The Devil Made Me Do It | Pastor Patrick Weikle

I'm gonna be transparent with you guys.

Crisis averted.

We found the iPad.

All right.

It's gonna be a great Sunday.

Hey, my name is Patrick Weichel.

It's good to see you in church this morning.

Dad, shout out.

You did it.

You made it.

What a day.

Hey, listen, it's been an incredible five years here at United City Church and excited to close the chapter of our ministry here at this church by getting to preach to you guys one more time.

It's gonna be incredible.

If you're first time guest in the room, we're really glad you're here.

If it's your first time watching online, we're glad you're watching as well.

But let's give a special welcome, like we get to every single week, to everyone streaming our services through the Pando app in one of the Texas correctional facilities.

We love you.

We really are thankful for you.

You mean a bunch to us, and we're so glad that you get to watch this message.

And man, five years, it holds so much.

And I only get 34 minutes and three seconds now.

So uh I can't begin to unpack what this church means to me, what Pastor Chris means to Kylie and I personally, and I can't even begin to scratch the surface on what it's meant to be the uh student pastor at United City Youth.

You guys are the best.

And so uh it's been an awesome five years, but it's been an awesome couple of days too.

Like Pastor Chris mentioned, we're coming off the heels of youth conference.

We saw over 440 kids come and a ton of first-time guests and a bunch of salvations, and uh, I can talk about it or I could show you.

So you guys check this out real quick.

I used the beast of the house the number lambda.

I used the beast in the name, it's the same gonna be so clear.

What if I picked it out of the park?

What is the quickest like this park?

They see the numbers but I see the heart.

30,000 dark, putting the work in the woodwork.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I know some people gonna look at me crazy, and I'm like, for what?

I was stuck, I was down, but now my praise God together for everything that he's doing in the life of the United City youth.

It really is incredible.

So, hey, go ahead and turn your Bibles to John chapter 17.

John 17 · chapter mention

It's where we're gonna be this morning.

I get to end my time here by continuing in our summer sermon series called Taboo.

You guys know what taboo means, right?

You either have played the board game or you know that there are just some things you don't talk about, right?

There are some places you just don't go.

It's controversial, it's scandalous, it's taboo.

We don't talk about it.

And this summer, we want to talk about it.

We want to go there.

We want to bring some conversation to the table around the things that we feel like we can't talk about in church, not for the sake of controversy in itself, um, but because we have this core conviction here at United City that we really do believe, and say it with me if you know it, it's that the Bible speaks.

And if the Bible speaks, we're gonna let it talk.

And we're gonna let it talk about the things that it talks about and not shy away from it.

And so if you're taking notes this morning, and I hope that you are, everyone should get there, all right?

If you're taking notes this morning, I want you to write this down.

I'm titling today's message, The Devil Made Me Do It.

And I get to let the Bible speak about spiritual warfare.

We're gonna talk about the devil and demons and all the crazy stuff, and it's gonna be fun and it's gonna be awesome.

We're gonna get through it together, I promise.

All right.

So here's what I want to do.

I want to pray for you guys, and I want you to pray for yourself, pray for each other, and then we're gonna let God's word speak because we believe that it does.

So, Jesus, thank you for this morning.

God, thank you for the last five years here, almost five years.

God, thank you that you let me be the student pastor here.

Thank you for everything we've seen you do at United City Youth Conference.

And God, uh, thank you for the things we're just seeing in this church right now.

I pray that you continue to do them and you would speak through your word this morning.

It's in your name we pray.

Amen.

Do you believe in ghosts?

Whoa.

First two services, completely different reaction.

Listen, I can feel it right now.

Let's stay in it.

The room just split into two.

Half of you are like, where is he going?

This is about to be the most interesting sermon that I've ever heard.

Like it was worth getting up and coming to church on Father's Day.

And half of you are like, the only ghost we believe in is the Holy Ghost.

You know, it's like, and I would say to both of you, chill out, all right?

Like it's it's gonna be fine.

But I don't know about you, I grew up believing in ghosts, okay?

Like, don't judge me.

I just think it's a normal thing.

I believed in ghosts.

But it wasn't really my fault that I believed in ghosts.

I think I, well, I got convinced that ghosts were real.

So it was in junior high, I started watching this super popular, awesome TV show called Ghost Adventures.

Anyone know ghost adventures in the room?

Just give it a little shout-out if you know Ghost Adventures.

It's the greatest TV show ever.

Actually, show of hands.

How many of us ghost adventures people?

Okay, I appreciate that.

The honesty.

All right.

I watched Ghost Adventures, all right?

It was awesome, it was amazing.

Zach Baggins and the boys would just go to famous, like haunted places, and their whole goal in the show was to capture some video or audio evidence that ghosts were real.

And it was so captivating.

I tuned in all the time.

It was so captivating that when ghost adventures got kicked to the travel channel, I went with them, you know?

Like the travel channel is where every good TV show goes to die.

And I was just an avid fan, and so I was still with them.

If your show's on the travel channel, you watch an old show, okay?

Sorry about it.

And I was watching, and I was with the boys, and they had me convinced ghosts for real.

I mean, they have like these special instruments and all this stuff, and it was crazy.

And I'm in college, and one day, my life changes forever.

Because one day, I found out that Zach Baggins, main character from Ghost Adventures, called my Nana and offered her to be on the show.

It's a big deal.

I was like, this changes everything.

We've made it.

We are famous.

I gotta figure out a way to get on the show.

Because see, here's what happened.

My nana, God rest her soul, my nana used to work at this famous hospital in Tennessee that's now known for all these like haunted house like stories and like, you know, all these ghosts and whatever.

And so they called and they said, Miss Libba, we know that you used to be a nurse at this hospital, and we would love for you to come and be on the show and be on ghost adventures.

And I was like, this is amazing.

Like, this is the best thing that could have ever happened.

I came home from college for the weekend to experience this, okay?

And come to find out, it's all fake.

Like, it turns out that the entire show is a scam.

All right, like Zach Baggins and the boys, they're just paid actors.

They really are.

They're not like specialists in electromagnetic fields, they don't really know how to like operate this stuff.

They're paid actors, and everything you see or hear is a setup.

People hiding in the shadows, stuff being edited out.

It's all just for TV.

It's completely fake.

It's all a gimmick, and it's just trying to get you to believe in something that isn't really there.

Which is how I think the world feels about the devil, demons, and spiritual warfare.

Maybe that's how you feel about devils, demons, and spiritual warfare.

That is fake.

It's not real.

It's just a gimmick.

It's just something that's made up to get people to believe in a God that's not really there either.

One secular, he wrote this.

I thought this was so interesting as I was preparing for the message.

He said this there are many beliefs about devils and demons, but most of them are just built on legend and hearsay.

There's no such thing as spiritual warfare.

There is no devil, there are no demons, just bad people, and really bad luck.

The problem with that is the Bible paints a completely different picture.

The problem with that is that when the Bible speaks about the devil and demons and spiritual warfare, it paints a very real, compelling, and sometimes, if we're honest, just downright frightening picture that we have to do business with.

Like, for example, Paul writes to the church in Ephesus in Ephesians chapter 6, verse 12, we don't wrestle against flesh and blood.

Ephesians 6:12

Okay, so that means political parties aren't the issue.

Presidents aren't the issue.

You realize that?

We don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against rulers' authority and cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Luke chapter 22, verse 31.

Luke 22:31

Jesus talking to Peter said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat.

1 Peter chapter 5, verse 8, Peter writes to the church, be sober-minded, be watchful.

1 Peter 5:8

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

John 10, 10, Jesus talks to his followers and says, The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy.

See, for the Bible, the picture is this you have a real enemy.

And his name is the devil, or Satan, Hasatan, the accuser.

And he's real, and he's a spiritual being.

And he wants nothing more than to steal from you, kill, and destroy your life.

And he has legions of demons, fallen angels, angels who've rejected God's rule and reign, and they follow now the rule and reign of this Hasatan, this Satan, this accuser, this devil, and they are working to his end and his purposes.

That behind the scenes of this physical life, something supernatural is going on.

And that the battle that we're all really wrestling with and facing at the end of the day isn't physical at all.

It's spiritual.

But while we're being taboo, let me tell you another taboo thing.

Because I think while the world might say that, hey, devils and demons and spiritual warfare is fake, it's a gimmick, it's not really there.

In the church, we swing to the other side sometimes and we say, finish the phrase with me if you know it, the devil's in the details.

So we swing to the far side and say, Well, the devil's not in nothing, he's in everything.

And so you wake up and you have a flat tire, and who's out to get you?

Oh, Satan's out to get me today.

Every red light in Kingwood Drive.

Oh, Satan's really at me.

The train, and it's covering both.

Satan.

The devil.

Still killing destroy.

The wind blows in Houston at all and the power goes out.

The devil.

Not gonna miss that at all.

Yeah, we the devil's in the details.

We see the devil and demons in everything.

And so I think there's this, there's this two extremes, and it's taboo to say, hey, they don't exist at all.

It's taboo to say, hey, man, they're in everything.

And I think over here in the church, we get so obsessed with the enemy and his workings, so obsessed with seeing him everywhere, that we become more knowledgeable about demonology and the occult and how they tie into conspiracy theories than we actually even know about Jesus.

And so there has to be some middle reality.

If the devil is real and demons are real, and if there's spiritual warfare, man, if all that's true and it's not fake, well, what's the difference between a really bad day and then steal, kill, and destroy?

What's the difference between circumstances just going against me and then having a real enemy who wants to destroy my life?

That's a really great question.

And I think there's a better question inside of it that we can ask to help us get the answer, and it would be this What does Jesus say about the devil?

What does Jesus say about spiritual warfare?

And to answer that, we've got to go to John chapter 17.

John 17 · chapter mention

So let's go there together, either in your Bible or on the screen behind me.

John chapter 17, starting in verse 13, while you're going there, let me set the context.

John 17 · chapter mention

Jesus, he's been alive, he's been doing ministry, and now he's about to go to the cross.

He's about to die, he's about to be executed for claiming to be the Son of God.

Jews don't like that.

And Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane, he's with his disciples, a few of them just had the Last Supper, and now he's praying to God.

And a scene that's described is so intense that he's sweating like droplets of blood.

He's stressed, he's anxious, there's stuff going on.

And he's praying to God.

It's like his final conversation with his heavenly father.

And in verse 13, the conversation shifts, and we see Jesus start to pray about us.

He's talking to God about his current followers and his followers in the future.

And this is what he says.

Verse 13, let's read together.

But now, this is Jesus talking to God.

Now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

Verse 15.

I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from who?

The evil one.

Verse 16.

They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world, verse 17, sanctify them in truth.

Your word is truth.

As you sent me into the world, so I've sent them into the world.

Look, it's really important to notice right off the bat here.

Jesus' prayer isn't to get us out of a bad situation.

Like we got to do business with that for a second.

Jesus wasn't like, hey, the world is tough, the devil's in it.

He seeks to steal, kill, and destroy.

I've given them your word, which is truth, and the world doesn't like the truth I've given them, so they're gonna be against them, and the devil's gonna be against them.

And Jesus doesn't say, so God, get them out of there.

He says the opposite.

He says, So I'm sending them.

Just like you sent me, God, I'm sending them into the world.

And as he's praying that, he's asking God to protect the disciples and his followers specifically from who?

The evil one, the devil, Satan, the accuser.

Right?

We see uh the evil one used uh as a description for Satan all the time throughout scripture.

And as he does, as he's praying for protection, look at how Jesus prays to God for protection against the devil in verse 17.

He says, Sanctify them in truth, your word is truth.

Can we be honest for a second?

Can we real human beings?

Like, let's approach the Bible as real people.

Okay, let's just let go of all the other stuff.

What is Jesus doing?

Like this doesn't make sense.

Like if the world is dangerous and there's enemies and the devils in the world, and Jesus is throwing up the Hail Mary prayer for like, God, protect them from the evil one, so sanctify them in truth.

That doesn't make sense.

Like it would be dope if Jesus was like, God, give them Holy Spirit power to shoot fingertip lightning bolts out into their enemies, to rip demons from the souls of the oppressed and purge them in the gates of hell.

You know, like it would be dope if Jesus was like, give them the ability to call fire down and to break every chain and every oppressive spirit of every place they go into.

Give them secret wisdom and revelation, like real Daniel stuff, real book of revelation, you know, like we get none of that.

He's like, protect them, sanctify them in truth.

Jesus doesn't even give us the hedge of protection.

Y'all be praying hedges of protection around everybody, right?

It's like I just pray for some bushes and some thorns around their marriage.

It's like, okay, dude, if y'all are praying for protection, let's lose the thorns and bushes.

And it's like, Jesus, like, God, would you please send an AC 130 gunship with angels to annihilate our demonic enemies?

You know, like, let's get the Calvary with the sword of truth.

You know, it's like, what's Jesus doing?

It feels like there's just something Jesus doesn't understand, or there's something we don't understand.

It might be not that Jesus doesn't know what he's doing, it might be that Jesus understands something that we don't.

It might be that Jesus knows the devil better than we do.

So why is he praying for the disciples to be protected by being sanctified or by being perfect from one degree to the next in truth?

Well, look at John chapter 8.

John 8 · chapter mention

To understand why Jesus would pray that way, we have to understand what Jesus thinks about the devil.

In John chapter 8, verses 44 through 45, Jesus is talking to the Pharisees, the religious leaders of the day, and he's really annoyed with them.

John 8:44–45

They're pressed that Jesus is saying things, it's like he's claiming to be God, and they're like, There's no way you could be God, and we know God, we're sons of Abraham and Jacob, not you, and Jesus is saying some crazy things back to him, like before they were I am, and they're like, hey, that's what God calls himself.

You're not God.

Jesus is really in this argument, and he looks at the Pharisees, these religious leaders, who should be spiritual guides, but he's described like blind men leading other blind men, that he's described like people like a whitewashed grave with bones on the inside, whose throats are an open grave.

He has nothing good to say about them.

He says this.

Verse 44, look at this.

He says, You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires.

He was a murderer from the beginning and 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 lies.

Verse 45, but because I tell the truth, you don't believe me.

So here's Jesus' working framework for who the devil is and how he acts.

And it's first that the devil is a murderer.

What do murderers do?

They kill, thank you.

They take away life.

And if the devil is a murderer, what's his murder weapon?

Lies.

Jesus said, You're of your father the devil.

He was he's a murderer.

And he was a liar from the beginning.

Matter of fact, he's the father of lies.

Jesus, hey, you want to know who created lies?

The devil.

So the devil wants to bring death and destruction through lies.

And he's telling the religious, hey, you're of your father the devil because you're listening to his words and believing lies and living them out, but you don't believe me because I'm saying the truth.

So Jesus looks at the devil and sees a plan that we see is early in Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

Genesis chapter 3, you know the story.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

God creates Adam and Eve.

They're walking in the Garden of Eden, they're in perfect perfection.

God says, You have all these permissions.

There's only one thing.

There's a tree in the middle of the garden that has the knowledge of good and evil on it.

And if you take that tree, if you take of its fruit, you'll surely die.

You don't know how to pick what's right and wrong for yourself.

If you do that, you're gonna choose wrong, you're gonna die.

And Adam and Eve are walking through the garden, they walk by the tree with the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.

And who's on the branches?

The serpent, the Hasitan, Satan, the accuser, the devil, the evil one.

And what does he do?

He lies.

He looks at Eve and says, Did God really say?

And through that lie, what happens to Adam and Eve?

They die.

They die.

See, this has been the plan of Satan from the beginning.

Look at me.

This is spiritual warfare, people.

It looks way more like the deceptive lies and ideas that the devil sneaks into our thought life, that we believe over God's truth than it does your favorite horror movie.

The devil is a murderer.

He wants to take life.

And his preferred weapon is a lie.

In his best-selling book, Live No Lies, a known Bible teacher and former pastor, John Mark Comer, writes this of spiritual warfare.

Our war against the three enemies of the soul 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 and more that we live them.

We let false narratives about reality into our bodies and they wreak havoc in our souls.

I believe that Jesus is painting a picture of spiritual warfare that looks like the devil trying to get you, not through the flat tire and red lights, not through the things that go bump in the night, not through scary.

Spooky stories, but simply lies whispered into your mind.

Thoughts that you can't escape.

Options that you normally wouldn't choose for yourself.

And that those lies, when believed and lived out, bring death and destruction into your life.

That at its core, spiritual warfare is the devil and demons' ability to influence us to choose our desires over God's design.

Proof text, Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

And we make fun of Adam and Eve, but look at me, don't we do this all the time?

When it comes to everything.

Like, for example, God didn't make me my right gender.

I can be what I want.

God isn't the author of my sexual flourishing, and he didn't design sex for marriage so I can have sex with who I want when I want.

God isn't the provider of my life, I don't need to trust him with my money.

God isn't the protector of my life, I can take vengeance against my own enemies.

God doesn't care about me, so I will look for acceptance and love everywhere else.

God can't hear me, so I won't even talk to him in the first place.

This isn't Adam and Eve.

Come on, let me.

This is us.

We do this.

We trade God's truth for a lie.

We live lies.

We believe lies to the point that they reap destruction in our life.

Now listen, there's about a thousand things that I could say about spiritual warfare and demons and the devil and spiritual beings.

And I have 11 minutes and 20 seconds.

So I can't say all those things.

So instead, our staff has put together some resources.

So if you want to, you can scan this QR code up on the screen, and it'll take you um to a landing page with some resources, some books, some videos you can watch for further dialogue on how the devil works.

But I would just simply say this to answer the question: what does Jesus teach about the devil and demons and spiritual warfare?

I think it's this.

Jesus knows Satan better than we do, and he knows that his plan is to get God's people to not just believe a lie, but to live a life of lies that leads to destruction.

Go back to Romans 1.

Read the end of Romans 1.

That's exactly what that's about.

So it actually makes perfect sense why Jesus doesn't pray for supernatural, lightning, Holy Spirit powers, or a hedge or AC 130 gunship of protection.

It makes sense why Jesus would pray for us to be refined and made perfect or sanctified by God's truth as we go into the world and are attacked by Satan and the lies of the enemy and the hostility of the world.

Listen to what Jesus said to his followers in John 8, 31 through 32.

Same same passage when he's getting into the religious leaders.

He says this to the Jews who had believed in him, he said, If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

Look at me.

We make this verse about like, man, if you've lied against somebody and you feel guilty, you tell them the truth and it'll make you feel better.

That's not what Jesus is saying.

Jesus is saying, hey, you're of your father the devil because you live the lies of the enemy and you're trading the life of God for a life of sin and death.

But if you want to prove that you're a son and a daughter of God, if you want to be my follower, you'll listen to my words because my words hold truth, and that truth will lead to life, and truth will set you free.

Set you free from what?

We never can point that out in this verse.

Set you free from what?

What does truth set you free from?

There's only one thing truth sets you free from a lie.

And who's the father of lies?

The devil.

And who uses lies to murder, steal, kill, and destroy the devil?

So the truth will set you free from who?

The devil.

Spiritual warfare is an attack on truth.

Spiritual warfare are the lies that we believe that lead us away from God's design.

Okay?

So we found the middle ground, Pat.

I get that.

There are lies that I've believed.

There are times where I know what's true and I know what's right, and I've decided to do something else, and I've received the effect.

Like I've made the mistakes.

I have the guilt.

I have the mess up.

I have the blow up.

I have the drama.

I have the strife to prove all of that.

So if the devil is real and demons are real, and if they have power and if they can influence me to believe lies in my thought life, and those lies can wreak havoc and death and spiritual death and distance between me and God and my life, if that's spiritual warfare, how do I win?

How do I fight the fight of spiritual warfare?

Great question.

I'm glad you asked.

I think the Bible answers that question very simply.

And I want to show you right here.

James chapter 4, verse 7 says this, 7 and 8.

James 4:7

James, the half-brother of Jesus, he's writing in the church.

He says, Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

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

The next seven minutes and 56 seconds, I want to tell you three things, three verbs that we see in this verse that will help you not just survive and make it through, but will help you thrive in the fight of spiritual warfare.

The first is this the beginning, verse 7.

You want to win the battle of spiritual warfare, you're gonna have to submit.

We love that, don't we?

You gotta submit.

He's been resurrected, he's about to ascend back to heaven, and he looks at his followers in Matthew chapter 28.

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

Say it with me if you know it.

He looks at his disciples, the last thing he says is this all authority on heaven and earth has been given to me.

I love you, so I'm gonna tell it to you true.

Your problem is not that you don't know God's truth.

Your problem is you're not submitted to God's truth.

The scripture would say, Jesus would say, you say that you believe and you do well.

Even the demons believe and they tremble.

His point is it's not enough to believe in God.

It's not even enough to believe in God's truth.

You have to submit to it.

And I know that this is your problem and your fundamental flaw because I've seen you drive.

What's the speed limit on Townsend?

It's 45.

Y'all ain't doing 45 when you leave this place.

But stay with me.

Because that's easy to laugh at, but it's hard to apply because the truth is you know the truth, but you don't submit to it.

It's the same thing with God's word.

I don't care that you've been coming to Sunday school for forever.

I don't care that you used to do Bible drills and you're the fastest to get to the verse.

I care if you're submitting to the verse.

I care if you're putting yourself under the authority that Jesus says, I get to define this.

I get to define identity, I get to define sexuality, I get to define money, I get to define morality, I get to define ethics, and so on and so on and so on.

Pick your taboo topic.

And the world can't understand that, and that's fine.

They don't have to.

It's they're not following Jesus.

But for us, as followers of Jesus, we have to get under the authority of what God says.

No wonder we're believing and living lies because we're submitting to the word of Satan instead of the word of God.

So the question I have for you is write this down and think about this.

Here it is.

Where are you actively submitting to a lie in your life instead of actively submitting to God's truth?

You want to win the battle of spiritual warfare?

You have to submit.

Here's the second thing you have to resist.

Now we're Father's Day.

He's like, get that submit language out of there.

You gotta resist.

A couple weeks ago we had sports camp.

Any sports camp lovers in the room?

Appreciate that.

Took my kids to sports camp.

They were dying to go to sports camp.

All right.

My daughter Phoebe Joe is dumb.

I'm just kidding.

I love her.

She's amazing, okay?

But she she wanted to do soccer.

And she's not dumb because soccer's dumb.

She's dumb because soccer's outside, you know?

It's 95 degrees and oppressive humidity.

And she's like, Are you gonna come watch me play?

No.

I went, I went, I watched her for two minutes, okay?

My son Theo is smart.

Not because he's smart, he's smart because he picked martial arts.

Not because martial arts is the best, but martial arts was inside in the AC.

And so I went to see Theo every single night.

I got to see a lot more martial arts than I did of soccer.

And one of the things they did in martial arts, it was kind of cute.

I don't think it would really work, but it's kind of cute.

They do this whole thing.

If somebody grabs you by the wrist, you break it and you shove them and say, get back.

I'm like, boy, if I grab you by the wrist, you ain't breaking it.

You know, like I'm breaking you.

What's up?

So I have some I have some beef with the theory, but I like the practice, okay?

You got me fighting you?

Because over the last five years of lunches and coffees and breakfasts, you all have been very transparent with me.

You shared with me about your marriages, about your struggles, about your job, about your things going on in your life that nobody else knows.

And so I want to match that energy of what you've given me the last five years, and I want to give you this.

As your pastor or one of your pastors, for one last moment, it is so incredibly frustrating to watch God's people wrestle with God and lay down for Satan.

Hey man, you know God's next step for you is baptism.

I know, but I don't know enough yet.

I need to be better.

I know that's what he wants me to do.

I can't do it right now.

And you know God wants you to trust him with your money because it shows that you trust him and it makes space in your life for him to bless you.

Yeah, I know, but I just I don't know.

I'm gonna really study that and I don't know if that really applies anymore.

It's like, oh okay.

You know God wants you to share your faith with your friend, you're an ambassador of Christ.

God makes his appeal to you.

Yeah, I know but I'm really uncomfortable.

I just don't think I'm gonna do that.

You want me to keep going?

We're so good at wrestling with God, and we're so so good at laying down for the devil.

And here's what I mean by that.

I've never had to talk any of you into sin, and y'all never had to talk me into sin.

Nobody's ever had to convince you to do it.

You just do it.

And you find ways to do it better, and you find ways to do it without getting caught, and you find ways to do it without actually admitting that that's what you're struggling with.

See, here's the thing we have made it in Christianity almost virtuous to be a victim.

Somewhere along the way, we've given all the power to Satan and demons.

But the verse says, if you resist the devil, he will what?

Say it again.

If you resist the devil, he will.

So your problem is that you're not resisting.

That's what my Bible says.

My Bible says that if I resist him, he runs.

My Bible says, if I stand up and fight, he flees.

Okay, well, what does that look like?

Well, Jesus showed us.

He's baptized, he's immersed underwater, immersed in the spirit, and he goes in the desert.

He hadn't eaten for 40 days and 40 nights.

He's hungry.

In his body, he has feelings, he has hunger pangs.

And the devil, Satan himself, not a demon, the devil himself shows up to Jesus.

How does he show up?

Is he trying to be spooky?

Is he trying to do a jump scare?

Does he show up in the middle of the night with red eyes and horns and no?

What does he do?

Look at me.

What does he do?

He shows up and he plays to his desire.

Hey, Jesus.

It's been 40 days since you've had anything to eat, but you know you're you're the Son of God.

If you wanted, you could turn these stones into bread and you could eat.

What's sinful about that?

Look at me, it's not about the sin.

Look at me.

Jesus is painting a picture of what it looks like to fight.

And in a moment, Jesus goes, you know what?

I'm not controlled by my desires.

I control my desires.

And how does he fight Satan?

He doesn't give in to what he feels.

He looks at the devil square in the face and he fights a lie with what?

Truth.

He says, but the scripture says that man doesn't just eat by bread, but also by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

What was Jesus telling him?

Yeah, you think I'm hungry, but actually I'm full.

And the devil's trying to lie to you and say, Man, hey, aren't you hungry for that?

Aren't you hungry for that?

Aren't you hungry for that?

Don't you want to give in to that?

And we're just laying down.

We're just laying down.

There's no fight in us.

There's no stop.

Get back.

There's no no.

That's what I feel, but it's not what I choose.

You want to win spiritual warfare?

You want to resist the devil and watch him flee?

You got to do it like Jesus.

You got to combat a lie with the truth.

2 Corinthians 10, 5 says this.

We're going to close here in a second, but 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 5 says this.

2 Corinthians 10:5

One of my favorite versions says, we capture every thought and make it give up and obey Christ.

So my question to you is this how are you resisting the lies of Satan with the truth of Scripture?

As we close, here's the last thing.

You want to win the battle of spiritual warfare, you gotta submit.

You gotta resist.

But finally, you have to draw.

You have to draw.

James 4.8 says famously, draw near to God, and God will draw near to you.

I love that verse.

I think it's one of the most powerful verses in all of Scripture because it teaches us something about the character of God, and it's this.

He's painting this opposite sides of the coin picture, if you care to see it.

He's saying you resist the devil and he flees.

Resist, flee.

But if you draw near to God, God will draw near to you.

He's saying they're completely different pictures.

If you resist and fight the devil, he will flee.

But if you submit and you draw near to God, he will draw near to you.

Which means a few things.

Number one, look at me, receive it if you can.

You're not waiting on God, God is waiting on you.

And secondly, look at me, young people, especially teenagers, one last time.

You are as close to God as you want to be.

Because you can draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

So you feel beat up, you feel like under attack, you feel like Satan's messing with your life and messing with your mind.

Well, are you drawing near to God?

And Jesus knew this would be incredibly hard for us.

He knows that we're just like Adam and Eve, that we're gonna fall for the lie.

And so he puts on flesh and he comes to this earth as a real human being, and he's filled with the Holy Spirit.

And what does he do?

He never gives in to the lie.

And instead, he always follows God's truth and he's executed for it.

But in his death, God is honored to raise him back to life and say that sacrifice covers the rest of them.

The process was broken, he took a punishment he didn't deserve, and so now Jesus and only Jesus can turn around and offer us life and truth in the midst of a world full of chaos and lies and spiritual warfare.

And Jesus knew it would be difficult, which is why he turns to his disciples in John chapter 14 and says, I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life.

John 14 · chapter mention

And you want to get to God?

You can't get to God unless you come through me.

Because no one else rejected the lie and always followed the truth.

No one else died your death, no one else paid your punishment.

Jesus let himself be murdered.

But he didn't get murdered with the weapon of lie, he got murdered with the weapon of sacrifice, he laid his life down for us so we could live his life, so we could live his truth and find that his way.

John 10 10 leads to life and life abundantly.

You don't have to be a victim, you don't have to be defeated, you don't have to be destroyed.

God didn't design you to be the devil's punching bag, he designed you to submit to Jesus, to be the righteousness in Christ, to be filled with the same power of the Spirit that raised you from the dead, so you can battle, so you can submit to God's truth, so you could resist the devil with that truth, and so you can draw near to God again.

And that's good news, yes.

We're not the victims, church.

The world wants us to think that we're on the fringe, that we're up against the ropes, and then the final knockout blows about to land.

But wake up, and we're just getting going.

Now's the time.

Because we know the truth.

So the only question left is this.

Are you willing to draw near?

You willing to submit to God and accept his truth as truth?

Are you willing to fight the devil with that truth and spend the rest of your life drawing near to Jesus?

That's a really personal question.

And look around you, this is a really impersonal room.

Here's the best way I know to make this impersonal space personal.

Would you just close your eyes?

Not for a gimmick, not for a show, but just let's have a personal moment because with your eyes closed, now this impersonal room is very personal.

It's just my voice in your head, it's just me and you.

And I would ask you this.

Do you know today that you need to draw near to Jesus?

Do you know today that you're done living the lies of the enemy?

Do you know today that you need to find life in life abundantly?

Do you know that you need Jesus?

Maybe some of you, you need to come, you need to draw near and receive Jesus for the first time.

You don't have a relationship with Jesus, and your first step to winning the battle of spiritual warfare is to submit to Jesus and say, Jesus, I need you.

Maybe what it looks like for you to draw near is to resist the devil.

You've been walking openly in sin.

You're a follower of Jesus, but you have hidden sin that no one else knows about, but you're very, very, very, very, very, very active in that sin.

And people may not know, but it is eating you up.

And you've stopped resisting.

Maybe you know you need to draw near by resisting and just confessing and getting that off your chest and getting some help.

Maybe you need to just draw near.

You know, the altar isn't special, it's not a special place.

The walk is special.

The walk from your seat to one of these pastors, the walk from your seat to this stage is special because it's an active representation that you're drawing near to God and that he wants to draw near to you too.

So if any of those things that I just said are you and you know that's you, would you just do something real quick?

Would you be bold?

Would you just look at me?

I want you to raise your hand or even stand up.

Would you just look at me?

Hey, dude.

I love you, man.

I see you.

If that's you, you know what you would just look at me.

Look up at me and stay looking at me.

See you, see you, see you, I see you.

If that's you, here's what I want you to do.

This is as personal as this moment's gonna get with everyone's eyes closed.

Would you just stand up and come grab one of these pastors and ministers on staff and just say, hey, I need to draw near.

Either I need to give my life to Jesus or there's some stuff I need to resist.

If that's you, then you come.

If you need to bring somebody, if you need to bring the person you can't with, just have them on the show and say, Will you come with me?

But if that's you, draw near, don't stay stuck.

Come on, you can come on.

You can do it, dude.

I believe in you.

You can do it.

Let's go.

If that's you, it's like, baby, that's me.

I know there's stuff I need to resist.

I know that I need to come to faith in Jesus.

I need to I need to draw near to Jesus and receive him for the first time.

If that's you, you just come on.

If you're looking at me, you know that's you.

There are people on the sides, it's a short walk.

Maybe you need to just draw near and show God that you're ready to come closer to him than you've been by getting out of your seat and moving to a new place.

And trusting the promise of James 4.8 that God's gonna meet you there and draw near to you in a special way.

I'm gonna pray, and we got people moving.

So I'm gonna pray, and if you need to move, come on and move.

And when I'm done praying, we're gonna stand and sing, and you can still respond, you can still move.

So, Jesus, thank you that you're truth, thank you that you're life, God, thank you that we don't have to live lives of lies that lead to death, but we can find life abundantly in your son, Jesus.

Thank you for doing what only you can do.

It's in your name we pray.

Amen.

Y'all stand and sing.

And if you need to come, come.

Maybe there's some stuff in your body.

I got a fight.

Church, here's the truth for you.

As people are being prayed over and making decisions, the truth is this.

God didn't design you to be the devil's punching bag.

He didn't design you to lose the battle of spiritual warfare.

He came and fought the battle in a way you never could.

And there is life in life abundantly in the way of Jesus.

You don't have to live a lie and reap destruction.

You can live for Jesus and find life that's satisfying and everlasting.

And aren't you glad you came to church this morning?

Can we just praise God for everything He's doing?

Pastor Christmas.