Imposter Syndrome – Playgrounds & Battlegrounds

This podcast is presented to you by Pastor Jason and Liz Burns in Access Church in Lakeland and Bartow, Florida.

For more information, visit Access.tv.

Well, I'm glad you came to church today.

We are in part six of a seven-part series.

Every summer we pick a book of the Bible and we go all in on it.

This summer we've been in the book of Ephesians.

The series is a really practical, helpful series on what is called the crown jewel of the New Testament.

Some people call it the Grand Canyon of the New Testament because in it we discover how deep and how great and how wide God's love is for us.

The series is called Imposter Syndrome.

We're learning to be who God says we actually are.

And today we've made our way all the way to chapter six.

And um, chapter six, I want to kind of get out ahead of something and just help you.

If you've been reading along with us, and I've asked you every week, let's read one chapter a day of the book of Ephesians.

Chapter six starts in a beautiful way, and if I'm just honest, it starts in kind of a strange way.

And if you don't understand it, it'd be really easy to want to stiff arm the Bible because of what you read.

Chapter six starts with honor, how children are to honor their mother and father, and that's a really big deal.

But then he uses a word that as Americans, it's hard for us.

He says, slaves, honor, obey your masters.

And we read that as Americans, and we're like, hold up, like that's over.

We we ended that.

And I want you to understand that the word that's used in Greek is not the word slave, as we would think of in like the dark times of American history.

The Greek word is the word duolos, which is literally um a better translation might be the term bondservant.

And that's not a word that we use in our normal language, but a bondservant is someone who willingly works for someone else.

It could be in order to pay off a debt or in some way to serve them, but it's to like submit yourself so much that you'd be seen like a slave.

Like whatever they want, I'm willing to do.

Nowhere in the Bible does it endorse slavery.

I want you to hear this.

And so it's important that what Paul's trying to say at the beginning of the chapter is what we are to do is we are to honor every single person, our parents, our family, those in authority over us.

We are to just be people of honor because we believe that as Christians, honor is the currency in the kingdom of God.

It's a big deal to us.

And then the middle of chapter six, he gets into a topic that is honestly, it's a tough one.

So we're gonna go all in on it today.

And if you're new to our church, I need you to know it's gonna be a little different.

Here's how today's message is gonna go it's gonna get weird, then it's gonna get theological, then it'll get practical.

Okay, are you with me?

So it's gonna get weird.

So if you're like, man, this church is weird, I know it's not normally like this.

And then Bible, and then practical, okay?

Are you with me?

Um, a long time ago, I had this beautiful opportunity.

I was about 16 years old, had this opportunity to travel with my parents to the nation of Fiji.

Here's a picture of me and my dad, and then some amazing meet people that we were with.

This man is brother Sulia Si Karulo.

I loved this man.

And for several days, we traveled all over the country preaching at schools and at camps and then at churches.

And there was this day that I had one of the uh one of the strangest encounters of my life.

Now, if you've been coming to our church for a while, hopefully you know this.

I'm not weird, I don't like, I'm not the most overtly spiritual person you'll ever meet, but I had a moment that all these years later I can think back to, and it still kind of makes my blood run cold.

We were at a church in a village somewhere in a remote part of Fiji, and as the service was going on, and the service was a service for kids and for families, it had puppets and magic tricks and kids' stuff, and all of a sudden a man comes in and causes a commotion, and it's a man who had a peg at 25 or 30 years old.

He was of an average Fijian build, kind of strong, but kind of lean.

And he comes in and he's spewing this language that's full of cursing, and it's in English and in Fijian, and it's kind of hard to understand.

And he's moving in a way that I don't think the greatest breakdancer in America could move like this man.

It was like something was controlling him.

And he made his way to the front of the room and he's spewing this stuff, and he looks aggressive.

So several men literally try to hold him back.

They end up pinning him to the ground.

It takes five or six strong Fijian men who are holding him down with all their strength, and it's like he's stronger than them, and he begins to move his body in a way that I would call slithering.

Not the worm, like not like literally, like he's physically moving like a snake.

He's like foaming at the mouth.

And I'll be honest with you, I'm like a 15 or 16-year-old punk kid.

I'm in the back hiding behind two large Fijian women.

I'm like, I don't need any of this in my life.

And they they begin to pray.

My dad and Fijian leaders begin to pray over this man.

And I'm telling you, there is no way that a person could come in and fake this.

Something spiritual, something like demonic was happening in this man.

And they pray for him, and he lets out this groan, and all of a sudden, as they take spiritual authority over what's happening in this man, this demonic oppression leaves, and it's like he stands up a completely different person.

On the ground, he's possessed by demons and he's stronger than the six men, slithering like a snake and foaming at the mouth.

And after this demonic oppression is over, he's like, What do you guys want for lunch?

Like he's just totally normal all of a sudden again.

And I don't I don't know what to do with that story.

Like, we don't see that happen in our normal nine to five work environment, but I saw it and I experienced it, and I know that it's real.

And what I know from that story, and what I know from stories I've heard from you and from other things I've experienced is that we are living in a world where what we see is not all that's happening, that there is a whole nother reality happening around us.

And today, here's what I came to say to somebody.

As a Christian, you either live in a playground or a battleground.

And a lot of Christians want to settle for the playground where it's all slides and swings and happy and laughing.

The problem is, according to scripture, there is a battle, a spiritual battle, happening all around us.

And I think the most dangerous thing imaginable would be to be living as if you're living on a playground in an area that's a warfare zone.

There was a study done a few years ago of these people who would go to their doctors and say, Doc, look, I'm not sleeping.

It's been days or it's been weeks, and I haven't been sleeping at all.

And what's so funny is you know, physiologically, you can't go more than like a day or two without sleep before your body shuts down.

And so the doctors ran these tests on these people who said they weren't sleeping, and they found that they were sleeping, but they were kind of living in this weird state between actually being asleep and actually dreaming.

And what they discovered is they were dreaming of being awake.

Even though they were physically asleep, they were having these dreams of tossing and turning, so they felt like they were never sleeping.

And I thought that is a beautiful picture of what the church is.

Now they've come up with this term for it.

The term is hypogognia.

Hypogognia is that weird you're actually asleep, but you feel like you're not.

And I think this is a picture of the church in America.

A lot of Christians deal with the spiritual version of hypogognia.

Well, what I mean by that is we we think we're doing something.

Truth is we're just sleeping.

Truth is we've settled for the playground.

And Paul's gonna come out and straight up address this.

This is a topic that in church we we would call this, we'd call it spiritual warfare.

It's one of the topics that every Easter, when I do an Easter survey and I say, What do you want to hear a message on?

This is always one of the top ones.

And if you grew up in church, chances are you grew up in one of two extremes when it comes to spiritual warfare.

Some churches want nothing to do with it, they never talk about it as if it doesn't exist.

And some churches act like it's all that exists.

It's like the only thing that every time you leave the doors of this church, the devil's out to get you with his bazooka and he's out to take you out.

And it's like, okay, chill a little bit.

Like, greater is he who's in me than he who's in the world, right?

Like, so you don't have to live in fear, but somewhere in the middle of like apathy, like it doesn't exist, and like that's all that's happening, is this beautiful truth that there is a war happening all around you.

Today, I want to take you to Paul's words and I want to show you all throughout scripture as we wrap up Ephesians chapter six, what's actually happening.

Ephesians chapter six, verse 10.

He says, Finally, like we're landing the plane on this book to the city of Ephesus.

I want you to be strong in the Lord.

Like he's not strong in your own strength, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power, not yours.

Then he uses this two-word phrase and he's gonna say it a couple times, put on.

Like, like make the decision that there's something you can do, there's an act you can take to put something on.

The book of Isaiah says put on a garment of praise for a spirit of heaviness, that when you feel heavy, what you're to do is to put praise on you.

It's the same idea that you can make a physical decision to do something that's gonna change your circumstances.

Put on the full armor of God.

Remember, Paul's writing from prison.

He's probably chained to a Roman guard, so he's writing the spiritual thought, and he's looking at a man dressed in this armor.

And you put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.

Now that verse is kind of weird to me.

Because you need to know that there is a real devil who is scheming against you.

One of the famous verses that Christians like to quote is No weapon formed against me shall prosper, right?

And that's that's a beautiful verse.

We put it on t-shirts and bumper stickers.

I read that verse and I think, hold up, there's weapons formed against me.

Like the devil is scheming against us.

And he goes on and he says, For our struggle is not against flesh and blood.

So the things you're feeling are not against people around you, but against thee.

And he's gonna use some governmental type language.

Rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Pause here for just a moment.

Uh the Bible talks about heaven and uses the word heaven or heavens three different ways.

The first is like the heavens, the sun, the moon, the stars, the sky, the heavens.

The second is this, and the third is heaven where God is and where we'll spend eternity with God after this life.

But the second time they use, or second way they use the word heavenly, is talking about a supernatural reality that's happening all around us.

That there are demonic forces, there are things happening around us.

And the truth is you've probably got stories of things that you can't explain, but you've experienced it, and you're not normal, and you're totally, I mean, you're not weird, probably not normal too.

You're not, nobody knows what you are, you're trying to figure it out, but you think you're normal, but you've experienced stuff that you can't begin to explain.

So then Paul says, Therefore, like what's it therefore?

It's there because of what's happening in the heavenly realms around us.

Put on, there's that phrase, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand.

I want you to pay attention to this word because four times Paul's gonna tell you what to do when you're facing attack of the enemy.

You may be able to stand your ground.

And after you've done everything to stand, number three, stand firm then.

And then he's gonna give us six things that he wants us to figuratively put on, pieces of armor, and I want you to notice five of the six are defensive, and the last one is offensive.

He says, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace, in addition to all of this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

If you've ever seen like pirate movies where they shoot arrows that are on fire, is what he's talking about.

He says, take the helmet of salvation, and then the last one is the only offensive one, the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.

And you're gonna see in just a moment that to stand strong and to fight off the work of the enemy in your life, you have to know the word of God so you can stand on it.

Paul is saying there is this very real battle happening around us.

Today, my hope is just to wake you up.

Ephesians chapter 5, Paul says, awake, O sleeper.

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

For those of you who've settled for the playground, I want you to know you're in a battleground, and the worst thing imaginable would be for you to hear this message and leave today and feel like, well, I'm just in the playground when you're really in a war zone.

Second Corinthians Paul, who also wrote the book of Ephesians, he said, For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of this world.

It's not bombs and missiles and bazookas and guns and whatever.

He says, on the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

Now, this is one of the most important words you can hear today because a stronghold is just a mental barrier that stops you from getting to where you need to be.

A good example would be when they train elephants, often what they'll do is they'll put a chain around the foot that has an end to it, and the elephant will go until the chain stops it.

What's funny is the elephant doesn't seem to know that it's strong enough to just pull its foot and to snap the chain.

It's a mental barrier that stops you from getting to where you need to go.

He goes on, he says, We demolish arguments and every pretension, the things that are said and the things that are pretend, that sets itself up against the knowledge of God.

And here's what I want you to know the work of the enemy is to get you to question or to step, not to not step into your full destiny that God has for you.

Which is why, as your pastor, things like our next steps class are such a big deal because I want you to come to a full knowledge of God and all that he has for you.

He says, and we take captive every thought and we make it obedient to Christ.

What Paul says is just because you think it doesn't make it true, and just because you think it doesn't mean you have to be submitted to the thought.

And he uses this word that I think is important.

He says there is a stronghold that the enemy wants to use to keep you from your destiny.

Here's two definitions.

The first is a prisoner locked by deception, it's a lie.

Living life by something that is not true.

This is true for all of us at times, isn't it?

Have you ever lived down to the words spoken over you?

Have you ever been called something that you're not, and you begin to believe that that's who you actually are?

Here's another definition of stronghold.

It's anything that exalts itself in our minds, pretending to be bigger or more powerful than our God.

And the funny thing about so many of us is we buy into lies that our circumstances are bigger than our God.

This is the reason sometimes when I come up after worship, I say, let's magnify the Lord.

What am I saying?

I'm saying let's make God big, and in retro and in light of that, it makes our problems feel small.

But what we tend to do is we tend to buy the lie and we make our problems big, thus making God feel small.

Let me show it to you like this.

In the early 2000s, there was this story that made international news of a young teenage girl in the state of Utah who was abducted from her room, held at knife point, and led out into the wilderness.

Her name was Elizabeth Smart.

I don't know if you remember the story, but for weeks it was the story leading every national news.

It was the headline, everybody was looking for this girl, Elizabeth Smart.

And this man took her, took her out into a forest, did unimaginable, atrocious things to her, and held her in captivity.

She knew she was missing, she knew she had been taken out.

And over time, this man began to become audacious with this, what he was doing.

He would literally take her out into public, he'd make her wear things and kind of hide her identity.

At one point in her story, she says that there was a moment she was literally at a grocery store 10 feet away from a police officer.

All she would have to do is to go up to this police officer and say, I'm Elizabeth Smart.

Three words, and she'd be freed.

And yet she was buying into the lie, the stronghold that she'd never get free.

Her story, thankfully, has a happy ending, and she is rescued, and that person is in prison for the rest of their life.

But you need to know this is how the enemy works in your life.

Spiritually, he wants you to buy into a lie.

Jesus said this about the devil in the book of John.

When he lies, I think this verse is so funny.

He speaks his native language like he can't help himself.

All he does is tell lies, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

And you need to understand this is how Satan works.

It's not going to be physical attacks against you necessarily.

What he wants to do is to lie to you to cause you to stumble or to fall short of the life you were entitled to live by God.

You need to understand when we believe a lie, we empower the liar.

And I just don't want you to live this way.

I just think God has something so much better for us.

So if you're a note taker, you're gonna love today.

And if you're not a note taker, today's a good day to become a note taker because I've got three lists of three.

Remember, I told you we're gonna get theological, we're gonna tell you what's happening, then I'm gonna get practical for you.

Here's the stuff I need you to write down, and I need you to get this in your heart.

Number one, you need to know that Satan is real.

A recent study of Americans said that 60% of Americans don't believe in a real Satan, a real devil.

The problem is we've settled for some sort of cartoon picture of the devil.

He's got red horns and a pitchfork and a red tail, and that's what we think of when we think of the devil.

Scripture doesn't say that at all.

In fact, Satan himself was an angel, one of the angels in heaven.

And he messed up, wanted worship for himself, and God kicked him out.

The book of 2 Corinthians, Paul records that.

He says, And no wonder, for Satan himself, he masquerades, he hides who he is as an angel of light.

You need to know that he is real.

The second thing is this his goal is to destroy us.

Jesus himself was talking one day, and he said, The thief, this other picture of who Satan is, he comes only to steal and kill and destroy.

He wants to steal your hope and kill your dreams and destroy your destiny.

And this is not the work of God, so don't you dare fall for it.

Some people are like, Well, I don't really believe all this is true.

It doesn't make it any less of a reality for you.

He is real and he's out to destroy you.

And number three, the devil responds to a higher authority.

And I want you to understand this that there is a way for you to take authority and control over your circumstances, and it's not by you getting stronger or you getting more educated, it's by you realizing who is in you and the power you have.

In the book of 1 John, John says this.

He says, the one who is in you, talking about the power of God, is greater than the one who is in the world.

This is important for you to understand.

There is something you can do that changes your circumstances, is when you realize that Satan he submits to a higher authority.

So I told you I've got three lists of three.

Those are three things you need to know.

Here's three weapons that you can use.

These are things that I need you to keep in your tool belt, keep them in your arsenal, and use these every day.

If you're facing spiritual attack, you can use the name of Jesus.

Why?

Because this is the authority we have as believers.

It's kind of like this.

It's kind of like if I got two of my kids fighting over something and they're disagreeing, they don't, they don't know, they can't determine who's right, and they come to me and I say, Tell your brother this.

When they go back and say, Dad said, you know what that means?

Fight's over.

Why?

Because my name in my house carries authority.

The same way, according to Scripture, the name of Jesus has authority.

There's this interesting moment in the book of Luke where these people, there's the 72 people, these are not the 12 disciples, these are other people who followed closely to Jesus.

They said, Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.

Like when we use your name, even like the works of the enemy, the works of hell can't stand up against it.

And Jesus replied, Well, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

Like I was there when that whole thing went down.

He goes on and he says, I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome the power of the enemy, nothing will harm you.

Jesus says, In his name, there is a name that every other name must bow out.

The book of Philippians, also written by Paul, also from prison in Rome, he says that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth.

That there is a name that has the final name.

So, like if you're facing a diagnosis that seems insurmountable, there is a name that is higher and greater than the diagnosis.

If you're facing financial lack, there is a name that is greater than the name on you.

There is a name that every other name must bow to.

It's the name of Jesus.

It's a tool for you.

Thank you.

Second weapon you can use is you can use the blood of Jesus.

And this is not something that churches talk about very much, but we understand that Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins.

That's part of what the crucifixion was about.

He bought your salvation, and I want you to hear this.

And by the stripes on his back and the brokenness of his body, he also bought your freedom, physical freedom, mental freedom, depression must bow at the name of Jesus.

His blood covers all sin, but it also heals and gives freedom to every other part of your life.

The book of Revelation, one of the most powerful but confusing books in the Bible, says they overcame him, the enemy, by the blood of the Lamb and by the Word of their testimony.

The blood of Jesus has power in every part of your life, not just for your salvation, but for your freedom.

And number three, you need to know the third weapon you can use is the word of Jesus, which is the Bible, the Word of God.

And I just want to say this to you: you can't use the Word of God unless you know the Word of God, and you can't know the Word of God unless you spend time in the Word of God.

It's really simple.

Like you got to know it to claim it.

And here's the thing: the Bible is full of promises from God.

The God who always holds true to his word, it's full of them.

Some scholars say there's over 7,000 promises in the Bible from God to you and to me.

You need to know them.

In the book of John, Jesus said this, John chapter 8.

John 8 · chapter mention

He said, if you hold on to my teaching, the words I'm saying, you are really my disciple.

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

I love that he uses the word truth because we live in a time and an age where truth feels subjective.

Truth isn't subjective.

The truth is at the end of the day, someone's word has the final word.

And if you take the Bible and you make it subjected to your opinion, you've elevated yourself to God.

When you take the Bible and make it the final word, what you are is a disciple and a true follower of Jesus.

So, what do we do?

Three things you got to do.

I told you it was gonna get practical.

I want to challenge you to do these three things every day.

Every day.

What about tomorrow?

Do it tomorrow.

Every day.

Ready?

Number one, you've got to commit yourself to God.

What does this mean?

It means you stop playing games.

The book of James, I love this.

James says, submit yourselves then to God.

Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Let's just leave this up for me for a moment.

I love the order.

You submit first and then you resist the devil second.

Now, this is important for you to understand because what a lot of us want to do is we want to partially submit.

We want to like partially obey.

We want to do the part that we want to do that feels good to us and get the benefit and the blessing of the devil fleeing from us.

But that's not how God's word seems to work.

Okay, so like God is a God of order who set things into motion.

And if you want the blessing of God in your life, you play by God's rules.

Let me make it very practical, okay?

Like if you say, Oh God, give me a healthy, lean body.

And all you do is crush McDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's, the Holy Trinity of fast food burgers, if that's all you do every single day, every single meal, like you're playing outside of God's rules for your health, you're not gonna get God's results in your body.

Are you with me on this?

If you say, oh God, I want you to bless my marriage, bless my relationships, but you sleep with anybody you want to that's getting outside of God's bounds, you're not gonna receive the blessing.

Oh, God, I need a financial miracle.

Would you step in and bless me financially?

But you never honor God and put him first by tithing, don't expect the blessing of God.

Like we are obedient, we submit to God, and then we walk in the blessing of God.

Okay, so here's my question to you: Are there any areas of life where you're not fully submitted to God?

Well, don't be surprised if you're not submitted to God and you find yourself constantly under attack and walking outside of the blessing of God.

It's kind of like this.

I have three kids.

They think they have bedrooms.

They don't have bedrooms.

I have bedrooms that they sleep in.

Are you with me?

What does that mean?

It means that if they're gonna live in my house, they're gonna follow my rules, and to follow my rules comes with all of the blessings associated with it.

But if they told me to, you know, if they told me to take a hike, told me to leave, told me they didn't love me, told me they didn't want to be a part of my family, and they left my covering, they don't get to walk in the blessings I provide.

It's really simple.

Like we overcomplicate this.

Fully submitted to God means there's a line in the sand, and I say, God, your way is the final way, your way is my way, I do whatever you say.

Are you with me?

Second thing we gotta do is we gotta close any open doors.

What do I mean by this?

Satan is looking for any opportunity he has to get into your heart and to distract you from your plan, your purpose, and your destiny.

Let me show it to you like this in scripture, the book of 2 Corinthians.

Paul says, if you forgive anyone, I also forgive him.

And what I have forgiven, if there was anything to forgive, he says, I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake.

And here's why.

In order that Satan might not outwit us.

For we are not unaware of his scheme.

Well, I think what this means is unforgiveness has this way of being an open door in our life.

Someone hurts us, we are rightfully hurt, even angry by it.

But we let the anger, which is a secondary emotion, turn into something that we carry for a long time, and we just stay angry.

It's an open door.

This is the reason that in the book of Ephesians, chapter four, Paul says this in your anger, which means you're gonna get angry, do not sin.

Then he uses this phrase, he says, Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.

Now, this is often really taught in the context of marriage, and they the people will say, Don't go to bed angry at your spouse.

And that's probably good advice.

That's not what Paul is saying in this verse.

Here's what he's saying: don't let the sun set on one season of your life and carry anger from that season into the next season.

Because here's what will happen.

You'll get two, three, four seasons away from that hurt, from that betrayal, from that anger, from that bitterness.

And there will be a day where you get cut off in traffic and you lose your ever-loving mind.

There will be a day when your kid is having a bowl of Cheerios and they sneeze and hit the spoon, and Cheerios go everywhere, and you will act like they're the worst person imagined.

You'll just spew anger at them.

And you'll think, Where did that come from?

I'm not even angry.

It may not be something that happened now, it could be unrequited anger from several seasons ago that you never dealt with, and you let the sun set on a season and you carried it into the next season and you forgot the source of the anger.

What does Paul say happens?

Paul says when that happens, it's like the devil has a foothold into your life.

What does it mean?

It's kind of like if you were trying to close the door, but he got his foot in the door first, he has the leverage.

So let me ask you a question.

Is there any place in your life where you're dealing with hurt, unforgiveness, unresolved anger?

Are there any places in your life where bitterness feels like it has the final word?

Are there any places where you're allowing sin to rule you instead of you controlling it?

Close the door.

Number three, third thing you can do is confront the enemy every day in prayer.

Now this is important because I think some of us hear this and what we think is, we think like youth can't prayer.

Like, forget you Satan, I don't want anything, and then we just scream at him like someone screaming into the wind.

First Peter says it like this He says, be self-controlled and alert.

Remember the illustration of a playground and a battleground?

I think the reason this matters is on a playground you're carefree, it's fun, it's all laughs and giggles.

But on a battleground, you are hyper-aware that at any moment you could be under attack.

Are you with me?

He says, be controlled and be alert.

Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

He says, Here's what I want you to do: resist him standing firm in the faith.

Okay, remember earlier we read Ephesians chapter 6?

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

Four times Paul says your responsibility as a believer is not to pick a fight against the devil.

He doesn't say your objective is to like wage war against all the demons.

Like, what is your responsibility?

Stand firm.

Stand up, stand on the truth of God's word.

Here's the funny thing about spiritual warfare.

If you want the honest Pastor Jason, unfiltered, no mask, spiritual warfare is not something that's on my everyday agenda.

Some people think the devil's behind every bush looking to zap them for doing anything wrong.

That's not how I tend to operate my life, but I've come to realize that there is a whole world happening around me in what the Bible calls the heavenly forces.

I experience this in my life every time our church or our family is up against something big.

Like if you want to pray for your pastor, pray for me about two weeks before Easter.

Just start praying for me.

Why?

Because hundreds of people are gonna put their faith in Jesus through what happens at our church.

The enemy doesn't like that.

Of course, my family is under attack.

Some of the weirdest things happen to my family, the week to ten days leading into Easter, it always seems to happen to the point now where I come expecting.

Satan, I know you're gonna try to attack my family, but I stand on God's word, and greater is he who is in me than he who is in the world.

What does it mean?

It means that whatever you're facing, whatever circumstance you're up against, whatever name that feels like it has the final word in your life, I'm gonna give you one other example.

Whatever battle seems to be raging against you, you can stand up.

And you can stand firm.

Put on the whole armor of God.

Use the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

Know the Word of God so that you may be able to stand.

Listen to me.

Don't you dare leave church today and be like, oh, that's another fun message.

That was cool.

Don't you do that?

Don't you dare go home and wake up tomorrow and treat your life like it's a playground when you are called to be warriors for Christ, standing on a spiritual battleground.

And when you're attacked by the enemy, may you have the courage to resist the enemy and may you stand in the power of the Lord.

Can I get a good amen on that?

Come in, everybody.

Would you bow your head and close your eyes all across this place and at all of our locations?

Would you pray with me?

So, God, give us the courage to just stand.

For those of us whose lives have felt under attack by the works of the enemy, may we make this decision today to put on the full armor of God.

God, for those of us who have just kind of been asleep to what's happening around us, wake us up.

Help us to see that there is a battle happening all around us with a very real Satan who really wants to destroy us, to kill, steal, and destroy our dreams, our hopes, our destinies.

God, may we have the courage to stand up when it would be easier to sit down.

May we have the courage to fight where you call us to fight, and thank you that you've already won the battle.

God, may we make this decision today to leave here changed.

For those of us who have settled for a spiritual playground, wake us up to the reality happening around us, and may we have the courage to pursue you in every part of our lives so that we may stand against the works of the enemy.

Thank you for that, God.

Thank you that this battle isn't ours, it belongs to you.

We love you.

Thank you for it.

Your head still bowed and eyes still closed.

Maybe you came today, whether you're here in North Lakeland, Bartow, Church Online, watching us later this week, wherever you are, if you would say, Jason, I don't know if I'm right with God.

Today you want to make things right with God.

Maybe this means starting a relationship and saying, Jesus, I choose to follow you.

Maybe you did that when you were a kid, but you feel like you walked away.

But today you need to restart.

If this is you, no matter where you are, would you just raise your hand?

Symbolically saying, I'm in.

Jesus, thank you.

Thank you.

Wow, thank you, thank you.

All over this room.

If this is you, I'm gonna ask you to pray this prayer with me.

And look, praying a prayer changes everything when you mean it with your heart.

If this is you, say, Jesus, today I give you my life.

Would you be my Lord and my Savior?

Thank you that you can save me and forgive me from my sins.

Jesus, I believe that you're the Son of God.

I believe when you came into this world and died for me, that crucifixion, you dying for me bought the price for my salvation and my freedom.

So, Jesus, today I make this decision.

I give you my life for the rest of my life.

I choose to follow you.

Whatever you say, I'll do, you be my Lord and my Savior.

I give you my life for the rest of my life.

And it's in your name I pray, Jesus.

Amen.

Church fam everywhere, let's celebrate.