

We love this place.

Keep going.

Everyone, every day, crossing every divide to live united in Christ.

John, I'm embarrassing myself.

Hey, can we can we give Pastor Dave some thanks?

And if Pastor Dave and his family are gonna be out inside the lobby today, please make sure you step by and just tell them thanks for everything over these past six years.

If you don't know whether it's your first day or your hundredth day of being here, you should know that Pastor Dave has his hand on every single thing that has been a part of this church in the last six years.

Um you see all the cool stuff outside to what's done in here to anywhere and everywhere above this building.

His handprint is there, and um, we owe that to him.

And um he's gonna he's gonna make an impact for a long time here, and we're very thankful for him.

So please stop by and tell them thanks on your way out today.

I just want to let you guys know about one more thing that's going on.

Uh we do have Sports Camp.

It is a little over a week away.

Uh yeah, that's exciting too.

We need a little bit of joy because it's a little seven right now.

That's okay, right?

Um, but yeah, sports camp is about a week away, and uh, we're gonna have a great time.

We'd love for you and your family to be a part of that, whether that's serving or bringing your kids who are in kinder through fifth grade.

We also have preschool for uh anyone who's serving on that side of things.

But thank you so much for being here and uh stop by and say to them on the way out, and we'll see you guys next week.

Thanks so much.

Thank you so much for joining us this morning.

We can't wait to see you next week for any of our services at 8 30, 10, 1130, or Espanol at one o'clock.