Nurturing Faith and Family: Insights from Ephesians Chapter 6

Welcome to the City Light Church podcast. Thanks for joining us today, as we look into God's word and discover the hope and truth that he has for us.

If you want to connect with City Light Church, feel free to visit us at citylightnyc.com, that's citylightnyc.com.

Pastor Boyan Jansik and his team believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is already working in our hearts and minds.

As you listen to today's teaching, remember that you are deeply loved by God, that you are surrounded by His grace, and that He has a real hope and a future for you.

Well, are you all ready for Ephesians? We've been in the book of Ephesians, and we're now going to conclude with Ephesians chapter 6. What a glorious book, huh?

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

This is a book in the Bible that you can read the whole book in one sitting, or in a couple of days, you read it over and over again.

So much strength, so much power, so much revelation contained in this powerful, short, six chapter book.

We're concluding with Ephesians 6 and verse 1. You can break down the book of Ephesians into three separate sections.

Each one called, sit, walk, stand, we're first over and over again, shown that we are sitting in heavenly places in Christ, the Apostle Paul.

Solidifies and cements our identity in Jesus that we're in Him, we're seated in heavenly places. We were raised up together with Jesus, and we're sitting in this place of rest, in this place of victory.

Hebrews also just compares us seated with Christ with our position of rest. He gave Himself up for our sins once for all, and then He sat down at the majesty on high, at the right hand of the majesty on high.

Why did He sit down? Because the job was done, the work was done. Why do you get to sit down in Jesus? Because the work of your salvation is done.

And people get caught up of when is the Sabbath day, Saturday, Sunday, for the Christian, the New Testament Christian, every day is a Sabbath day.

Every day is a day of rest, where you get to cease from your own religious labor. You get to cease from your own religious striving. You realize there's nothing I can do to contribute an ad to the cross of Christ. This is good news.

Right? I'm glad He worked on it and finished the job, so I don't have to work on it. What do I have to do? He healed, surrender. Be with Him, but I'm not working on my own salvation. I'm consumed with Him and what He has already done. There's no more do-do left for me. Thank God.

So you're sitting in heavenly places in Christ and then because of how we're sitting, having been fully forgiven, fully accepted, fully approved, He then exhorts us to walk, walk worthy of the calling with which we've been called. In other words, because Jesus did all this for you and He has transformed your life and He has bought you with His own blood.

He even took the job of salvation away from you. He did it Himself and made you to sit together with Him. Now because of all that, now you can walk. You can walk His children of the light. Walk in the light and He stresses walking and then as He closes Ephesians, He encourages us over and over again to stand.

Not to claw, not to fight, not to strive, but stand in the victory that was already accomplished on our behalf. Amen.

So He begins after having talked about families and the role of husbands, the role of wives. He begins Ephesians 6 talking about the little kids, children.

He starts off with every parent's favorite verse in the entire Bible. Children, obey your parents and the Lord for this is right. Amen.

What also needs to be addressed, I mean, this is given, there's not much to pull out from this. I mean, it's just factual and we know it to be God's way, God's order.

But there is also a responsibility on parents here to raise their kids up so that they will want to obey and so that they will want to do what is right. Amen.

And I am fascinated by this. I'm fascinated by it because I wasn't raised in a Christian home. And then I got saved as a teenager.

And then when I started hanging around in churches, I was really taken aback. I thought all of the kids, all of the teenagers everybody would be on fire serving the Lord. I know how naive of me.

But that's just what I thought. I thought this great gospel truth has been kept from me. My parents didn't know it. They didn't share it with me.

And all these kids, how privileged they are to be in homes where the parents know the gospel. But I noticed some were serving the Lord with great passion and zeal and others.

There were no different than the world. And then as I made friends, Christian friends, they would share with me what's happening inside Christian schools.

And some of them would joke and say, some of those Christian schools are worse than the secular public schools.

And now as a teenager, I'm fasting. How does this happen? And I want to make sure it doesn't happen to me.

And I've always, when I see parents with godly kids serving the Lord, Pastor James and I have talked about this. His kids are older than mine. I've asked them, tell me some things that you did.

What are some things you and your wife prioritized? Your kids are both serving Jesus. I want to know. But one thing that seems to be clear all across the board is that you as a parent, you have to have a real relationship with Jesus.

Kids are not going to be attracted to rules, regulations and dead religion. Churchianity isn't going to come and rescue them. Churchianity is awful. Churchianity smells.

But Jesus and a living, vibrant relationship with him, that's going to bring life to them. Amen.

So with the parents, it has to start with the basics of a living, true, authentic relationship with the Lord, something that the kids can see.

That's something that's put on. And I say this with love in my heart. One hit of kids church or youth ministry a week is not going to do it. It cannot do it.

They are being, I don't use this word lightly, they're not being taught now, they're being indoctrinated. All of the time, they're being indoctrinated in school, indoctrinated by their friends and they go home, go on their devices, algorithms, a program for them, constantly gunning for their mind, indoctrinating, indoctrinating.

And then we think that one hour in a children's church and then talking to God over our food is going to undo this. It's not. They can't see us just talking to God over our food, the 32nd blessing over dinner I'm talking about.

It has to be something that they see, that they see that when you're a lady or when something good happens that you lift your hands and say hallelujah and give glory to God.

It has to be that when they see you going through something difficult, a crisis that you go to the Lord first. It has to be seen that the Lord and his ways and the kingdom are something that you and your spouse prioritize and not in a forced way but it's what comes up in conversation.

And the little cameras are always recording always like the eye of store on you know.

But we got to protect our kids. Hallelujah. God over and over again throughout the scriptures. He places an emphasis on protecting kids.

And this phrase is often throughout the scriptures. Godly seed. Godly seed. God is after. Godly seed. Godly kids who grow up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Hallelujah.

Father in Jesus name I pray right now for all of our kids that are downstairs. The youth in our church. Father that you would be round about them as a wall of fire.

Father that you would protect them and that you would put a special grace on all the parents that we would be able to disciple and to love and to teach in a fallen world in Jesus name. Amen. Hallelujah.

I honor your father and your mother which is the first commandment with promise and it is the first command with promise it's a blessing attached to the commandment.

But if you honor your father and your mother it will be well with you and your days may be long upon the earth who just wants long days upon the earth if they're junky days upon the earth.

But I want it to be well with me and my days to be long upon the earth and there should be I mean isn't it.

There should be a healthy honor from kids and now you know as we're going through Ephesians and we're seeing God's model for family God's structure God's order which brings life which brings blessing it brings healing.

And then you take a step back at culture and you look you realize why the enemy is after this most crucial and most important thing the family and the structure and the order of the family.

Another translation of that word honor of course it means to respect to reverentially defer to but another just so you know when you see that word honor in the Bible.

Often times it's used as a synonym for material wealth and possessions closely associated with the word glory which the first use of the word glory was Abraham loading up his his donkeys and his beasts of burden with so much wealth and so much treasure that there was a kabode a weighty glory that came upon them.

Why am I saying this well for several reasons so that when you read in the scriptures where the Bible says the Lord will give grace and honor no good thing will he withhold from those that walk up rightly you don't just go oh cool the Lord gives grace and honor what that is a promise of prosperity and a promise of material wealth and provision the Lord will honor you.

When kings would honor one another didn't mean that they just sent banners and confetti who I'm honoring you there was a weight to it amen.

And also on that note when it says children honor your mother and father it's also suggesting material provision it's get so quiet here.

Jesus when he was rebuking the Pharisees he talked about honoring your mother and father and then he said you Pharisees you're now telling the people that instead of the children honoring their mother and father blessing them materially.

That if they give that same gift to the temple it's considered Corbin it's considered as unto the Lord and in other words they're saying you don't even have to take care of your parents which you were going to give them give here to us and it's cool God sees it the same and Jesus rebuked them for that but the connection there is that in in teaching about honoring your mother and father Jesus himself made the association especially in a time where there was no social security there was no safety that's in place there was no but he also was going to take care of him he said it was on the

kids to honor their mother and their father amen and everybody you know what we all have in common right now all of us no matter how diverse this place is we all have parents somewhere amen okay I said that's maybe I could call a little bit of a stronger reaction but

if you're response when I said that was I don't know where I don't want to hear that I'm trusting God for myself I can understand that but why not get to the place of faith where you believe for your own life Lord I am trusting that you're going to make my cup overflow so much that even if my parents don't need it I'll be able to be a blessing to them and get them some of those things that they need to do

they never wanted to get for themselves they just even think they were worthy of those things I want to be a blessing to them in their sunset years amen I want to honor them in that way hallelujah it's in the order of God it is right it is holy it is beautiful and when you so honor then you reap honors reward amen hallelujah

if we're good to our parents we're going to reap that in our kids kisses and hugs and obedience and love that they show towards us hallelujah verse four and you fathers do not provoke your children to wrath but bring them up in the training and

the admonition of the Lord let's look at that same verse in the in the amplified Bible isn't it funny when you call for the amplified and then it's just to be continued

when I got saved I thought all the churches in Brooklyn that their names were like out of the amplified Bible like our name is city like church but in Brooklyn there's always like 18 parts to the name

you know our church of the Savior and his most holy hill of the most high God in Jesus Christ

fathers do not provoke your children to anger do not exasperate them to the point of resentment with demands that are trivial or unreasonable or humiliating or abusive

nor by showing favoritism or indifference to any of them but bring them up bring them up tenderly with loving kindness in the discipline and instruction

in the new King James that we originally just read that we're training is used the nurture or training and admonition of the Lord that we're training is the same word that in other places in the New Testament like in Hebrews it's translated as chastisement

when we hear the word chastisement we think somebody's getting hit somebody's getting severely cruelly disciplined it's not what it means it's child train

to the dead two things recognize that you're one of your primary roles is to be a teacher new dads will ask me what is it what is the Christian role of a dad I'll say three three things one protect provide and teach you are a teacher

every day and as you're teaching with the verses saying is don't crush the child spirit as you're correcting and this ties into verse one about the emphasis and the weighty responsibility and parents to rear kids who want to obey

it's having a real relationship with the Lord giving your kids space to explore their Christianity and teaching and answering questions just last night I'll do this often I'll just ask you do you have any questions about God

and sometimes I'll get no I'm cool all right you're set last night I said hey do you have any questions about God anyone yeah if God is so strong why doesn't he just kill the devil

I thought that's a good question I've had that question myself but you're you're not even nine yet and you're asking this question

and I told him I said well Satan is defeated he was defeated at Jesus's death burial and resurrection that's where he lost his authority over us

in that sense the devil has been defeated but the Bible also speaks of a combination of all events at the end of the age is when the Lord himself will take Satan and his demons and throw them into the lake of fire

how many of you know the devil's not in hell he's not burning in hell he's the prince of the power of the air

and hell consequently was not made for people it was made for the devil Jesus said that it's for the devil and his angels

people end up in hell when they choose to follow after the devil and reject the free gift of salvation that's offered through Jesus Christ

so I told him that but eventually at the close of the age the devil will be thrown into the lake of fire that burns forever

in that sense in your words Victor that's when God will kill the devil so does this make sense to you yes okay

and I want to make sure it makes sense to him or does he think I'm trying to be theologically slick to appease his precocious mind

I said you have any other questions because yeah where's heaven

and I go take two left you make a right now I said that's a great question the Bible oftentimes gives the location of heaven

and the one word it just always uses is above it's above in fact being born again can just as easily be translated as born from above

born from the kingdom born out of heaven but then he immediately followed up with when I said above I was kind of joking with him and having fun

and he said but is it like another universe or another dimension and I'm like I knew watching those Marvel movies would open his mind up

and he was going to start thinking just not any of the new Marvel movies anymore amen it's another message

Charlie protect your kids so I said yeah what do you mean I wanted to hear what was in his heart

but this way we're having a conversation about things that really a new believer of any age would have

and I just started to tell you about heaven you know we know that it is a different place vastly different in this place but very very similar

and some people think it's only spiritual but it's more than only spiritual because we know that Jesus is up in heaven in a physical flesh and bone body

you know the Godhead was forever changed after Jesus' resurrection because Jesus went up during the incarnation he assumed the body of a person

and at his resurrection he went up in a flesh he's not switching bodies he even said in the same way you saw me go up that's the way I'm coming down

a lot of times people don't think about what form is Jesus sent right now it's in a flesh and bone but glorified body

well that changes everything then because we don't know the nature of a glorified body we do see scenes at the resurrection I'm getting away from Ephesians here

but this is a good stuff I'm seeing you see scenes at the resurrection where he just seems to appear out of nowhere inside rooms going through walls

it's different laws and principles that apply to this glorified body

but when I tried to get away from when talking about heaven was this idea that heaven is only spiritual

because when you talk about it is only spiritual people tend to see it as ethereal unable to be grasped

trying to hold a gust of wind so heaven is not that real you know it's misty and cloudy and somewhere in the background I hear the harp and it's not too compelling

it's nothing like that heaven is real heaven is more real than this stuff because the unseen created that which is seen

and so which is having fun talking about this and what's happening we're laying the foundation and we're feeding the fire that's inside his belly

and we're just as far as Emily and I we just have young kids there's other parents here who have older kids than us who've absolutely done a phenomenal job

but that's something that just should be such a priority

those statistics about people who are leaving the church today and they're huge huge Exodus out of the church

when you peek under the hood and you start to examine those statistics what you find is that the overwhelming majority of them are now the adults who grew up in church

but they grew up with a powerless version of Christianity, a dead version of Christianity and something that didn't help them and now in their late 20s, early 30s

they're forsaking the Lord but this is something that's our job, this parents to interrupt and we cannot outsource this

Hallelujah

Verse 5

So the advice and the instruction to family concludes and verse 5, bond servants

Advice to bond servants servants and slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling, insincerity of heart as to Christ

not with eyeservice as men pleasers but as bond servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart

We know that this verse has been used in the past to enforce or even promote the concept of slavery

if you know something about history you may have heard that this is one of several verses that was used to actually tell slaves that it's God's will for them to be slaves and that it should be kept as slaves

A couple of points here, one

God is not for slavery

You cannot believe in a God who came in the form of man to redeem us from slavery and say that this God is in any way shape or form pro slavery

The vast vast vast majority of the instruction and keeping servants is actually for bond servants and the uses that phrase here bond servants or indentured servants

and there is a difference, a bond servant, Paul calls himself a bond servant of the Lord that means a willful servant

Often times it's even to refer to as a willful servant who's indentured in chains of love

They can go at any time but they don't want to

This is something that was a part of everyday life in the ancient world

In a world where there once again were no safety nets

There was no female that was going to come and rescue you

And your village gets ransacked and you lose half your family and you have nowhere to go nothing to do

You just have to close on your body

Your best bet is then to connect with another family and say we're going to work for you

We're going to tell your ground

We're going to tend to your livestock and you will take care of us

And this agreement of indentured servitude is reached

But I want you to see a bigger picture here

And that's that God has since the beginning worked in the context of a fallen world

There are several things that you will see him doing that is not God's will yet you still see him allowing or doing those things

Why? Because he's working within the confines of a world that we messed up

He didn't mess it up, that's not his will, that's not his heart

The Garden of Eden was nice

As my wife is so quick to point out they didn't even have to kill animals in the Garden of Eden

So perfect, I love a good carnivore diet but nothing had to die and God's perfecting them

But then we messed up, we're the ones who rebelled, we're the ones who saw Satan become the God of this world

And now God is moving and rescuing and orchestrating his plan under the canopy of a fallen world

So you'll see, for example in the Old Testament, you'll see God give the children of Israel instructions on how to obliterate an entire opposing army and spare no one

And I understand that's confusing atheists, that Dawkins character and the God delusion, he has actually used this phrase

He has said, the God of the Christians is the genocidal maniac God

And I get that, you look at that and you go, this looks crazy

What is that? That's God working, using and accomplishing his will but in the context of a fallen world

God doesn't want any death but now he's got to preserve the promise of the Messiah that holy seed inside of Israel, inside of the nation of Israel

And there's other nations that want to wipe Israel off the face of the planet or even in a more submersive way come in from the other side and intermarry with Hebrews

Anything to dilute that seed, anything to keep the Messiah from coming

So within the context of that, I mean God would have loved to say we're going to send a delegation and you're going to negotiate with them and it's all going to be fine

And no, there was no negotiating when Satan had possessed an opposing nation to try to destroy the Messiah to come, there was only one solution

Wipe them all out, is that God's heart? No, is that his perfect will? No, but he's working in the context of a fallen world

His servanthood, slavery of any kind, God's will, absolutely not but back then he was saying you're all about this, your whole economy is based on this

So we're going to deal with this but while you're figuring it out, at least be kind and gentle to your servants

Amen

Let me read to you this

The worst thing to happen is slavery by the way was Christianity

The gospel found slavery in the world and in many regions particularly the Roman and the Greek, it was a very bad form of slavery

The gospel began at once to undermine it with its mighty principles of the equality of all souls and the mystery and dignity of manhood

and of equal work of redeeming love brought for all souls by the supreme master

But its plan was not to batter but to undermine

So while the gospel in one respect left slavery alone it doomed it in another

Amen

Verse 9, and you masters do the same things to them, giving up threatening, knowing that your own master also is in heaven

and there is no partiality with him, hallelujah

Let me give you another example that just came to me, I feel like I've either lost some of you or you're just letting the peace of God wash over you and I'm just really happy

This would be like a couple, Emily and I are debt-free, 100% debt-free have been 100% debt-free for years

This would be like a couple, amen, and that's God's will by the way

If the Bible says God, He hates that

In fact, talking about slavery, it says that if you are in debt, you're a slave

And God doesn't want you in debt to anyone else

So let's say now a young couple massive lean that comes to Emily and me and says look we have all this debt

I want you to meet with us, well I'm going to meet with them and I'm going to find all these ways of how I'm going to go full on

Holy Ghost, Dave Ramsey on them, right?

I'm going to bring in faith, I'm going to bring in God's will for prosperity, I'm going to bring in those basics

And I'm going to work with them on that debt, does that mean that I like debt? No, does that mean that God approves of debt? No

No, but we're going to work in the confines of that system that you created for yourself

And over time we're going to get you out, amen

Amen, that's the best I can do right now

Hallelujah

Hallelujah, verse 10, finally my brethren

After everything you've just learned and everything I taught you

Stand, just stand

This is something we as Christians have to be comfortable doing

I know the motivational gurus and the experts and every third person is if you're not moving forward you're moving backward

And you've got to go, I understand all that, that as a place

But also in Christianity there are ebbs, there are seasons

And not always can you be making giant leaps and strides forward, there is a time where you just need to stand, stand your ground

And over and over again here we'll see Paul is using the word stand

It sounds nuanced, it sounds like just a little change here in our thinking

But this is important, he's saying stand because you are victorious

This is so important when you are in a crisis, when you're finding yourself experientially in a pit

It's so easy to get a defeatist mentality

It only takes like a few days of getting hit and by day three I've seen some of the strongest Christians just if they're not encouraging themselves and letting others encouraging within three days

It's overwhelming, you're getting clobbered out there

But you never want to see yourself as the clobbered one clawing their way up trying to get back to the mountaintop

When the reality, God's reality which is the truth in the mind of God

You are victorious, you are the conqueror

The Bible calls you more than a conqueror because Jesus did all the conquering and then gave all the benefits to you

So you're not the defeated trying to get the victory, you're the victorious standing their ground

Amen, you're standing your ground, this is important

That's shift in attitude

I'm not trying to get the victory, I have the victory

And I'm going to stand in the victory that Jesus purchased for me

And all Satan can do is bring doubts, confusion, emotions, trying to get me to what?

Just one thing, stop believing that I'm in that place of victory

So there is this holy stubbornness, this bulldog tenacity, this thick ability that we're supposed to have as Christians

Where we just stubbornly believe what the word says about the situation

I'm not going to change what the word says when I feel pressure from outside situations

I'm going to exert pressure from the word outwardly until my circumstances line up with what the word says and not the other way around

Amen

Finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and notice it doesn't say be strong in and of yourself but be strong in the Lord

And it's really his echoing in 1 Samuel where David, can you believe it?

He had all his mighty men, they loved him but some bad things happened then they picked up stones and wanted to stone him

And he went and the Bible says he strengthened himself in the Lord

And it's saying you be strong but not in and of yourself be strong in the Lord

Not my might, I don't have any of my own but in the power of his might

Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able and there it is again to stand against the wilds of the devil

So he introduces now this concept of the armor of God which we're going to get into in just one second

Let me talk about this thing called wilds

He says put on the whole armor of God and you'll be able to stand against or withstand the wilds which is another word for strategies

The clever craftiness of the devil of which he has multiple strategies

But he's not very creative

He is a created being and so he reuses and recycles and repeats a lot of his strategies and wilds

And there is one strategy that I've labeled strategy number one

His most often used strategy

A classic

And you find it throughout the whole Bible starting in Genesis right in the beginning

He comes to man when they're in the Garden of Eden

Where they didn't have to kill any animals

This is a perfect beautiful place

And they have everything they could possibly want and what does he do?

He puts his finger and points to the one thing they don't have

Oh, but you're not allowed to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil

And he just awakens all that covetousness, all that lust, all that desire and disturbs their peace

By highlighting the thing that they don't have and causing them to forget and ignore all that they've been given

That's strategy number one

That's a classical devil move

And he's been doing that since you see it throughout the whole of scriptures and he's doing that right now

If you're wondering why you may be struggling in the area of joy

Constant frustration ask yourself

Am I not paying enough attention to what he's already given me?

There is as with many truths in the gospel there is attention

On the one side it says be content

Contentiness is such a blessing

In the same way you want to break barriers, don't you?

You should, do you want to move forward?

You want to receive and realize the promises of God?

That's all right, that's all good

But not if it consumes you to where you've lost your peace

Hallelujah

Amen

So put on the whole armor of God

And he tells you why you need the armor of God

For we do not wrestle verse 12

And this is anyone who's ever blown a shofar away the banner in church

You know you love this verse

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood

But against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age

Against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places

Note that he uses that word wrestle very specifically

Because you're at the top in Christ you have the victory

And there's just attention or wrestling

What Satan endeavoring to do

To just get you to stop believing that you're at the top

To get you to stop paying attention to the fact that Jesus has purchased your victory with his blood

And so there's this wrestling

The battle is in the arena of faith

And this verse is so true

And it's so powerful at the same time

It's been used in bizarre ways to get God's people more devil conscious than they are God conscious

And so you can go into here he actually begins to describe levels and hierarchies of demons

And I know there's whole teachings that get deep deep into that

And I explore them early on in my walk with the Lord

And then I just put it down because I saw zero fruit to becoming a pastor who's an expert at demonology also

It's enough for me to know that they've been defeated

And there's some other key things to know

These principalities

They're high ranking spirits

They're up in the air

They reign over entire territories

Usually entire over entire political systems and regions

And that's what a principality is in Daniel

He tells Daniel during his fast that the prince of Persia resisted him when the angel comes to bring

The answer to Daniel's prayer says I would have come sooner but the prince of Persia resisted me

He's not talking about the physical prince of Persia

He's talking about the spiritual prince of Persia, a principality that was also influencing the natural prince

And so there are these things called principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this age

Spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places

What's important for us to know?

A couple of things, one, they don't have any authority over our lives

This is important to know it at the cross Jesus stripped Satan of his authority over us

The words authority and power are often used interchangeably or translated interchangeably in our Bible

Satan still has some power

If you didn't have power, we wouldn't be told to put on the whole armor of God

Over us, over the blood-bought Christian, he doesn't have authority to an unbeliever who's out there alone and exposed

The enemy has authority over them really to do as he sees fit

And that's why he runs a havoc and runs a mess in people's lives

But to the believer who knows who they are in Jesus, who knows their rights in Christ, who believes, who goes around believing the truth

Which is the devil has been defeated and is under their feet, then he's defeated for them

And he doesn't have authority over them

Amen

And so I encourage you to don't get too caught up with trying to become an expert on the demonic

Maybe after you've become an expert on Jesus going that direction

But first get completely consumed with him, his person, his word

And you'll find that other stuff just kind of is taking care of

Amen

I've never seen a Christian obsessed with demons and the demonic walking in victory

Never

They're always a mess, always in pain, always so much drama and movement in their life

I'm not going to be invited back, I can tell

You know some people they have their pet doctrine, you can come against anything but don't come against

I feel so important when I'm tearing down principalities

Don't tell me I can't

You don't know what I did, you're preaching today pastor because last night it was two of them

I shot him out of the sky

That one I took out with a Shukamahai at 80 yards

The other five I shot it away

One thing to know about these giant ranking spirits in the sky, they're real

And guess what?

They have a legal right to be here

You can't go and review principality, you can't cast it down

You can't shout it into submission

You don't want to hear this, they have a legal right to be here

He said when did they get the legal right, back in the Garden of Eden

When man sold out and committed high treason against God

That's when Satan became the God of this world

And so these giant territories, they're not going anywhere until that age

They have a legal right to be here, they don't have a legal right to be in my life

That's illegal

They don't have a legal right to intrude in my church, on my family, that's illegal

But as far as say New York City, they have a legal right

So what do we as Christians do?

Well, their authority, their power is magnified through the people

That they can affect

How do they affect, what do we know from the word of God?

How does a principality rule?

Your Apostle Paul said that strongholds or houses, fortresses made of thoughts

They're undone when you take every thought captive

So the only way these principalities work is when they get a critical mass of people thinking the same thing and believing the same thing

So if we can get, if Satan can get a critical mass of people to all agree and believe the same thing

Picture a giant spirit in the sky with thousands of tentacles

And each person who believes that thing that's erroneous, that's contrary to God's truth, contrary to the word of God, that's a tentacle in a skull

What can set him free?

That principality is the right to be here, especially when people are saying, yeah, I believe this lie

There's another one, there's another one, there's another one that drawings the mob army of darkness

That's why the preaching of the word is holy

That's why the Bible says Paul said, you want to see the power of God?

The gospel is the power of God because when the truth of God's word comes forth

It comes into a mind and it can heal the mind

It can realign the mind with God's word, we are transformed by the renewing of our minds

So imagine a mob of people, they all believe this wicked thing to them, it's as natural as breathing

And this principality has all these tentacles upon every head and you can just control this mob

But then anointed men and women of God come and they present the truth

And these minds start the lies, start getting replaced with the truth of God's word

You know what you would see in the spirit? Those tentacles, psh, psh, psh, one by one

tentacles are being snapped off, people are now getting the mind of Christ

And now this principality can't work through them anymore

Imagine what would happen if, imagine what would happen if a critical mass of people in New York City didn't believe the devil's doctrine

But believe that Jesus Christ came in the flesh

Believe that he died and across for our sins

Believe that he's empowered us through his grace and by the Holy Spirit to live the high life with him

That there is something called the order of God

And that it is blessed to be aligned with the order of God

Imagine what that would do to New York City, hallelujah

Which, by the way, this is why you'll notice

Nowhere in the early church, all of Acts, all of the New Testament

Did you ever see them praying against the demon?

You never saw it, what did they always pray for? Two things, first they prayed for themselves

You look at Acts, they actually prayed

They said, Lord, anoint us that we would speak your word with boldness

And then they prayed for their listeners, hearts and minds

Because they knew if they can transform the heart and the mind with the word of God

That principality would lose its power

Does any of this help? Amen

This also explains why there is such a coordinated attack to sabotage people's thinking

What wasn't considered controversial just 10-15 years ago is now absolutely controversial

Put on the whole armor of God

That you may be able to stand against the walls of the devil for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood

But against all those other things

Therefore take up the whole armor of God

That you may be able to withstand in the evil day

And having done all to stand

So this is the third or fourth time he's using that word stand

And he once again introduces this concept of the armor of God and he goes into the details

Stand therefore having girded your waist with truth

So belt of truth having put on the breastplate of righteousness

Having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace

Above all taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one

Amen

The armor of God

How do you put on the armor of God?

He leaves that part out

I mean there's an insinuation but it's easy to miss

And because it's easy to miss you know what we got a generation ago

A bunch of wacky do books that would lead Christians in this morning, one hour morning routine of putting on the armor of God

A lot of you can't relate to these stories

Consider yourselves blessed

You're like what is he talking about?

But yeah, people are so hungry for freedom

And they're so little biblical literacy but they know they're oppressed, they know they're hurting

And then somebody comes out with a book and say what you're missing is the armor of God

Obviously duh, Paul talks about it, but you left the house naked, you didn't put your armor on

You need to go and there's a book on how to put the armor of God

You take the helmet of salvation and you put it on and you take you kind of just you faith that you act it out

Like a mind

You take the bell to truth and the breastplate of right

You're like iron man in the morning but you're putting on

And people would do this and then later it's like my life is no different

But I got this one hour long routine in the morning

And I didn't put on my sandals that were shot for the preparation

I didn't loose this and then a trip falling out

This is terrible

How do you put on the armor of God?

You put on the armor of God

When you appropriate the truth of what these armor pieces are representing

So when you understand righteousness

When you understand that means right standing with God

And when you understand that Jesus took his right standing, his righteousness

And gave it to you and nothing can ever change that

And you're heaven bound and you have full unadulterated access to God the Father

Because you have been made righteous through the blood of Jesus

When you know that and own that truth, guess what you're wearing 24-7

The breastplate of righteousness

Amen

When you have committed to the Word of God

And you realize that that's your parameter, excuse me, parameter for your life

That's the plum line for your life

And you prize God's truth, guess what you're wearing 24-7

The belt of truth, amen

When you're filled with hope because you believe in salvation

He purchased it with his own blood

You believe that you are saved now and that all things will one day be redeemed and fully saved

It's impossible to get discouraged, you have this divine hope in you

You now have the helmet of salvation on your head, amen

You want to be wearing the armor of God all the time

Absorb the truth concerning righteousness, salvation, evangelism, sharing the gospel

The shield of faith, above all, take the shield of faith

Because there's lots of fiery darts, the enemy would throw fiery darts of confusion, of discouragement

But when you're full of the Word of God and it's producing faith, you'll be hidden

It's not one of those little buckler shields, this is a Roman shield, that would be a full body shield

From your head down to your toes

Hallelujah

Thank you, Jesus

And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God

You can't forget that offensive part of the armor of God, it's the sword of the Spirit

When Satan temps you make sure you answer back with Scripture

Unless you want a prolonged battle

If you want a short one, do what Jesus did in the wilderness and respond with it is written

And that's sort of the Spirit will come and it slices, it dices

It means it gets the job done

Verse 18, praying always with all prayer

What does that mean?

Praying always with all prayer

It means praying with all manner of prayer and supplication in the Spirit

So he's just saying pray with all the different kinds of prayers

There are different kinds of prayers

We often take all prayers to put them under the same umbrella term for prayer

But there isn't, there's the prayer of intercession when you're praying for somebody else

There's the prayer of petition when you're coming to God and asking for something for you

There's the prayer of dedication and consecration where like Jesus in the garden that gives somebody

You're committing your whole life to the Lord and you're saying not my will but yours be done oh God

I give you my life

There's praying in other tongues

There's praise which can fall under the general umbrella of prayer

He's saying all that stuff used at all praying with all manner of prayer, all kinds of prayer

And supplication in the Spirit being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints

Worship team you can come on up

And for me, he says pray for me

And I'll take this time out city light church to also ask you to please pray for me

Pray for my family, pray for Pastor James, Pastor Mo, the other pastors of city light church and their families

If the apostle Paul could solicit prayer, certainly I can

And this is not the first time he asked for prayer but he's always asking for the same thing

He's saying pray for me that I would have utterance

You know what utterance means? Freedom of speech

That I wouldn't be hindered in my talking that I wouldn't be afraid

He said pray for me for utterance for boldness that I would speak as I ought to speak

Pray for us in every way but if you're going to pray one thing for all of us

Pray that we would never back down, we would never be shy, we would never compromise

We would have boldness and freedom of speech utterance

Hallelujah and if a friend asks why does your pastor seem so milder you can say I've been praying for him

We've all been praying for him

He's now been given freedom of speech and it's been something ever since

Verse 16, I know verse 20, thank you, you're so patient back there

For which I'm an ambassador in chains that in it I may speak boldly as I ought to speak

But that you also may know my affairs and how I am doing

Titicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will make all things known to you

whom I have sent to you for this very purpose

That you may know our affairs and that he may comfort your hearts

Who might have sent?

Okay, peace to the brethren

And love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

Grace be with all those who love our Lord, who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity

Amen

Hallelujah

I just want every head bowed, every eye closed

If you're here under the sound of my voice and you're not absolutely certain that you're heaven bound

I want to say a prayer with you and for you

If you're not absolutely certain that God forbid if you were to die today

If you're not certain that your sins are forgiven

And that you would be accepted into heaven I want to pray with you and for you

Jesus died on the cross in your place receiving the punishment that you deserved in himself

So that you could be pronounced not guilty and innocent

And he offers you salvation for free

There's nothing you can do except believe, receive, and accept him as Lord of your life

If you're here and you're not absolutely certain that you're heaven bound

I want to pray a prayer with you and for you

I'm not going to ask you to get up out of your seat but I'm going to ask you to lift up your hand on the count of three

If that's you, one, two, three, just lift up your hand

Thank you, thank you, and keep your hand lifted up

Who else? Thank you, thank you

Anyone else? I see you in the back

Keep the hand lifted

Every head bowed, every eye closed

Who else?

I want you to think of Jesus

Think of him on the cross, think of what he endured

He did it

As your substitute

He did it because he loves you

Now all of those who raise their hands were all going to pray together but I want you especially to be extra loud

I want you to mumble this

Which is said loudly, I want you to hear you

I want the enemy to hear you

The Bible says if you confess with your mouth, you got to say it out loud with your mouth

You confess with your mouth to Lord Jesus

And you believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved

Let's all pray this together, especially those of you with your hands lifted, say this, Lord Jesus

I believe in you

Today, I repent, I turn my back on the world and I turn to you, Lord Jesus

You are my Lord and my Savior

Today, I'm born again, I'm made new

I'm yours and you are mine

In Jesus' name, amen

This is the City Light Church Podcast

If you've missed any part of today's message or if you would like to find out more about Pastor Boyan Jansik in City Light Church

visit us at citylightnyc.com that's citylightnyc.com

Feel free to visit us online or in person anytime we would love to connect with you

We pray that you have been encouraged today

that you have been reminded how much God loves you

and that you are surrounded by grace

Thank you for listening

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