not if any man sin we have an advocate with the father jesus christ the
righteous
he's the propitiation for our sins not for us only
but also for the sins of the whole world
hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments
he that saith i know him and keepeth not his commandments is a liar
and the truth is not in him
but whoso keepeth his word
and invariably is the love of god perfected
hereby we know that we are in him
he that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk
even as he walked
brethren i write no new commandment unto you but an old commandment
which he had from the beginning
the old commandment
which is the word which he have heard from the beginning
again a new commandment i write unto you
which thing is true in him and in you because the darkness is past and the
true light now shineth
he that saith he is in the light and hateth his brother is in darkness even
until now
he that loveth his brother abideth in the light
and there's none occasion of stumbling in him
but he that hateth his brother is in darkness
and walketh in darkness and knoweth not whether he goeth because that
darkness hath blinded his eyes
i write unto you little children because your sins are forgiven you for
his name's sake
i write unto you fathers because you have known him
that is from the beginning
i write unto you young men because you have overcome the wicked one
i write unto you little children because you have known the father
i have written unto you fathers because you have known him
that is from the beginning
i have written unto you young men because you are strong
and the word of God abideth in you
and you have overcome the wicked one
love not the world
neither the things that are in the world if any man love the world
the love of the father is not in him
for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the
father but is of the world
and the world passeth away and the lust thereof
but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever
little children it is the last time and as you have heard that antichrist shall
come
even now are there many antichrists
whereby we know that it is the last time
they went out from us but they were not of us for they have been of us
they would no doubt have continued with us
but they went out
that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us
but you have an unction from the holy one and you know all things
i've not written unto you because you know not the truth but because you know it
and that no lie
is of the truth
who is a liar but he that denyeth that Jesus is the Christ
he is antichrist that denyeth the father and the son
whosoever denyeth the son the same hath not the father
but he that acknowledgeth the son hath the father also
let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning
if that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you ye also shall continue
in the son and in the father
and this is the promise that he hath promised us even eternal life
these things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you
but the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you
ye need not that any man teach you but as the same anointing teacheth you
of all things and is truth and is no lie and even
as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him
and now little children abide in him
that when ye shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before mad is coming
if you know that he is righteous you know that everyone that doeth
righteousness is born of him
let's pray dear Lord God thank you for every soul here right now Lord and your
church Lord we thank you for this church we thank you for pastor
pray that you bless him and fill him with the spirit right now as he preaches your word
unto us
and just give him this attentiveness of hearing Lord and we pray this all in Jesus name
amen
amen okay we're in first John chapter two this evening
and the title of my sermon tonight is becoming a formidable
opponent becoming a formidable opponent first John chapter two
verse 13 says I write unto you fathers because ye have known him that is from
the beginning
I write unto you young men because ye have overcome the wicked one
I write unto you little children because ye have known the father I have written unto you
fathers because ye have known him that is from the beginning
I have written unto you young men because ye are strong
and the word of God abideth in you and ye have overcome
the wicked one I want to talk a little bit about spiritual warfare tonight
just as a reminder to our church of the
battle that we are in as Christians and to make sure that
as believers as a church we're being vigilant we're understanding
this subject of warfare of this
spiritual battle spiritual warfare that we're in on a constant basis
and so many Christians today know little to nothing about spiritual warfare
and even if they're aware of the concept of spiritual warfare
they often take this superstitious view
of that spiritual battle you know I think of like social media for example
you know if there is some sort of video circulating
of a person seeing a ghost or some sort of demon or something like that
you know you have people in the comments section that will often say
I claim no negative energy you know from this video how many of you have seen something like that
you know I claim no negative energy in the name of Jesus
and they literally think that first of all that video is real
okay which you know come on a lot of it is just like CGI
manipulated but people are willing to believe anything and secondly
let's say it was real do you really think that it will actually do anything
by not claiming any negative energy
or by invoking the name of Jesus Christ to protect you from the screen
or something like that
you know it's obviously nonsense and it's superstitious
but even on top of that you know people can also have this view
where just by invoking the name of Jesus Christ you know the shadow people
will go away
and the demons will depart and you won't struggle with
addictions or whatever it may be so even people who are
clearly aware that there is a battle taking place in the spiritual realm
they don't even know what they're doing and most of them don't even
understand that they're actually a part of the problem when it comes
to spiritual warfare they are actually perpetuating the lies
that christian churches so called have promoted and how to fight satan
and how to fight demons let me explain to you this evening
what it means to become a formidable opponent and I honestly believe
that satan laughs at people like that and it you know they're a joke to him
because you know he doesn't really take them serious because they're not
really doing anything to promote the kingdom of God and in
fact I would assert that many of them are
essentially giving Christianity a bad name and they're confusing more people
with their doctrines and their practices because they don't know what
they're talking about now we'll come back to first john
chapter two in just a bit but turn with me if you would to second
timothy chapter four second timothy chapter four i'm going to read to you
from first timothy chapter six by way of introduction
and verse number 11 says but thou o man of god flee these things
and follow after righteousness godliness faith
love patience meekness fight the good fight of faith
it says lay hold on eternal life wherein to thou are also called
and has professed a good profession before many witnesses and i want you to
notice that the bible consistently encourages
believers to get involved in a fight not a physical fight not a fight with
flesh and blood but this is obviously referring to a
spiritual battle and the bible characterizes the christian life
by warfare it's telling us to fight this fight
of faith second timothy four verse six says for i am now ready to be
offered and the time of my departures at hand
i have fought a good fight i have finished my course
i have kept the faith so we see here according to these two passages
that the christian life shouldn't be a passive life you just kind of take it
laying down and let you know whatever happens
happens no apparently according to the bible
we're supposed to be the aggressors in this world
we're supposed to charge hell with a with a with a squirt gun so to speak
and fight the demonic forces not literally but in a spiritual
manner and the bible says that this is a good fight
meaning that there's some fights out there the christians are fighting that
are not good you know they're not affecting
anything they're not tearing down the kingdom of satan
they're not making a dent in this spiritual world
they are inferior battles that christians get involved in
and the bible is telling us that we should get involved in the good fight
okay let me read to you from jude verse 3 says beloved when i gave all diligence
to write unto you of the common salvation
it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should
earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints
and what jude is saying here is that believers should get involved in the
fight and earnestly contend means you should
earnestly fight you should be active in your contention against
false doctrine against the wiles of satan and in this particular context is
actually referring to church okay and the reason that's important is
because you know sometimes i'll get up here and i'll preach against a
specific false doctrine or religion and then you'll have people not
necessarily in church but outside of church
say oh man you're just being contentious why don't you just preach
the gospel why don't you just preach christ and him crucified
you're always focusing on reprobates and the lgbt
or whatever it may be but according to this passage
the bible is telling us to earnestly contend for the faith and then he says
this for there are certain men crept in
unawares now crept in where into churches
who were before of old ordained to this condemnation ungodly men turned to
the grace of god of our god into lasciviousness and
denying the only lord god and our lord jesus christ so according to this
passage what jude is warning uh the reader about
is the potential infiltrators that can come into a church
to try to mislead and deceive the flock of god
and therefore it's important for us to be on our toes
pay attention to doctrine and fight that good fight of faith
earnestly contend for the faith once delivered unto the saints
because if you're not doing that people could come in teach all kinds of
weird stuff and you can be deceived you know and this phrase uh crept in
unawares reminds me of a story okay and this is
before we started the church and i don't know if this is the best
example but i think it does kind of uh represent what i'm trying to talk
about here i remember before we started the church brother brother
marcos and i we were sowing in the city of
monobello and we're going through these apartments i
don't know if they're apart i can't remember if they're apartments or
condos or something like that and uh we're knocking on doors and then
there's this there's this door and he starts knocking he just kind of
looks and he opens the door right and there's stairs so he's thinking
in his mind oh this is the stairway to the other apartments
so him and i are there and we just start walking upstairs and we're just
kind of talking we're just like and then finally we start getting
reaching the top and there's like people there and there's like a house
there and there's like a family there and there's like stuff there
and we're like oh man we just like walked into someone's house
now first of all lock your doors you know what i mean like
who just leaves their doors unlocked like that but you know marcos crept in
unawares and i think we ended up just i think we
we got so nervous that we just ended up just like leaving
okay but you know obviously that you know he was doing the right thing as
far as like someone is concerned however you know from a spiritual
perspective there are people who try to creep into church
to try to portray themselves to be a christian but the bible says that
they're wolves in sheep's clothing and churches have done a disservice
to their congregations when they're not training their people
to watch out for these wolves in sheep's clothing these false prophets
they don't they they're not aware of this impending danger of people who
try to come in and people think well you know
people are just misled or they're just a little confused no the bible says we
need to be aware that there's certain individuals that creep into churches
with the intention to mislead the flock and if you have your head in the sand
and think that that's not true then you should step down from being a
pastor and go do something else go be some like student counselor or
something like that because the truth of the matter is the
bible tells us that we need to earnestly contend for the faith
and part of that is defending the faith making sure that we're fighting
to keep the right doctrines and keeping our ear to the ground so
that people are not leading others astray in their
faith the bible says in proverbs 28 verse 4
they that forsake the law praise the wicked but such as keep the law
contend with them so a marker of whether you are
reading the bible you're walking in the spirit you
are a man or a woman who's keeping the law
is that you're contending for the faith you understand
you're or you're contending for the faith and you're contending against
those who are praising the wicked so you
know what i see when i see pastors and churches who are
praising unsafe people they are lifting up false prophets
these are people who are forsaking the laws of god
because reading the bible keeps these truths on the forefront of our minds
and we're not going to just make excuses for john mccarthur or
something like that and just say oh he's just a little
misled or whatever it may be you know we're going to recognize this
person is in direct violation of the bible
i'm going to contend with this individual for this particular doctrine
okay the bible tells us you don't have to turn there in second corinthians
chapter seven verse five says for when we were in
mastadonia our flesh had no rest but we were
troubled on every side without were fightings within were
fears and i don't think the apostle paul is talking about physical brawls
because i don't think he was a brawler i think what he's referring to is the
fact that there were spiritual bouts outside you know against false
prophets warring against the pawns of satan
who are trying to mislead people and the point that i'm making is the fact
that the christian life is a fight okay and christians need to get
involved in the fight not throwing the towel recognize that we are in a
spiritual battle so how do you become a formidable
opponent an opponent against satan and his wiles
so that you're not living a defeated life well go back to first john
chapter two look at first john chapter two the
first thing i want to i want you to see here
is the young man okay and in verse 13 it says that the
young men have overcome the wicked one and when
you look at that phrase that's a pretty awesome achievement
because the wicked one is obviously referring to satan and it says
it's the young men who have overcome the wicked one this is
victory this is him herb just being able to
overcome a young man a young woman being able to overcome the temptations of
satan fighting against satan and according to
the bible god is accrediting them and saying
they've overcome that wicked one satan
but verse 14 gives us some more clarity
on how that was done it says in verse 14 towards the latter end
i've written unto you young men because you're strong
now let me just clarify here this doesn't mean physically strong
okay and i'm not against young men being physically strong i think that's
important too but far more important than being
physically strong is being strong in the lord and in the power of
his might right because there's a lot of people and
young men out there who are physically strong but they're
spiritually weak okay you know they might be able to lift
very heavy and they're extremely uh well put
together and they can deadlift 600 700 or squat a crazy
amount but i guarantee you you know they've
been deceived by satan they believe in some sort of false
doctrine if they're involved in false religions or whatever maybe
this is obviously referring to spiritual strength
he says because you're strong and i want you to notice here
and the word of god abideth in you and you have overcome the wicked one
so the first point that i want to make here is that in order to become a
formidable opponent you have to possess the right weapon
which is what the bible too many christians and obviously i'm
speaking from the perspective of social media
because i think social media is a reflection
of a lot of what's going on in the world i'm not saying that there's not
deception taking place there but you know there's a lot of christians on
social media a lot of different types of
christians on social media and a lot of it is super cringe okay
it is like apostate christianity and the vast majority of them even though
they claim the name of christ they don't even know what the bible
says you know they're claiming that they're fighting satan
and they're fighting satan's minions and all these things
but folks they don't know the bible at all
they can't quote you the bible they don't know what the word of god says
they're just trying to get their views and inspire people to fight
against satan not even knowing that they're really at the end of the day in
the clutches of satan because of their ignorance of the
scriptures and you know i can't emphasize this enough
that how important it is for us as christians
to know the word of god and i'm not saying you have to have
a super in-depth understanding of the bible but
you are a christian you know you do have the spirit of god dwelling within
you you should have a basic understanding of the word of god
and to be able to wield that sword when confronted
with the wiles of satan okay and so possessing the right weapon
and look let me just say that obviously you know we're talking about
the word of god but let's get more specific the king james bible
okay not not not the super soaker of the niv
or the esv you know we're just joking outside we're talking about the chosen
and uh someone was asking me about the chosen what i thought about the
chosen and obviously you know you know what i think about
the chosen but i made this comment and i and i believe it to be true 100
i literally believe that you will benefit more from reading the niv than
watching the chosen
i think you actually benefit more from reading the esv
than watching the chosen and you know what but there's people out there and
i'm not even for those bibles those bibles are toilet paper
which makes you think what do i what would i compare the chosen to
but at the end of the day you know there's christians out there to get
their doctrine from the chosen and they think they're making like a
huge impact in this world or something like that
because they're supporting some mormon who's
you know directing or uh some catholic who's directing this show
under the canopy of mormonism and somehow they're making a huge difference
because they're watching the entire series or something like that
it's nonsense they're losing the battle you know satan
has them deceived into thinking that they're really living the christian life
by watching some commie jesus who does not represent the bible there's
no doctrine in those shows it's complete blasphemous and nonsense and
crap right oh but i guarantee you there's tons
of christians and maybe even christians who are saved
who love that show but you know what that tells me it tells me they don't
have the right weapon in their arsenal i guarantee you they're not waking up in
the morning reading a king james bible and asking
the lord open down my eyes that i may behold wondrous things out of thy law
you know they're going to wherever wherever they're showing the chosen
and they want to see wondrous things out of that show
because to them that's like a substitute and you know before we get
on them even though obviously that's bad you
know i guarantee there's christians who may reject the chosen but they're
opening up a commentary they're opening up a jewish
encyclopedia
which by the way i think is still better than watching the chosen
pretty much anything i think i think it's more profitable for you to read
harry potter than to watch the chosen i think it's
more profitable to watch harry potter than to watch the chosen
you say why because at least you know harry potter is just fantasy
and fairy tale you know whereas people literally think that what's
taking place in the chosen is actually what's
what took place in the bible they don't compare scripture with scripture
and so possessing the right weapon is super necessary
having a king james bible using the word of god
becoming uh familiarizing yourself with the sword of the lord look at
first timothy if you would first timothy chapter one and this is
where it starts folks and you know what
i know that knowing the bible amongst christians is not the most glamorous
thing because people are more concerned with
and they're more impressed by quotes from church fathers
or what history says or whatever may be who gives a rip about that when it
comes to spiritual matters you know there's entire accounts
dedicated to showing how the catholics are wrong because the church fathers
said this those church fathers are probably dead
too and probably in hell we don't know
because history changes you know the one thing that doesn't change is the
bible and so that's why i only stick with the
word of god and you know who makes history those
who win but the word of god will never
change we can place our faith in the word of
god and know that it you know it can withstand the test of
time it has withstood the test of time
and it is profitable look at first timothy 1 verse 8
paul the apostles telling timothy here this charge i committed to these
sons timothy according to the prophecies which
went before on thee that thou by them mightest war a good
warfare so he's saying the prophecies the
preaching that you've heard that went before on thee and you're
supposed to use the knowledge that you receive to war
a good war fair get involved in the fight timothy
he says holding faith and a good conscience
which some having put away concerning faith have
made shipwreck of whom is hymenaeus and alexander
whom i've delivered unto satan that they may learn
not to blaspheme you know what happens when christians
uh stray away from reading the bible and learning the word of god
they started doing some really weird blasphemous things
you know i think of like recently i saw on social media
of a pastor getting up and he was he wanted to read from a gen z bible
how many of you seen what i'm know what i'm talking about it's like a gen z
bible and it has all the gen z lingo or whatever
cap and whatever and you know it what's i don't remember what story
was does anyone remember what story he was reading from
lou you would know huh christian would know
oh it's about mary that's right it was about mary
and it was some of the most blasphemous things you would ever hear
but yet he's reading this in his church and his church is loving it
and he thought it was really cool too because you know he's like you know
he's relating to the young people folks that's the dumbest thing i've ever heard
super blasphemous that pastor is wicked as hell
and he is clearly displaying the fact that he doesn't know the bible and
he has no reverence for the bible right right you know in order to be in
a spiritual battle uh you have to know your sword
use your sword and have the right sword which is the king james bible
and this is why it's important on a practical level that you read the
bible every single day hey we're in february have you been
reading the bible every single day since january 1st
are you keeping up with your bible reading or have other things taken the
priority over you walking with god right it's
important and you say well you know i kind of fell off i'm a little behind
and pick it back up because you're in a spiritual battle
we have we don't have the luxury of just taking a break from our bible
reading and having this mentality well someone
else will fight for me no you have to fight
you're supposed to get involved in the good fight of faith and if you're not
reading the bible you're being defeated okay you're not
helping the cause of christ we have enough ignorant christians out
there enough christians who don't know the bible
enough christians who don't know doctrine enough christians who don't
have the discipline to read the bible stop joining them
stop being a part of the problem become a part of the solution
by reading the word of god okay and you know what get ahead on your bible
reading how about that you know instead of turning on your
stupid xbox your stupid video games and everything
else is wasting your time why don't you turn on the ipad with
the king james version of the bible and then just read that instead
if you have to be on electronic or something like that
i find that today people make excuses for why they can't read the
bible but these excuses are just a bunch of time wasters
and they're not and you know why people do that it's because of the
fact that they don't realize they're in a battle
you know if you have five guys coming at you with weapons
and there is one sword on the ground i mean and you had nowhere to run it's
the only thing you can do is fight you pick up that sword and start
flinging that thing around and let me just say this what if they
all came came at you with plastic forks and you had a sword in your hand would
you run or would you fight we like so you guys are done but you
know what a lot of christians in the plastic force what does it represent
it represents the wiles of satan that's making you think
that he can he can defeat you but you know a lot of christians
the sword is right there but their little forearm is too is too weak to
pick up that sword because they haven't been practicing by
reading it on a weekly and daily basis
so even if they wanted to fight they couldn't pick up the sword because their
forearms are too weak folks it's important that as
christians we get involved in the spiritual battle
and you know what you may not be in a severe spiritual battle today but you
better pick up the sword so you get your spiritual muscles
ready for it because a fight is coming to you one day
and there's plenty of christians out there who
they've neglected their bible reading they're neglecting scripture memory
they're neglecting walking with god and then the fight comes to them they
can't even pick up the sword because they're too weak they can't
read a portion of scripture because it's just too much for them
because they develop too too much laziness in their life
to actually crack open the bible and pay attention to what they're
reading folks it's the truth you know get
serious about the christian life and start reading the word of god and you
know what it's great to read a couple chapters but once you bump the
bump that up a little bit you know lengthen your sword a little bit
maybe hold your sword with one hand instead of two strengthen that forearm
just a bit so that when you're in an actual
battle you can actually stand toe to toe with your enemy
instead of getting defeated by guys with forks
i'm telling you we're in a spiritual battle and you know what you can be like
these social media christian influencers out there
that think they're just doing a great oh because their stupid little video
went viral about you know how whatever there is i don't know what
liberals talk about but you know some stupid video out there you know
and oh they're making such an impact are you really though are you really
making an impact no the impact that you can make stems from
your use of the sword okay and if you're reading a false version of
the bible you're you're definitely not making an impact
you know if you're using an niv and esv you know an nasp oh but i got a new
king james version you're not doing anything with those
versions of the bible that's not going to make an indent those are the
devil's bibles and so well you know it's just the
king james is so hard to read oh yeah we wouldn't want you to pick up a
really heavy sword to defend yourself with now would we
you know if it's if it's a little heavier to read it's only going to
exercise your spiritual muscles that much the more
and you're going to be stronger i remember years ago when i was at my
old church i was getting into this discussion with this calvinist who was
in my church and you know he was really big on
the nasp now he would bring the kjv to church
because he didn't want to become he didn't want to be disrespectful
he knew there were kjv only but i remember having this discussion with
him and he admitted and this guy was
you know by calvinistic standards was an intellectual
but obviously if you're using nasp you know
you're not that smart so this guy you know we're having this discussion
and then he says look bruce let me just be honest with you
the kjv is a higher caliber weapon it's a higher caliber than an nasp and i
said yeah so i win right
but that's all he said and i'm thinking to myself if it's a higher
caliber weapon and you know that it's a higher caliber
weapon then why are you using that stupid pistol
why are you using you know the paintball gun
instead of the ak-47 or whatever
but he chose to continue to go with the nasp because this is easier to read
yeah you're you're you'll get killed easier too
folks i give me the ak-47 because with the ak-47 i don't know i
don't know too much about like assault rifles or anything like that
you know but from what i've heard they just spray is that true
did they just spray am i correct or no or can you spray is that true
okay well i'm talking about the soviet ak-47
is that the one i'm talking about am i right okay that's the one i'm talking
about i'm not talking about american ak-47 i'm talking about the soviet ak-47
if you shoot ak-47 i mean you're pretty much if the enemy's like right
there you're probably not gonna miss okay
exactly so you know what with the kjv you can't go wrong because no matter
what you quote from the kjv it'll hit its mark every single time
point blank you understand what i'm saying so yeah
put a kjv in the hand of a kid and you know what he will mince
an adult who uses a false version of the bible any day
because it's a kjv learn how to use the word of god and look i want to
know more about the word of god than any assault rifle by the way
okay plain and simple so you can mock me for not knowing guns but i know
this gun though better than any weapon there is so
the point that i'm making is that you need to be
you need to familiarize yourself with the sword
and use the sword spar with the sword
hit marks with the sword because you are in a spiritual battle
go to second corinthians chapter 10 if you would second corinthians chapter 10
let me just say this because since it's sunday night if you're going to say
don't yawn when you're saying amen
that sounds weird you know yawn first keep it to yourself say amen second
amen
all right here's another thing that we're going to talk about when it
comes to spiritual warfare and that's this to be a formidable
opponent you got to know who your enemy is
and let me just say this i'm constantly working as a pastor
on showing god's people who the real enemy is
why because christians sometimes just don't know who the real enemy is
so how do you know that because they're so busy fighting the political war
than the spiritual warfare so when you have more christians fighting a
political warfare than a spiritual warfare
that shows you they don't know who the real enemy is
now i asked hike this earlier because i'm not big on chess
who likes to play chess
now if you don't agree you guys can put your hands down now okay
if you don't agree with this this hike's fall because he gave me this
info
i said what is what is the goal in chess and he said to checkmate the
king is that true okay
so let me ask you is is the point in chess to hit all the pawns
wouldn't you be wasting your time just trying to hit all the pawns
the point is to checkmate the king well you know what you have a bunch of
christians that that's all they're doing is hitting the pawns
you say who i don't know like the presidents the mayors the governors
all the people that you know are under the king
who's the king satan but yet you know you have christians today that
literally kind of are are disillusioned into thinking
they're delusional they're thinking that they're making a difference
if they vote in the right person or something like that
it's getting quiet in here now look there is an election time coming up at
the end of the year and um i still stand on what i said a
couple years ago you know i don't vote
although you know i did say a post where it said that trump if he gets
voted in you know he might uh that gas would be like under two dollars
my voting might just come out of retirement after that i was just like
i was like wow i might you know i might actually vote this time i don't
know that sounds pretty dang good no i don't
care about that honestly i mean i care about gas but not that
much you know at the end of the day though
you know i guarantee you there's going to be a bunch of christians losing
their minds this year losing their minds over the pawns on
on the chessboard losing their minds trying to defeat all the pawns
on the chessboard not making a lick of difference in the spiritual battle
because it has nothing to do with it that's there to distract you from the
real battle oh but i want to make a difference
in my community and then go soul winning
i want to make a significant difference though yeah then go soul winning
and lead people in ways of righteousness leave all that other
stuff all the community service to those who are not saved who want to
make a difference if you're a fundamental baptist that's
what your primary your primary objective should be is to
get involved in the spiritual battle by winning people to christ
leading people in righteousness showing people how to live a christian life
that's a spiritual battle and i know there might be people in here that
don't agree with me i don't care this is fact it's true and i have to
constantly show people even though they disagree with me and
they think well i think if we just if we could just do this and help
in this way and vote for this we can make this a christian nation this will
never be a christian nation you can make a fake one you can you
can make it look like it's christian but i'm not interested in getting
involved in an inferior battle by targeting pawns
and you know what a lot of christians the reason they get that way
is because they're always listening to the wrong people that's what it is
folks you know you understand how easily impressionable christians are
we're easily impressionable so what do you mean
you know we will become like the people we listen to
fact we will become like the podcast that you're constantly listening to
you know you will become like your favorite whatever podcaster
or youtuber conspiracy theorist you know you will become that way
and you will think like them because you're constantly listening to them
god has given us the free will to choose who we listen to
because of the fact and he's commanded us to not
give our ears unto fables why because we are easily impressionable we're
easily influenced it's easy for us to just listen
to 10 podcasts and all of a sudden be one to that
side you know and now they're convincing you that if you just get
rid of all the pawns everything would just be okay it's not gonna be okay
the pawns is not the point my friends checkmate the king
you know i missed the part in first john chapter two
that says you know you voted for the right guy and you've overcome the
wicked one you voted the right people in have
overcome the wicked one no it doesn't say that does it
because you don't overcome the wiles of satan by getting involved in the
physical battle and you know i know it's not as
glamorous and i know it's not as fun and it's not as you know most
christians view that battle as being more superior
but who gives a rip what the majority of christians say why don't you stick
with the bible
and look here's proof that people have
are listening to the wrong people fact and that's because of the fact that
christians in california are always moving
and the ones who are moving are the ones who aren't listening
the ones who are moving are moving because they're listening to fear
mongers we have a person in our church who uh
was one of those people for for a time and he even said like i was super close
to moving to florida
you know he was just like and i'm like oh man he should
i would have chose texas before florida but it's one of those things like you
know it's like the niv esv type you know what i mean
he's like he was close to moving to to florida but you know why it's because
he said all i would listen to it is the fear mongering
propaganda the conservative propaganda all that stuff that they're constantly
pumping through he says i would always listen
to it and it got to a point where he's just like i gotta get out of
here i gotta go this is it's getting crazy out here i gotta go
to florida but then he switched it off and started listening to like
preaching the bible he started coming to church
reading his bible you know what the little boogie monster went away
and he now he realizes it's like well it's so crazy
because none of that stuff really happens
everything that they're claiming was going to happen to me never happened
it's just a boogeyman but you know some of you guys like the boogeyman
some of you guys like you you're like these um
these people who like to get scared you know they go to the haunted
houses during halloween or whatever you're like
one of those spiritual people who just love to be afraid i remember years
ago years ago i used to listen i think i
turned on like alex jones i saw his stuff and i
and i was just like he just gave me anxiety
because i saw like one episode of alex jones and i was like crap the world's
coming to an end like the muslims are at my door right now
and it was just like i was like get to it he's like i'm gonna show you
something and he's just like and i remember
thinking to myself like
it's just this constant barrage of anxiety and fear-mongering
and here i am and stuff just never happened
and here's the thing folks is that you know
sometimes it's not even you're not even fighting pawns you're like
you're allowing the pawns to just like serve you
so even though you think you're taking a pawn here and a pawn there
the reality is this is they're taking you off the board and he said you know
once i actually just turned everything off
and here's the attitude of a lot of people yeah but if we turn off well you
know we're not going to know what's going on
yeah that's that's good because most of what they say is going on is a
complete lie i can't tell you how many times i
saw on social media last week videos of people and i'm not
saying there wasn't any floods okay i know there's floods in
california but i literally saw a video
of this massive flood and they're like look at california god's judging california
it's like i saw this video like five years ago it was from like argentina
this is not even in america this is like so and i just so happened to know
that because i remember that footage it was like in some i don't know if
it was argentina but somewhere in central or south america
definitely not united states of america and you know what people are
like yeah that's what california deserves
just completely believing the propaganda and i'm sure that people who are
watching that video who used to go to who used to live in
california were like yeah see that's why i left
oh yeah because the tornadoes and hurricanes are so much better
yeah but you guys got earthquakes you guys have funnels coming down from the
sky ripping roofs off your houses and
taking your dog
that's not fun
but this is look folks it's it's amazing
how much influence the media really does have
and there's people who understand the dangers of media while they're still
being sucked in by the media it's just that they're allowing
themselves to be influenced by people in the media
who claim to be on their side you know the only ones who we have on our
our greatest ally is not israel is not the libertarians of this world
here's our greatest ally here's our greatest allies right here
and you don't realize how sensitive you actually are to the information
they're pumping through social media outlets until someone on
the outside tells you hey you're acting like you're scared
you know you you're acting like a like a person who just doesn't read
the bible you know the bible tells us that god
did not give us a spirit of fear but a power love and a sound
mind and let me just tell you i haven't met anybody who buys into all
that nonsense and has a sound mind it doesn't exist
and so it's important for us to know who the real enemy is my friends
who's the real enemy well look at second corinthians chapter 10 verse 3
it says for though we walk in the flesh we do not war after the flesh
for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through god
to the pulling down of strongholds and so what the bible is telling us here
is that our weapons are not fleshly weapons
they're not fought in this physical world they're fought
in the spiritual realm by us tearing down the strongholds of satan the lies
that satan promotes and propagates how do we do that
verse 5 casting down imaginations and every high
thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of god
and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of christ
the best way for you to tear down some of those
libertarian conservative republican strongholds that you have
is cast that stuff down and exalt the word of god above everything else
and look here's the danger sometimes when people get sucked into that crowd
here's the danger is you show them scripture and like well yeah i know but
still you know but still what
that you're saying that that is exalted above the knowledge of god
folks this is the real battle this is the real fight
and we need to realize who the real enemy is and of course you know the
real enemy believe it or not is not biden
he's just a pawn the real enemy is satan
and obviously there's people who work for satan but let me just tell you
where satan is making the greatest uh how should i say he's achieving the
most he's winning the most people over it's not necessarily through the
political realm it's through religious realms
plain and simple you know these false religions that are being put out there
these false ideologies that are being promoted those are all from satan
and you know i know that's not as glamorous as going to some trump rally
somewhere
and don't get me wrong you know that you know the the the trumpers they're
cool sometimes you know it's fun sometimes you
know because you got people there who are sincere and and you know
they do stand for certain you know biblical values
but let me just say this is the the christers are superior to the
trumpsters and are making a far greater impact you
really think jesus is any trump rally you think his
presence is in any trump rally you think the presence of god is
there i mean if you do you're an idiot
because he's not there you know who's at trump rallies fags are at trump
rallies
faggots are at trump rallies because conservative there's there's conservative
faggots there's conservative republicans i dare
say this probably also conservative libertarian or a faggot libertarians
it exists because that stuff is not based off of what the word of god
says
satan is our enemy and the bible says put on the whole
armor of god in ephesians chapter go to ephesians chapter six
so
and i know when i preach something like this i lose i lose people
because people they don't agree just people in our church who don't agree
with what i'm saying right now
plain and simple but you think i care though you think i preach because i
because i'm worried that you you won't agree with me no i'm telling you
the truth have i become your enemy because i tell you the truth
and you can't refute with what i'm saying if i'm preaching it from the
word of god i you know the only trump that i've seen in the bible is in the
book of revelation has nothing to do with the president
ephesians 6 10 says finally my brethren be strong in the lord and the
power of his might put on the whole armor of god that
ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil the bible says
so it's showing us you know this is a spiritual battle
and satan has some trickery up his sleeve
that he's going to try to use to deceive you now look none of you are
going to be deceived by by liberals which is not going to happen
but you know what you know what satan does have tiers of pawns that he uses
for different people you know the the liberal crowd you
know they're being deceived by just some of them
you know the baser sort it doesn't really require much to deceive them
you understand so he needs to pull out all the stops
for those who are a little bit closer to the bible
which is why you know he uses uh americanism conservatives
libertarians why because it's just close enough to the truth
that makes you think it's it's it's okay and this is how satan operates
all the time you know you're not going to be
deceived by hindus and by buddhists but you know christians can be deceived
by non-denam churches and things that are close to why
because it's close it's in close proximity to the truth
and satan doesn't just have one stop one tactic one while
no he uses a variety of ones in order to deceive people and christians
and obviously he's not going to try to fight you to take away your
salvation because that can't be taken but he can fight you to a point and
deceive you to a point where you're just rendered useless because
you're too busy fighting a battle on the other side that does not count
it's not going to count for eternity there's nothing at the judgment seat of
christ or jesus said you voted for the right
guy well done thou good and faithful servant
be thou over 10 cities you know you did a good job man
you know i voted for him too you know it's just not going to happen
it says in verse 12 we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against
principalities against powers against the rulers of the
darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places
referring to those entities those demonic entities that are
influencing the rulers of this world understand
and so the answer is not to get biden out of office although
everyone would appreciate that
but let me just give you a reality check that you just many people just
don't like if they remove biden and get a
conservative into the white house it's still bad yeah but it's a lesser
evil that's funny i don't i've never seen
the lesser evil in the vote for a lesser evil in the bible
they're just going to get someone in the office
you guys understand like you talk about they talk about left wing right
wing but you ever thought about who's who's
in the middle these are two wings on the same bird
you know why because at the end of the day satan is the one in control
and you're not going to make a difference riding on the left or the
right wing the difference that you make is by shooting down the bird
not riding it
the bible says in second corinthians 2 10 it says to whom you forgive anything
verse 10 i forgive also for if i forgave anything to whom i forgave it
for your sakes forgave i a in the person of christ lest
satan should get an advantage of us for we are not ignorant of his devices
now a lot of christians are ignorant of the devices of satan
but what the bible is telling us here is that the information is
available to you so that you're not ignorant of his devices
so learn your enemy you know know who the real enemy is
it's not your neighbor it's not even the liberal crowd
who doesn't adhere to what the bible says that's not our enemy
and look you know what the last four years have done
it's caused christians to become callous towards people
because it's gotten to a point where like if you see someone with the mask
on which by the way we understand it's stupid
to wear a mask but it's almost as if christians even like look
down upon and despise people who wear masks
i thought you were a christian i thought you're supposed to show
compassion towards people doesn't the bible the bible said to
condescend to men of low estate to be kind to those who are
feeble-minded to those who are deceived but then like you have christians who
just like despise people who wear a mask
they mock them they hate them it's just like dude they're it's a soul though
you know you're fighting the wrong battle that's not the enemy this that
person is not even a piece on the chessboard
and yet you've made that your enemy you know why because of the media and
all that crap that you're listening to
has caused you to think has caused you to move the goal post of who the
real enemy is and now he's causing you to go after
and despise those who need christ they need salvation yeah they got a lot of
stupid beliefs and then wearing a cloth over their
mouth but you know what you're not and it doesn't make you any better
than them but why don't you go win them to christ instead of criticizing
them and saying how stupid they are look
how dumb they are again and obviously it is ridiculous when
someone's riding a car by themselves with the mask on
okay but do we really need to humiliate people if that's what they do
you know are we christians don't we see beyond the physical realm into the
spiritual realm and recognize that there's deception out
there and recognize that there's a lost and dying world that needs christ
and we shouldn't base our faith upon whether someone wears a mask or not
don't let texas and all these conservative red states influence your
way of thinking oh man they're wearing a mask so
what give them the gospel anyways plain and simple yeah but they're not
that easy to win who cares we're not we're supposed to be impartial
preach the gospel to everyone yeah but what if they're a reprobate then you're
just relocated into the lower hell there by giving them more truth
but you know what this i'm telling you over these last four years
in my observation i've seen more christians become cold towards people
who have were just even oh you're like oh man there's people out there
still believe in covet yeah so what there's people out there who believe
in false religion you're late to the party
there's people out there who believe in worse things than just covet they
believe in a false religion how about that
oh man they actually believe all that stuff to happen yeah weren't you at
one point also tossed to and fro didn't you didn't you have to get
saved too weren't you deceived by false religion
weren't you a catholic before were you weren't you someone who
actually believed that the pope had some sort of divine authority
weren't you a pentecostal one time thinking you could lose your salvation
or something yeah it's pretty stupid right but yeah
you know what someone gave you the gospel got you saved had compassion
upon you and you know what if this person who
wears a mask and believes in covet it's real
you know what they've been duped by that you know god forbid that that
should ever happen to us but we should never look down upon someone
someone's soul because of that and impede us from actually loving them
and having compassion upon them why because it's the christian thing to do
that's why
you know stop being cold-hearted towards people
stop being angry and mean with people who are just completely deceived by
satan by the liberal media and telling them
all these you know that's got to stop my friends we're christians before
anything else we're fundamental baptists amen we
have the truth and you know what we should have bowels
of mercies for people who have been deceived by that christians
shouldn't mock people like that but you know that's what social media is
also filled with just mocking a bunch of unsafe people
and you know what the person who wears a mask and believes in covet but
is saved is what is way off better off than the person who
doesn't wear a mask is in the mountain somewhere
knows the covet was all fake but they're gonna split hell wide open
when they die who's gonna have the last laugh then
looks like you're the stupid one because you rejected christ as your
savior
amen go to second corinthians 11 second corinthians 11 this is a spiritual
battle you know i'm giving you a reality a
spiritual reality check tonight i'm stepping on your toes tonight
because i'm trying to wake you up to the legitimacy of this battle that
we're in and you know i might have to preach
some more sermons like this throughout the year just to make sure everyone's
you know they're tuned into the bible they're tuned into spiritual matters
and you know if you don't agree with me that's completely fine but just say you
don't agree with the bible plain and simple because i'm just
showing you what the bible says you know what and here's the thing you
know the same people who disagree with me
are going to agree with me all day long if trump gets in office
they're going to be chilling the entire four years you know they're
going to be all it's it they only start panicking when
when the liberals in the office but then everything is all good and
easy peasy lemon squeezy once the conservatives in the office
i can care less whether it's a liberal or conservative
because god's still on the throne it doesn't change what i believe doesn't
change what i do doesn't change my mentality it doesn't
change who i fear it doesn't change how much bible i read
it doesn't change if i go soul winning i'm the same person no matter who's in
the office look at second corinthians 11 13 for
such a false apostles deceitful workers
transforming themselves into the apostles of christ and no marvel for satan
himself is transformed into an angel of light
therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed
as the ministers of righteousness whose end shall be according
to their works you know who our enemy is false religion
and i'm not even necessarily talking about the people who are caught up in
the false religion i'm talking about people leading the false religions
those are my enemies you know i hate them with perfect hatred
every faggoty pedophile priests every you know what do they call
the muslim teachers imams you know every imam
every catholic priest every orthodox priest
every pharisee and jew and you know uh the teaches out of the talmud every
single one of those spirits those are my enemies
because they actually every mormon is my enemy who's out there
knocking on doors damning people to hell those are my enemies
so i have no bowels of compassion for false prophets
who make it their living preaching a false gospel
and damning people to hell who do i have compassion for the people they're
deceiving that's what i have no problem with
you know if you or me rebuke some sort of false prophet at our door they
deserve in fact they deserve a little more than that
they need they need to be levi williams okay
that's an inside joke i'll tell you about it later can't say it online
you know they deserve a lot more than that
but you know what i have a lot of compassion for those who are deceived
by them muslims are not my enemy muslims are
people who just need to be saved i love muslims and believe it or not
you know what i love jews too you know what i'm against i'm against
those jews who go out of the way digging tunnels
to do wicked stuff in those tunnels
i'm against i'm i'm not against catholics i love catholics
catholics are some of my favorite people to win to the lord because
they're so receptive you know i hate the priests i hate the pope
hate the bishop hate them why because that's what they spend their life
doing is damning people to hell what am i showing you i'm showing you
who the real enemy is the real enemy is not the catholic who's
been deceived by them the real enemy is the one who's doing
the deception is false religion
now what do we do about that well we gotta go vote
amen
this year is the year for you to make a difference
no you know what we do we go soul winning is what we do
and you know if that's not enough for you you're definitely in the wrong
battle that's not enough for you you will see what a difference it makes
when everything's said and done i guarantee you there's gonna be a lot of
safe conservative republican libertarian blah blah blah blah blah
at the judgment seat of christ and it's just gonna be a bonfire
of an encounter because all their time is invested in the wrong things
preach the gospel you know what god says second timothy chapter 2
and verse 24 says the servant of the lord must not strive but be gentle
i have to teach patience and meekness instructing those that oppose themselves
if god peradventure would give them repentance to the acknowledging of the
truth and that they may recover themselves out
of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his
will our job is literally to rescue people
that's what it is you know i was talking to someone at starbucks today
and they're talking about how their family member died and you know
they're going through a tough time and and they're like yeah you know that the
funeral is at a catholic church and the first thing that came to my mind was
like that person for sure is in hell this person was a catholic they died at
the age of 90 they're in hell today and as she's
talking to me like her voice just faded and all i can think about the
fact is this grandma is in hell you know that's the harsh reality
right there that if that person was not saved
tonight they are in hell burning for all of eternity will be
there forever and that's a sad thing isn't it we need
to think about those things you know meditate upon the realities of
hell rather than the reality of who's going to take the office
later on this year you know if you feel like you have a calloused heart
take a couple minutes and think about hell
take a couple minutes and just meditate upon the flames of hell and
those who are there you know i think about the fact that
the majority of my family and my ancestors are probably all in hell
because i'm like the first one to get saved out of my family i don't know any
of any christians in my family they're probably all in hell
there's a lot of people there's people who died today who are in hell
and that is the reality you want to get inspired about something think about
the fact that hell exists my friends and you know what it depends on you
it's on you it's on you to get them saved and and save them
from the flames of hell stop wasting your time in the wrong
battle get yourself in the actual battle to get
to rescue people out of the flames of hell
know that the spiritual battle is real and no it's not in some ballot
it's not in some campaign to uplift that which is abominable in the eyes
of god because everything that is highly
esteemed among men is an abomination in the eyes of god get in the battle
by actually getting someone saved you want to make a difference that's how
you'll do it
do some soul winning you know the real enemy is the world system
that many christians are actually feeding into
the real enemy listen to this is our flesh
how about that you know people readily
recognize the enemy of satan and the enemy of the world system
but then they capitulate to their flesh which is
worse in conjunction sometimes even with satan
to impede you from obeying god from serving god
it just makes you completely immobile and sterile towards the things of god
i hope one of your goals in 2024 is to subject your body
to keep under your body and bring it into subjection unless by any means
when you preach to others you yourself should be a castaway
what do you what are you so what do you mean by that i don't mean
subject your body by losing weight that's a good thing
i don't mean subject your body by going and hitting the gym that's a
really great thing i mean subjecting your body by making it do what god
wants it to do reading the bible praying soul winning
bringing it to church to listen to preaching keeping sin out
of your life being a spirit-filled person because
the spirit-filled person is not just for the
pastors not for the evangelists it's for you
it's for you it's for you it's for everyone
to be spirit-filled and you know what yeah you may not be involved in
alcohol you may not be involved in weed and fornication
but you know what why don't we take care of that pride a little bit why
don't we why don't we brush up on that apathy
and that cold-heartedness and also walk in the spirit to not fulfill the
lust of the flesh put you on the lord jesus christ
and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof you know
the bible tells us let me read you from second timothy 2 3
thou therefore endure hardness is a good soldier of jesus christ
no man that warth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life
that he may please him who has chosen him to be a soldier
kind of saying you know if you're if you're going to strive for masteries
if you're going to be warring you can't be involved with the affairs of
this life and look there's a lot of noble
things that people can get involved in in this world
that are not necessarily bad
a lot of community things you can get involved in that are good things but you
know what they're not expedient things though
all things are lawful unto you but listen to this not all things are
expedient
and the bible says that we should not involve ourselves in the affairs of
this life i remember back at my old iap church they used to
talk about pastors who were hellfire damnation preaching
pastors who were making a big difference and they got so involved in the
political realm that they stepped down from being a pastor to become
a political leader a mayor a governor and to them it was like them stepping up
but really what it is is them stepping way down
way down you know and they just bought into all the propaganda they thought
that would make a better difference a greater difference like that but folks
let me just give you a reality check it you're spinning you it's a fool's
errand that pastor would have made a greater
difference leading people uh restoring families and
marriages teaching people how to raise their
children winning people to christ but i know that's not as glamorous as
that other stuff who cares if we're gonna war and and and
obtain the masteries and obtain the crowns you know what we
can't get involved in the things of this life
you got to keep focus on what the priority is in our christian life
and this is what the sermon is all about it's just to kind of help you
focus in don't get mad at me don't get mad at me because i'm telling
you this because i love you i'm telling you this because of the
fact that this is a spiritual battle you know what you need to refocus a
little bit again you need to kind of get that lens and
just focus it in a little bit because you're
you're getting off track here hey this is a reality check to tell you
hey you stop reading your bible you need to pick it up again
hey you're getting a little worldly you need to get a little more holy again
hey you're neglecting your family and spiritual matters
it's time for you to fix that hey you're listening to the wise men of
this world more than the wise men of this book and
those who are preaching it you need to think about that here's
your monthly reality check we're christians
and you're in a spiritual battle a spiritual warfare
you're starting to get entangled again with the affairs of this life
untangle yourself
that's who the enemy is
go to second corinthians actually no stay in effusions stay in effusions
i gotta finish up because i'm already past time
our flesh gotta fight our flesh and you know sometimes the danger of
what i've observed as a pastor is that sometimes christians are content with
going to church but you know they're just not necessarily improving
in the practical matters of the christian life
they're sowing which is great sometimes they don't want to improve
in this in the practical aspects of the christian life
both of them are important my friends preach the gospel
but clean up your life too preach the gospel but lead your family too
preach the gospel but you know what uh keep your husband in love with you and
keep your wife in love with you raise your children for the lord amen
you know this i say therefore in testifying the lord the walk not as
other gentiles walk and the vanity of their minds being
alienated from the life of god through the ignorance that is in them
because of the blindness of their heart but ye have not so learned christ
it shall be that you've heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is
in jesus that you put off the old man the old
conversation and that you be renewed in the spirit
of your mind which after god is created in righteousness and true
holiness the bible says it's a constant command to remind us on a
daily basis i need to put off the old man
and put on the new man i need to walk in the spirit i gotta realize
you know i'm in a spiritual battle i'm raising kids here i'm raising my sons
i'm raising my daughters and you know what i need to keep in mind
that i'm raising them in the nurture and the admonition of
the lord not your favorite farm farmer out there and what they think
you should be raising your kids as nurture and admonition of the lord
not what your favorite podcaster thinks nurture and admonition of the lord
not what your favorite whatever family oriented podcast who's a mormon
thinks of the lord god put enough in here for you to have the wisdom to
raise your family and i'm just telling you no satan is
really good at just inserting subtle things so you can
make incremental changes without even knowing it a little
mormonism here a little mormon influence here you know
and i keep saying social media because i'm on social media
and i see some of the stuff that goes on i saw a video of this guy
and i was like man this guy's cool he makes all these like
um he just does these survival videos he's this white guy
oh that's why it was recommended to me okay you know
he does these like like ice houses like if he's in the mountains
he knows how to cut out ice and so you won't freeze in there
and all these things i'm like oh man that's good you know he knows how to
make fires and you know live like a caveman you know all that
stuff you know he just knows how to survive
and then i'm just kind of like watching his videos like wow this guy's
really cool and he seems like a really nice guy
and i really like i think he's really nice he's really cool you know
and then he's like let me tell you about my faith
he's like i was on the mission field for this many years and i'm like
mission field and then you see that stinking white shirt
the shorts that dang short sleeve shirt
with that freaking black name tag it's a mormon
i have to go through all the videos and like unlike his stuff you know
i'm like man he they infiltrated me they got me to like a mormon you know
what i mean ah i just feel like dirty
oh you're exaggerated no i'm just cloaked with the zeal
of or i have the cloak of zeal upon me that's what it is
you know when you're a little zealous that stuff bothers you a little bit you
know if it doesn't bother you you know what you might want to clothe
yourself with a little zeal yeah you might want to go get yourself a
little cloak there looking a little naked there not not
very zealous or enthusiastic about the things of god not really offended
but the things that offend god
they do it like that they'll insert it little by little
and lastly you know being a formidable opponent
means being properly equipped and armored
so it's not really if it's not enough to just be filled with the spirit and
put on the new man god also commands us to put on
certain things even on top of that because the bible says in ephsians
chapter 6 wherefore take unto you the whole armor of god
that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to
stand and he talks about the breastplate of
righteousness what is that righteous living
it's practical righteous living verse 15
your feet shot with the preparation of the gospel of peace that means you
are prepared to to just drop the gospel and
preach the gospel at any given moment it's in your heart verse 16 says above
all taking the shield of faith wherewith he shall be able to quench all
the fiery darts of the wicked what is that
you know be fully persuaded in the promises of god
you're not easily scared you know when satan tries to come at you with fiery
darts and make you afraid of the economy
and the gas and all these things are taking place you just got that shield
and you're like god's got me he's going to take care of me
you quench those fiery darts says in verse 17
take the helmet of salvation what is that just having a ready mind
being vigilant having a ready mind for whatever happens
verse eight but let us who are excuse me verse it goes on to say in the
sword of the spirit which is the word of god we cover
that which is the the word of god the sword of the spirit
and verse 18 says praying always with all prayer and supplication in the
spirit watching there unto with all
perseverance and supplication for all saints sounds to me that like
he's talking about armor and swords and shields sounds like a fight or
something are we supposed to be fighting or
something yeah but i'm sure you know the apostle
paul was just trying to throw in filler stuff in
chapter six or something
you can go on about your day and just you'll be all right
just keep listening to your favorite whatever be influenced by whatever
don't read too much hey don't be so radical
about the christian life don't get so
overly radicalized by the bible just you know just be a good christian
what's wrong with a little mormon entertainment
a little chosen here and there
phooey with that
i want to be a formidable opponent i want to be the one in first john
chapter two that says you've overcome the wicked one
because you're strong and the word of god abided that you
you've overcome the wicked one let me just say this
here's the last thing and i'm done i guarantee you
i guarantee you the majority of christians don't win
now we win in the end but most christians never get to this point
where it could be said of them you've overcome the wicked one
you're a formidable opponent you've defeated
why because it's hard to do these things it's hard
it's hard to get up monday morning to do these things
but you know what this is what's necessary if you're going to save
yourself and them that hear thee from false doctrine from the laws of satan
from the temptations of your flesh from all
the rudiments and philosophies of this world that are trying to deceive you
to make you an inferior christian in this world i hope you're working on it
let's pray father we thank you so much for your word
and uh lord thank you for this reminder i know there's a lot of hard
truths here and i pray that you'd help us lord as
your people to peel back the veil the spiritual veil lord to
help us to realize what is actually going on and
righteous living is a good thing and sometimes
if we've cleaned up our lives we can think that we've arrived but the
at the end of the day there's just new levels new devils
and so we need to be aware of the constant deception that's going on out
there that is trying to take our attention away from the real battle
the real war at hand and i pray that you'd help us to do
so as a church lord may your hand be upon first works baptist church and the
members we love you we thank you pray these things in jesus name amen
amen we're gonna sing i'd rather have jesus if you need a
song sheet please keep your hand raised and the address will come by
and give you one
i'd rather have jesus
brother ron over here needs one brother ron brother cody
so
all right everybody's got one we're gonna see it on that first verse
i'd rather have jesus than silver or gold
i'd rather be his than have riches untold
i'd rather have jesus than houses or land
i'd rather be led by his nail pierced
than to be the king of a vast omen or be held
in since dreads way
i'd rather have jesus than anything
this world
i'd rather have jesus than man's applause
i'd rather be faithful to his dear cause
i'd rather have jesus than worldwide fame
i'd rather be true to his holy name
be the king of a vast omen
or be held in since dreads way
i'd rather have jesus than anything
this world affords today
he's further than lilies a rarest bloom
he's sweeter than honey from out the comb
he's all that my hungering spirit needs
i'd rather have jesus and let him breathe
than to be the king of a vast omen
held in since dreads way
i'd rather have jesus than anything
this world affords today
amen wonderful singing you are dismissed