Unseen: Angels All Around - Week 3: War in the Unseen

All right, I'm so excited to get to this message today because if you are joining us for the first time, we've been on a mission for the last two weeks.

This is week number three of a series we're calling Unseen.

And the tagline you see right there on the screen is Angels All Around.

And I'm on this mission because I do believe that there's a revelation that we as Christians today have kind of let slip through our fingers.

When you look in the Old Testament, they were constantly having encounters with angels.

God will send angels to deliver them.

God will send angels to sometimes give them a message.

And even when you go to the New Testament, after Jesus has been raised from the dead, the disciples now have the Holy Spirit within them.

They still had encounters where angels were helping them, assisting them, protecting them, and sometimes delivering them.

On one occasion, Philip has an angel show up and tell him, Go join yourself to that chariot.

He goes and starts talking to this Ethiopian official, gets him saved, gets him baptized, and that man goes back and spreads the gospel into Africa.

On another occasion, Peter is in jail.

They're getting ready to kill him the next day because they've already killed James, one of the other apostles.

And Peter's asleep.

A group of Christians are at Mary's house and they're praying.

And while Peter's in jail, the Bible says, an angel showed up into the jail cell, broke off his chains, told him to get up, put your shoes on, told him to follow me, led him outside the gates of the city, freed him.

Peter went to the house where everybody was praying, knocked on the door, and a young girl named Rhoda came to the door, said, Who is?

He said, It's Peter.

She got so excited, she didn't, she forgot to even open the door.

She turned around and ran back inside and broke up their prayer meeting.

She said, Guys, guys, Peter's outside.

And this is what they said.

That's not Peter, it can't be him.

You're out of your mind.

Now, notice they were praying for Peter but had no expectation Peter would get free.

And then this is what they said.

They said, That's not Peter.

Watch this.

They said, Maybe it's his angel.

I wonder what was it about their life that they had such encounters that they could actually believe it could be Peter's angel at the door faster than they could believe it was Peter himself.

All I'm saying is, I think that we might be missing something.

I think there may be a level of angelic protection, a level of angelic deliverance.

Not that we should be seeking angels, not should we be trying to communicate with angels, not that we should be looking for angels, but I do think we ought to have an expectation that there's more with us than there are on the other side.

Amen.

And so I spent two weeks kind of building the case that this visible world that we see is not all that there is.

That's not the total picture.

When I'm looking at you here and you're looking at me, and you go outside and you see cars and you see clouds in the sky, all the stuff we can see and touch and feel and smell and taste, that's not the whole picture.

There is a literal unseen realm that is just as real as the world we can see.

In fact, I would probably say it's more real than the one we can see.

And I'll give you proof of that.

If you believe the Bible, let's look at what the scripture says again.

Colossians 1.16 says, Christ Himself is the creator.

He's the one who made everything in heaven and earth.

He made the things we can see and the things we what?

Things we cannot or the things we can't see.

2 Corinthians 4.18 says it this way.

Paul said, For we fix our attention not on the things that are seen, but on the things that are what?

Come on, I can't hear you.

The things that are what?

Come on, one more time.

The things that are what?

Unseen, because what can be seen only lasts for a time.

But the stuff that we cannot see lasts for how long?

Last forever.

Not only does Paul tell us that there's an unseen realm, but he tells us we should be paying more attention to and being more focused on the things that are unseen than we do the things that are seen.

Now that doesn't mean that we ought to walk around getting weird and spooky, but it does mean that we ought not spend all of our time focused in on bills.

Come on, say amen, somebody.

Focus in on gas prices.

Come on, say amen, somebody.

We ought to be focused in on the promises God has made because the things in the unseen realm are more real than the things that we experience in the seen realm.

In fact, can I give you one more that's not even in my notes?

Hebrews chapter 11, verse 1 says, For faith is the substance of things that are hoped for, it's the evidence of things that are not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

Even when we believe God by faith, we trust his promises despite what we see in front of us.

What really happens is we pull realities from the unseen realm over here into this natural realm.

I'm trying to tell you, there's a whole another world out there that it affects the world we live in today.

And your life could be a whole lot better, just like mine can if we learn how to recognize God's got more in store than what we can see.

Amen.

Now, among the beings in this unseen realm, we've been talking about this for the last couple weeks, there's a group of beings called angels.

And I told you a few things about angels.

Angels, number one, are real.

They're not fairy tale, they're not fictional.

Hollywood didn't make up the concept of angels.

We also told you that angels are created beings, which means they are not supposed to be worshiped, they're not little many gods.

Third thing we told you is that when our loved ones pass away, human beings don't turn into angels.

And I know sometimes it's comforting to say that so-and-so gained their wings or, you know, they've God reached down and grabbed another angel from the earth.

But the reality is human beings don't turn into angels when we die.

If grandma didn't have any wings when she left here, she doesn't get any wings when she gets to heaven.

Why?

Because the truth is, if a human being turned into an angel when we passed away, that would be a demotion.

Because God has created human beings in a category that's higher than the angels.

That's why Paul said that there's coming a day when we human beings will judge angels.

How do you know if we're gonna judge angels, we're not in a category below angels?

And if I'm in a category ahead of angels, I don't want to die and get a demotion and go down.

When human beings pass away, we continue to be human beings just with a brand new, glorified body in the presence of the Most High God.

Well, here's the most important thing that we we learned about angels in Hebrews chapter 1, verse 14.

Hebrews 1:14

It says, Are they the angels not all ministering spirits?

Told you that phrase ministering spirits means they are serving spirits, which means they don't have their own agenda.

And they are sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation.

So three things we find out they are serving spirits, their assignment is to serve.

They don't just show up and decide I'm gonna do what I want to do.

They have an assignment to serve, they have been sent forth, which means they have their instructions from God, but then they have been sent forth to minister for those of us who inherit salvation.

Anybody glad you inherited your salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ?

Well, now if you've surrendered your heart to Jesus, the Bible says these angels are here to minister for you, not just to you.

There's a difference between to you and for you.

When you go to the doctor, they minister to you.

You tell them what's wrong and they already have a protocol.

They they you don't have to, they don't ask you, would you like me to check your blood pressure?

They don't ask you, do you think it's a good idea if I take your temperature?

Once you tell them what's going on with you, they go through their checklist so they can tell you what's wrong and what they think you need to do.

That's ministering to you.

When you go to a restaurant, however, the server shows up and ministers for you.

Which means they show up and they have a pad, they're waiting on your order, they give you a menu, and they don't just go and randomly start bringing you what they think you need.

They don't just bring you some lobster and some shrimp and a steak and say, here, you need to pay for this.

They stand there and they wait for you to give them some words for them to then go and do what you asked him to do so they can come back and present it to you.

Why?

Because they're there to minister for you.

And the thing I don't think we realize is that we probably have interacted with angels more than we actually realize.

The Bible says this in Hebrews 13, too.

Don't forget to be kind to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without even realizing it.

Look at your neighbor and say, hello, friend.

Say you're sitting in the right section today.

And be sure you're nice to me.

Because I just might be an angel.

I can hear somebody saying, Shakuita, you ain't no angel.

I know you.

But now, what I want you to understand today, when it when it comes to, because I set this up, and if you missed the first two weeks, I'm asking you, go back and watch them, go back and listen to them on our website or in the app or YouTube, because it's going to give you a good foundation that takes you where we are today.

And what I want you to understand today is that there's a war going on in this unseen realm that affects your life every day.

Whether things are good or bad or difficult or disappointing or depressing or victorious and working like you thought, it's not just based on what's happening in this physical realm.

There's an unseen world going on.

And in this unseen world, those angels that are trying to work for you sometimes encounter opposition that affects whether or not things go well in your life.

Listen to this right here.

There's a spiritual battle taking place beyond what you can see, but you are not fighting alone.

That's a good place to shout, Amen.

There's a spiritual battle taking place, but you need to understand you are not fighting alone.

Maybe you've had this thought that life somehow just got difficult out of nowhere, or busy, or disappointing out of nowhere.

Maybe you've been living in a place of hurt, discouragement.

Maybe you've even been sitting in a place of failure.

You thought it was all on me.

I just messed everything up.

But what if there was more working against you than what you could actually see?

What if every difficult spot you found yourself in, every financial hole you found yourself in, what if it wasn't all just based on your good decisions and your bad decisions?

What if there were forces arrayed trying to work against you that made life more difficult than what you've experienced on your own?

But what about the other side of that?

What if there were also heavenly forces working for you that you didn't know were doing battle on your behalf?

Ephesians chapter 6 says it this way, verse 12.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

It says, For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies.

What does that mean?

That means if I can see the person, that's not the real enemy.

I didn't say that they're not the one that cussed you out.

I didn't say they weren't the one that cut you off in traffic.

Come on, I didn't say they weren't the one who lied about you on social media.

I didn't say they weren't the person who undercut you in the boardroom and tried to mess up your presentation.

But if you spend your time fighting the one you can see, come on, if you spend your energy fighting the one you can communicate with, the Bible says we're not truly fighting against flesh and blood enemies.

You know what that means?

That means your mother-in-law is not the enemy.

That's where you're supposed to shout, Amen, because you might be in here today.

You better say amen.

That means that means, watch this, that that your cousin is not the enemy, your neighbor is not the enemy, your coworker is not the enemy.

Come on, your sibling is not the enemy.

If if you can see them, if you can interact with them in the physical realm, the Bible says you can spend all your time fighting with them if you want to, but you will be falling right into the devil's trap.

Because the Bible says we are not ignorant of his devices.

And if I spend my time fighting against some other human being that I can see, or if I spend all my time and all I focus in on is the Democrats and Republicans.

If I spend all my time on social media arguing with somebody about theology, if I spend my time doing battle with other human beings and I don't realize who is underneath it, who's the one behind the curtain pulling the strings?

The Bible says you'll always be fighting the wrong person.

I'm preaching better than you are saying, Amen.

We're not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers.

Somebody say evil rulers.

Come on, say it again, say evil rulers.

Now, once you stick a pen in that, because I'm gonna come back and bring that word back to you in a little bit.

He said, We're fighting against evil rulers, and we're fighting against authorities of the unseen world, and against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

Without realizing, he just gave you four different classes of demon spirits.

And I won't try to go into depth right there with this, but there's some demon spirits that try to come against us on a daily basis as human beings.

There are other demon spirits that try to attack families, bring generational curses.

There are other demon spirits that watch us try to rule over entire cities or states or regions of the country.

There literally could be a demonic force that tries to rule over a city like Jacksonville to try to keep it stuck in old ways of thinking and doing things.

There could be a demonic force that tries to rule over a city like San Francisco or Atlanta or Texas or Mississippi.

And if all we do is pay attention to what we see about those places on the news and we don't in prayer start dealing with the spiritual forces behind it, then we'll always be boxing against the air, never seeing any real results.

Come on, say man, somebody.

So that means that a lot of what happens in life today, there's a spiritual route behind it.

Now, I'm not saying everything that happens, you can blame it on the devil.

Come on, every flat tire is not the devil.

Come on, you don't keep getting attacked by an out-of-gas demon.

No, you keep driving past the gas station thinking, I know I can make it, I can make it, I can make it.

Come on, every evil co-worker is not the seed of Satan.

Amen.

But there is a very real battle that is brewing in the unseen world that affects our lives on a daily basis.

Watch this.

And it could be crippling your life if you don't understand the power that God has made available to you.

Go with me over to the book of Daniel.

Let's look at a story over here that I think does a great job of kind of peeling back the curtain and allowing us to see what happens in this unseen world.

Daniel chapter 10, verse 1.

Daniel 10:1

In the third year that Cyrus was emperor of Persia, a message was revealed to Daniel, who is also called Belteshazzar.

The message was true, but it was extremely hard for him to understand.

It was explained to him in a vision.

Then Daniel starts telling the story from his perspective.

He says, At that time, I, Daniel, I was mourning.

Now he uses the phrase mourning, but doesn't mean that he's like grieving over the loss of a loved one.

He's really, if we were rewriting this, we would say, I, Daniel, was fasting.

And he says, I was fasting and praying for three weeks.

Everybody shout three weeks.

Come on, I need you to shout it.

Shout three weeks.

Now watch this.

He says, I did not eat any rich food and I did not eat any meat.

So he's not on a fast where he just stopped eating all the food.

It isn't such a thing as a full fast where you don't eat any food at all.

You just drink water, you just drink liquids.

I honestly don't recommend you just try to dive into a full fast if you've not done that before.

So Daniel is kind of giving us a pathway here that you don't have to put all the food away.

He goes on what we now refer to as a Daniel fast.

He gets rid of all of his pleasant foods, all the stuff he really enjoys eating.

He pushes it away.

He says, For this time until I get my ash, I'm not gonna eat any meat.

Then he says, I'm not gonna drink any Cabernet Sauvignon or Sauvignon Blanc or Merlot.

He even goes on, he says, I'm not even gonna comb my hair until these three weeks were past.

Somebody said, No, you might you might want to you seek the Lord, but I'm gonna ask you to comb your hair.

Come on.

But I'm trying to get you to see that Daniel said, I'm only gonna do what's necessary till I get my answer.

I'm not gonna eat all the stuff I really like.

Come on.

I'm not gonna drink all the stuff I really enjoy.

I'm not gonna do any of the stuff that's unnecessary for this season.

And what he's really doing is he realizes he's in a season where he really needs an answer from God.

Anybody ever been in a season like that?

Let me ask anybody in a season like that right now where he, come on.

I just need to hear from God.

I need God to step in and fix something for me.

He knew he needed to hear from God, but he also knew enough to know that he needed to shut the rest of the world off for a little bit while to begin a fast with the goal in mind of trying to get in an answer from God.

And I want you to get this.

He ended up fasting for three weeks.

Now he didn't start off saying, I'm gonna do a 21-day fast.

He started off saying, I'm gonna push the plate away, I'm gonna put some of the stuff I really enjoy away, and I'm gonna stay here till I get an answer.

It just happened that it took three weeks for him to get this answer.

He's been fasting, and 21 days have gone by.

Watch this, and it looks like nothing is going on.

You ever been in a season where you were praying, asking God for something, and it looked like heaven was just silent?

Can I say most times when that happens, you know who we tend to get mad at?

We get mad at God.

He's been fasting for three whole weeks, and he sees nothing.

And then one day, out of nowhere, seemingly, an angel shows up.

Notice what this angel says when he shows up.

Daniel chapter 10, verse 11.

Daniel 10:11

The first thing the angel said to me was, Daniel, God loves you.

Come on, Hamila, that's a good way to start it off.

Before he starts giving him any answers, he needs to reassure him.

I know you've been waiting.

I know you've been holding on.

Watch this.

I know you might have gotten a little bit discouraged, but let me show up.

And the first thing I need you to know is that God loves you.

Can I just tell you today, no matter what your discouraging place is right now, come on, no matter what difficulty you have gone through, I need to remind you that God has not forgotten you.

Come on, say amen, somebody.

I need to remind you, God has not forsaken you.

I need to remind you that you are at the top of his list.

I need to remind you that you are still God's favorite child.

And before he tells you anything else, he needs to secure you in this revelation.

God loves you.

I didn't say he loves the whole world.

I'm talking about you today.

He loves you in particular.

With all of your faults, all your failures, all of your inconsistencies, he still loves you.

And don't you let no devil in hell tell you that God is tired of dealing with you, that he's fed up with you, that he don't want to deal with you anymore.

God sent me today to remind you that before he tells you anything else, be reminded your God loves you.

Come on, shout it out.

Say God loves me.

No, say it like to me, say God loves me.

No, do it like this, say he loves me.

Now give him a shout if you believe that today, man.

Praise God.

I'm gonna preach myself happy, man.

The angel says, Daniel, God loves you.

Then he says, stand up and listen carefully to what I'm getting ready to tell you.

I have been sent to you.

When he said this, Daniel said, I stood up and I was trembling.

He said, Daniel, don't be afraid.

God has heard your prayers ever since.

Watch this.

The first day you decided to humble yourself in order to gain understanding, he said, and I showed up in answer to your prayer.

Come on, man.

It's been three weeks.

But the angel said, the very first day you started praying, God heard your prayer.

And I showed up to give you the answer.

I don't know about you.

My next question would have been, well, bro, where you been?

You said heaven heard me day one.

What traffic jam did you get caught up in?

Because if heaven heard me day one, why did it take you three weeks to get here with my answer?

He said, I I'm sent because of your words.

Notice the next thing that he says when we're asking the question, where have you been?

He says, The angel prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me for how long?

Come on, for how long?

Come on, for how long?

So, what he's saying is, God heard you day one.

I took off with the answer day one.

And the only reason it's taking 21 days, three whole weeks, is not because God was playing hide and seek with the answer.

It's because the angel prince over this region of Persia.

That's a demon spirit.

Remember, we talked about four different classes.

That's a demonic spirit that was ruling over that Persian region.

And he says, I was trying to get the answer to you, but he was withholding me, fighting me, doing battle against me for 21 days.

Well, what happened?

How did you get free?

He says, Michael, one of the chief angels or one of the archangels, he showed up to help me because I had been left there all by myself in Persia.

Now I'm here to make you understand what will happen to your people in the future.

Let me read verse 13 to you from the Living Bible.

It clears up even more.

He says, For 21 days, the mighty, evil spirit.

Remember that phrase?

The mighty evil spirit who overrules the kingdom of Persia, he blocked my way.

I think God is trying to give us a sneak peek to what actually goes on in the spirit realm.

When you're praying, it's not that heaven is playing hide and seek.

God's not trying to see how long you can hold out before he finally says, Okay, here it is, I'll give it to you.

He says, From the first day you prayed.

See what We got to understand is if our prayers are in line with God's word, heaven hears us on day one.

That's why the Bible says this.

Look it up for yourself.

1 John chapter 5, verse 14.

1 John 5:14

It says, This is the confidence that we have in him.

If we ask anything according to his will, the Bible is his will.

If we ask it according to his will, the Bible says he hears us.

Now that says to me, if it's not according to his will, he doesn't say no, he don't even hear it.

But if I ask in line with his will, the Bible says he hears it.

Then it says this, and if I know that he has heard whatever I ask, then I know that I have not gonna get it one day.

I know that I have as my present possession whatever it is I have desired of him.

So watch this.

I think God has given us a sneak peek behind the curtain so we can see what happens.

See, Daniel said, I need an answer.

Just like many of you said, you need an answer from God.

Daniel says, I need an answer, and he set his face to pray.

He knows what he's praying for is in line with God's will.

He he prays, and when he says, Amen, the Bible says, heaven heard, we have to assume the moment that heaven heard, heaven dispatched an angel to show up with his answer.

And if all it was was the angel coming, we would have been fine.

But the angel got stopped by a Puerto Rican demon.

And the Puerto Rican demon blocked his way.

And he can't make it because he's being held back by the Puerto Rican demon.

And watch this from Daniel's standpoint, Daniel can't see what's going on in the realm of spirit.

All Daniel knows is it's taking a long time.

Just like some of you are trying to figure out why it seems like it's taking such a long time.

But the good news is Daniel kept on praying.

Come on, somebody.

The good news, Daniel kept on trusting God.

Daniel kept on praising God.

Daniel kept on pressing in.

And something happened because Daniel kept on pressing in.

Heaven sent some reinforcement.

He sent the big country angel to come and help.

The big country angel stepped in and dealt with the little Puerto Rican angel.

And when he dealt with the little Puerto Rican angel, the little tiny black angel can show up to help Dan.

You better give God something.

I wonder if your answer just needs you to press in a little bit more.

I wonder if you need to just stand on your face a little longer.

I wonder if you need to keep on praising even when you don't see the answers.

I'm trying to tell you, there's more going on than what you can see.

Amen.

I said amen.

See, Daniel thought he was waiting to be heard, but in reality had already been heard and the answer had already been dispatched and was in motion.

Can I give you a reason shout right here?

Your answer has already been dispatched.

This is motion.

I just knew you were gonna praise God looping right there.

I said, if your answer is in line with the book, it has already been dispatched.

Your answer is already in motion.

Listen, silence does not mean God didn't hear you.

Sometimes it means you need to keep on warring in prayer.

So now I said, if you're in that little season where you've been waiting, you know you prayed God's will, you're expecting healing to show up, you know you've been giving, you've been honoring God, and you're waiting on the financial resources to show up.

Let me tell you what you need to do during the waiting phase.

Number one, don't stop trusting, believing, and praying.

Now, again, I want to stress you gotta know what you're believing God for is in line with the word of God.

You can't just ask for a new new job because it's gonna pay me$60,000 more dollars.

Sounds good to me.

I think that's God.

You gotta press in enough because you can't find a chapter and verse that says that's your job.

You gotta press in enough until God gives you peace one way or another, whether you should really even pursue that job.

Because I'm gonna tell you, God's not gonna give you a job making sixty thousand dollars more that pulls you away from Him.

He just isn't.

I'm not gonna bless my wife with some great opportunity where I don't get to see her.

That ain't gonna happen.

God's not gonna bless you with a new job and you now can no longer serve him.

Come on.

You you gotta come to church every now and then.

So sometimes we get frustrated because we pray for stuff that's never his will in the beginning.

And we get frustrated because we don't really take time to ask him, is this something I should pursue?

We want it real bad and we ask him to bless it.

Then we get frustrated when it doesn't work out the way we dreamed it in our mind.

See, so there's a level of submission to God that's gotta be first before we ever even get to the place where Daniel was.

But the Bible says this let's not become weary in doing good.

Because at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Can I paraphrase that?

What he's really saying is don't get tired of doing the right thing.

Can we be honest with ourselves every now and then we get tired of doing the right thing?

Don't leave me out here by myself.

I say it every now and then.

Anyone know I'm telling the truth?

Every now and then you get tired of being the one that's always turning the other cheek, always forgiving somebody.

Anyone ever just I I know I have.

Anybody ever just want to kind of take a 15-minute time out from your Christianity?

I don't want to lose my Christianity, I want to lose my salvation.

But every now and I want to just give me 15 minutes, God.

Let me go back and show them how we used to do it on the east side of Detroit.

Because they think I done got salt because I go to church every Sunday.

Like God, would you just give me 15 minutes?

And let me go back to how I used to be when I was in that in front of that wicker chair with all the money.

Come on.

But the Bible says, don't let your hear me out, it's it's a decision.

It's a decision.

Don't allow yourself to get weary and doing the right thing because it's gonna work out in your favor if you don't give up.

Amen.

And see, here's the thing: the next time you find yourself getting weary, getting tired, just remember Daniel.

What if Daniel had given up on day 15?

What if he had gotten a day 21 and said, you know what, this stuff don't work.

See, because you can't see into the realm of the spirit, you don't know how close you are to your miracle.

We were at a university up in North Carolina a month or so ago called High Point University.

Went there to meet with the president and kind of get a tour of the place with a group of other pastors.

And uh, while we were there, they took us to this greenhouse and showed us how they what their students work on.

And we we saw that one of the trees that they had in this greenhouse was a Chinese bamboo tree.

It was literally about a hundred feet into the air.

I mean, it had to curled all over.

And if you know anything about the Chinese bamboo tree, how it grows, when they plant a Chinese bamboo tree for the first four years, you see nothing.

Can you imagine?

You plant something, you're watering it, they tell you just be patient, it's gonna grow.

And it's not two months later, six months later, for four years, you see no results whatsoever coming out of the ground.

But then with the Chinese bamboo tree in year five, not only does it come out of the ground, watch this, it grows 90 feet in six weeks.

So, nothing for four years, but when it comes out of the ground, it goes 90 feet in the air in just six weeks.

Now, somebody would say it was nothing happening for four years, but that's not true.

Because the truth of the matter is, because God knows what it's gonna take to support that tree when it's 90 to 100 feet in the air, he's working for four years on the root system.

Come on, somebody.

He's working on all the stuff underground that is necessary to support and sustain the growth that's gonna take place.

I'm trying to say to you, if it feels like you've been waiting and waiting and waiting, you've been praying for your relationship, you've been praying for this to happen, and it seemed like everybody else is getting blessed and not you.

It just might be that what God has for you is gonna come out of the ground so amazingly, it's gonna go up so high that he's gotta take his time and build the root system the right way so we can support what he's trying to do.

Amen.

I said, Amen.

There's more happening in the unseen realm than what you realize.

There's more that God is doing right now than what you can see.

Second thing you gotta do if you're gonna in this waiting season is resist isolation and embrace community.

Can't afford to be by yourself.

Resist the isolation, embrace community.

1 Peter 5 8 says, Stay alert, watch out for your great enemy, the devil.

He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to do what?

To devour.

You know, if the Bible says he's looking for somebody to devour, that means everybody's not devourable.

It means he pulls up on some people, like, you know what, I need to leave them alone, move on.

He pulls up to other people, like, and I I tend to believe one of the things he's looking for to tell who's devourable or not is what kind of words are coming out of your mouth.

Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

If you're talking death and defeat and it's not gonna work out, and and everything is a problem and everybody's against me, then you sound very devourable in the unseen realm.

But also think he looks for people who have gotten pulled away from the pack, who gotten so frustrated that you now stop returning phone calls.

People that are texting you, trying to check up on you, you don't respond back to them anymore because the enemy has convinced you that you just need to get in your own feelings.

And one of the things we need to understand is one of the first primary tactics of a predator is isolation.

Notice that the Bible, out of all the animals, the Bible could have said, it says the devil roams around like a lion.

He is not a lion.

There's only one lion, the lion of the tribe of Judah.

But he roams around like a fake lion and he's looking for somebody to devour.

If you study the habits of a lion, when lions attack when they're out on the hunt, they typically don't jump into the middle of a herd when they're attacking.

They may run toward the herd, but then what they look for is this they look for that one lamb or that one animal that darts out by themselves.

Or they look for that one that's at the watering hole, and everybody else on left, they like, I'm gonna drink my own water.

And they just but he's looking for the one that has gotten out here by himself.

The question today is do you have a troop with you?

See, here's the other verse right here.

Ecclesiastes 4 says, Two people are better off than one.

Why?

They can help each other succeed.

If one person falls, the other one can reach out and help, but somebody who falls alone is in real trouble.

Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm.

But how can one be warm alone?

Now, this is not a verse you single people should grab hold of as your justification.

You in Florida, you don't need nobody to keep you warm.

A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back to back and conquer.

And three are even better, for a triple braided cord is not easily broken.

What am I saying?

I'm saying whether you think that you're a loner or not, God is the one who said it's not good for man to be alone.

That's God's way of saying, come on, listen to me, all of us need community.

The times I know that I find myself in trouble is when I find myself pulling away, pushing back from community.

And every one of us needs to make sure that you don't let yourself get so caught in your head, your thinking, your emotions that you push the very people away that God put in your life to help build you back up.

That's why, come on, that's why all of us need community.

You need small groups, man.

As your pastor, I know it sounds like we're beating a drum, but we need community.

If you have not gotten plugged into a small group, stop out here at the hub.

Even though we're a couple weeks into the set the semester already, you can still get plugged in because you need to be connected with other people.

Because watch this, none of us are having a bad day at the same time.

When you're having your tough day, there's always gonna be somebody else there that the Lord can use to help pick you back up.

Here's the third thing we gotta have.

We gotta learn how to count it joy until God makes it joy.

Learn how to count it joy until God makes it joy.

Listen to this.

Disappointment is the thief of joy, but gratitude is the fuel for joy.

So you gotta understand what the enemy's always trying to do.

He's always trying to bring disappointment.

He's always trying to bring bad news.

He's always trying to tell you what they said about you.

He's always wants you to focus in on who walked away from you.

He, whatever the negative thing is, he wants to get your attention on that.

Because if he can get your heart focused on disappointment, discouragement, what's not going right in our marriage, then it's gonna snatch your joy.

And if the joy of the Lord is your strength, then if he can take your joy, he's taking your strength.

And if he's got your strength, he got a better chance of defeating you.

Proverbs 13, 12 says, unrelenting disappointment will leave you heartsick.

That's sad and depressed.

But a sudden good break can turn your whole life around.

I don't know if you've noticed it, man.

We look around, but we're living in a season of unimaginable hopelessness, man.

You got folks quitting and giving up on life, giving up on family, giving up on marriage, giving up on their kids at an alarming rate.

And even those that haven't given up, you have people that are holding on, but they're just holding on by a thread and they're just trying to hold on until things finally get better.

Then I'll be able to live my life when it finally gets better.

Can I tell you there's something better than waiting for stuff to get good before you get joy filled?

James 1:2 tells us what it is.

James 1:2

It says, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials.

What does that mean?

If I said if I gotta count it joy, that means it's not really joy.

Right?

I mean, Rachel, if I if I just told Pastor April, can you grab our checkbook right now?

We just wrote you a check for$5,000 to help promote your new book.

She had a new book out, man.

And if I just wrote a check for$5,000, so we want to help you with that new book.

Yeah, would you probably shout hallelujah a little bit?

Yeah.

Well, I said you wouldn't even have to work that up.

Why?

You don't have to count that joy because it is joy.

But if I said, Rachel, you know, I'm sorry to be the one to bring this news, but your publisher just reached out to us and they said there's a bill you didn't get to pay, and and before you can start selling your books, you need to pay them another$7,000.

How many know that wouldn't be joy?

In fact, that'd be very sad.

Watch this, the reason why you have to count a joy, treat it like it's joy, is because it's not really joy.

Lord told me this years ago.

He said, Son, if you learn how to count a joy, I'll turn around and make it joy.

Years ago, April and I had gone, we were taking a little vacation.

We had gone out to the west coast of Florida and Destin, the destinary, had just checked into our hotel.

And we were going out to get us something to eat.

A little, I think it was Quiznos or Subway, just a little restaurant like that.

And as we're getting ready to walk into the restaurant, her phone rings.

I don't remember who it was, but whoever was on the other end, they gave her some bad news.

And she's trying to encourage them and trying to build them up.

But I could tell her whole countenance has changed.

She finally gets off the front phone and she tells me what's going on.

And I'm like, well, babe, you know, the Bible says we got to counter joy because her, I mean, she's now sad.

It's about to be a long vacation with her mind wrapped around whatever it is.

So I'm trying to build her.

I'm like, babe, come on, we got, you know, the body, the Bible says I'm sound like Mr.

Spiritual.

Come on, the Bible says we got a counterjoy.

And then she goes into, you know, uh spiritual mode.

She says, Yeah, yeah, I know, praise the Lord.

I was like, babe, come on now, the Bible says we got to counter joy.

She's like, I know, I know.

She's getting frustrated with me, really.

I know, I know, praise God, praise God, I know all that, but praise God.

Now we just walked inside the restaurant.

I said, No, we got to counter joy, babe.

I said, you know what?

We got to counter joy.

And I literally, it's true story.

I took off full speed.

Now I start running in the restaurant.

And I run around, and people are sitting here eating their food, and I'm like, I'm running around like this.

Praise God, hallelujah! Glory to God, run past the cash.

Hallelujah! Glory to God, glory to God, hallelujah.

I get back to her, her mouth is open.

You can tell she wants to go, you fool.

I said, Babe, we gotta praise God.

She said, I know, I know.

Holly.

I said, No, that's not good enough.

And I took off again.

And I ran a second lap, praise God, hallelujah, glory to God, glory, and I get back to her, and now she is stunned.

She's like, You better stop the running this.

I said, Babe, we gotta count it, Joy.

Then she kind of lifts her hand, hallelujah.

I said, No, that's got niggas.

And I took off again.

And I ran a third lap.

I'm flying full speed ahead.

Praise God.

By the time I came back around, she was doing this.

Glory, hallelujah! I think she was just trying to keep me from running another lap in that restaurant.

What am I saying?

You gotta get to the place, come on, somebody, where you stop letting the devil push you around and bully you and tell you when you're gonna have a good day.

Come on, if you learn how to counter joy, God knows how to make it joy.

And I think some of you ought to give a little joy shout right now.

You ought to praise God like it's done right now.

You ought to shout like it is settled right now.

Praise God.

See, listen to this.

Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass, it's about learning how to dance in the rain.

Anybody gotta dance even when the storm is happening in your life?

Come on, give the Lord a little dance, a little shout, a little praise.

Praise God.

Here's the last one right here.

You gotta learn how to praise God in the hallway while you're waiting for Him to open the door.

Some of you are that wait and see generation.

As soon as I see it, I'm gonna praise God.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

Before the door opens, praise God in the hallway.

See, when you're in a season of waiting, don't forget all of your training.

Sunday mornings are not for inspiration, it's to train you how to fight.

When you find yourself in a battle, don't forget your training.

Don't let yourself become so emotional that you abandon your spiritual disciplines.

One of the first things we're tempted to abandon when we find ourselves in these waiting seasons are our words.

The enemy wants to get you to change your words.

He wants you to say, This stuff not working.

God never comes through for me.

I can't seem to get a break.

Learn how to keep your words on assignment.

Proverbs 18, 21 says, Death and life are in the power, the direction of the tongue.

James chapter 1 teaches this.

James 1 · chapter mention

Chapter 4, he says that your tongue, he compares it to two things.

He compares the tongue to the bit that we put in a horse's mouth to turn his body, and the rudder on the bottom of a ship.

What he says is that bit compared to the size of the horse is real small.

That rudder compared to that massive ship is real small.

But that bit and that rudder turn that entire organism.

Which direction?

He's saying your tongue is turning your life.

You don't realize it.

That negativity you inherited from your mama that's always complaining, always fault-finding.

Always talking about pessimistic what's wrong.

Got a thousand things going right.

All you can talk about is the two things that aren't working just right.

You got a spouse that has totally done a 180.

It's a totally different man or totally different woman.

And all you can see is a little bit that they still need to fix.

Our words, man.

The angel that showed up to Daniel says, From the first day you started praying, heaven heard you.

If you look it up in the King James Version, he says, I have come for your words.

I wonder what words your angel is hearing.

I wonder is there anything your angel can show up to fulfill that's been coming out of your mouth?

Here's the second thing that we're tempted to abandon in the time of our waiting.

It's our praise.

Last thing you feel like doing after you got a bad doctor's report is praising God.

Last thing you feel like doing after the love of your life just walked away from you is praising God.

But the very thing we need the most in our painful seasons is we need to learn how to paralyze the devil with our praise.

Psalm 8 says, You have taught children and babies to sing praises to you because of your enemies, and so you silence.

The King James Version says you steal or paralyze your enemies and you destroy those who try to get even.

See, praise is a powerful weapon and it paralyzes the enemy in his tracks, which is even if you gotta do it with tears in your eyes.

If you gotta do it and you sad as all get out, just still praise God because He's good all the time, man.

He loves you all the time.

And no matter what your circumstances have been, I'm not nobody nobody's here to throw stones at you.

If you're one of those that has been away, you just came back today.

We're so glad to see you, man.

And yeah, come on, give him a give him a clapping.

God wants you to walk out of here with a message that no matter how far you've drifted, he's not turned his back on you, he's not forsaken you.

I like to say this way God is greater than the best GPS.

System you've ever seen.

Because have you ever noticed when you're in your car and you plug in your destination on your Waze or whatever your GPS navigation system is?

Once you put in your destination, that thing will keep rerouting your route.

No matter how many wrong turns you make.

Aren't you glad that you don't make like five wrong turns and your system says, you big dummy, I told you don't go that way.

No, literally, 12 hours later, rerouting, recalculating your route.

Can I just tell you that God, for many of you today, He got you here so He can recalculate your route?

He's still trying to get you to where He ultimately said to go.

Life doesn't have to be this hard.

But if you're gonna keep going your own route, He's not gonna give up on you.

You'll hear that little voice in the back of your head saying, Let's get back to where we're supposed to be.

Come on, let's let's turn around.

That's not the right direction.

And if you'll get back on the route, God will still get you where He ultimately planned for you to go.

Give God a shout and a praise in this place.

Woo! Man.

Alright, look at me.

I'm gonna ask you to don't step out just yet because we're not done.

Even after I finish this altar call, just wait till the benediction, if you would.

Unless you got an emergency.

Other than that, would you just hang tight?

Because there's some people in here right now and you don't know Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

I didn't say you're a bad person.

You can honestly be one of the nicest people in this room because salvation is not based on how good or bad we've been.

It's based on whether or not we've ever had a moment where we surrendered our lives to Jesus Christ and given him permission to be Lord over our lives.

And if you've never had that moment, can I tell you that you're not waiting on God?

He's actually waiting on you.

Maybe he's been waiting for you to finally hear the good news the right way, that God's not mad at you, he's madly in love with you.

And can I tell you what he's asking of you?

He's not asking you to write out a list of all the stuff you promised to stop doing.

He's asking you to do one thing: make a commitment to stop trying to run your life on your own terms and surrender your entire life over to Jesus Christ.

If you do so, he'll make you brand new on the inside.

Then he'll plop you down in a good church like this one, where he can then teach you every week how to make whatever changes he makes you want you to make on the outside.

But it starts with a surrender.

So if you're here today and you're ready to surrender to him for the first time, or maybe you're ready to come back and surrender your life to him again because you got away from him.

God loves you and today is your day.

I want to ask you, would you let me pray for you right now?

I'm not gonna embarrass you, I'm not gonna ask you to stand up and come to the front.

What I'm gonna ask you to do in a moment, I'm gonna ask everybody to bow their heads.

When we do, there's a little card in the C pocket that just says say yes to Jesus.

If you're ready to say yes to him, when we bow our heads, would you just grab that card, hang on to it?

Because I'm gonna count to three.

When I get to three, I want you to lift that card as high as you can in the air.

That's your way to let me know.

Please include me, Pastor.

I want you to pray for me as well.

And when you do that, heaven's gonna write it down on record that you're ready to surrender your life to Jesus.

So go ahead and bow your heads all over the room.

Close your eyes, if you would.

In the main auditorium in the overflow room, and if you're online, they'll put a little poll on the screen right there as your way to indicate your decision.

I'm gonna count to three in a moment, but I'm gonna ask you right now to reach out and grab that card if you're ready to say yes to Jesus.

And as soon as I get to three, shoot that card up as high as you can.

Don't wait because the devil's gonna try everything he can to talk you out of it.

The moment I get to three, lift that card up as high as you can.

Here we go.

One, two, three.

Lift it up, lift it up, lift it up, lift it up, all over the room.

I love it.

Beautiful.

Hands are going up, cards are going up, lives are being changed.

Beautiful, beautiful.

Mark this day down.

This is the day you turned it all over to Jesus, and he's getting ready to make things brand new.

Every one of you that lifted that card in the air, just whisper this prayer to your seat.

Say, Dear God in heaven, thank you for Jesus.

Thank you for sending him to die in my place.

But thank you for raising him from the dead.

I believe with all of my heart that he's alive right now.

So, Jesus, come into my heart, save me, forgive me, make me brand new.

I surrender my life to you for the rest of my days.

And according to the Bible, I am right now born again.

Amen.

Come on, impact, put your hands together.

Did you just make a decision for Jesus?

Welcome to the family.

We're so excited.

Trust me, we're clapping for you, and we believe that you've made an important decision today.

We'd like to help you on your journey.

So if you'll follow the directions that are on screen, there is a free book you can download.

It's going to take you five to ten minutes of your day for the next seven days.

But our pastors have put together some amazing resources that we believe will help you on the journey ahead.

If you don't want it, nobody's going to email you, text you, bother you, anything like that.

We just want to make sure you are successful in your walk with Jesus.

Now, let me tell you, one of the things you should consider is baptism.

And if you're in the Jacksonville area, we do baptism after our first weekend service every month.

And you can just scan the QR code that's on the screen.

Sign up for that.

I'd love to be a part of that journey with you, or any of our ministers would.

If you don't live in town, we do believe you should find a Bible teaching church and at least go get baptized, even if you're still going to watch our service.

But download that book, it's free.

We're excited for your journey ahead, and we can't wait to be a part of that.

Now, this is a part of the service where we also demonstrate our generosity.

If you're just checking us out today, you don't feel any pressure to give.

But for those of you, this is your church, you know that we are generous is one of our core values.

And so you can give online or you can give through our app, which I really like.

You have the Apple Pay option right on our app.

Just go to your Google store or your Apple store, download the We Are Impact app.

It's also a great way to study notes that um come from the sermons that you watch on here.

And there's a lot of events on there as well.

But you can give through that app.

It's super easy, and we're just grateful that you partner with us week after week.

Well, we're so excited you joined us today.

Hope you have an amazing weekend, and we'll see you next time.