Alright, we are in Luke chapter number four, look at verse number seven.
It says here, if thou therefore will worship me, all shall be thine.
And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan, for it is written,
Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve.
And he brought him to Jerusalem and set him on a pinnacle of the temple.
And said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence, for it
is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee, and in their hands
they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.
Now go with me if you would to first John chapter number two.
First John chapter number two, and the title of the sermon this evening is When Satan Attacks.
Go to first John chapter number two.
Now when it comes to the subject of Satan, we need to make sure that we're wise unto
good and simple concerning evil.
We don't want to try to go outside of any biblical interpretation of what the Bible
tells us about Satan.
Who cares what any YouTube documentary says about the devil and how they saw him in visions
and how he looks and all these things.
You know, obviously, maybe there's some validity, especially when it comes to the Illuminati
and how, you know, he's running this world through these secret societies.
Yeah, I understand that there's some validity to that.
But at the end of the day, we need to go to the Bible, and we need to see what the Bible
has to tell us in regards to how he attacks, what his nature is, and how we can basically
overcome him.
Now Hollywood has painted the picture of Satan as being this red horn, you know, long tailed,
you know, being that simply is battling with God and God is battling with him.
And it's like God versus Satan, when nothing can be further from the truth.
Because the fact of the matter is, if you read at the end of the book, we win.
More specifically, God wins.
Okay, Satan is already going to be condemned to hell.
He's already lost the battle.
God is just using him, as Pastor Anderson would say, to take out the trash.
He's using him for that reason.
And yes, there are innocent people who are going to be deceived by Satan, and will spend
the rest of eternity in hell.
But that's where we come into the picture.
And we want to go out there and preach the gospel, see them saved, and there is a spiritual
battle with him.
But at the end of the day, it's not this God versus Satan where like God doesn't know what
to do.
He needs us to overcome Satan.
No, we need God to overcome Satan.
Greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world.
Now look what it says in verse number 13 of 1 John.
It says here, I write unto you, fathers, because you have known him that is from the beginning.
I write unto you, young man, 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 man, because you are strong, and the word of God abideth
in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.
So what do we see here according to the Bible?
Well, the main means by which we can overcome Satan is by the word of God.
Why?
Because you can do nothing against the truth before the truth.
And the Bible tells us that Satan is the father of lies.
And what defeats a lie?
The truth.
Now go with me if you would to 2 Corinthians chapter number 2.
So here we see that young men can overcome the wicked one if the word of God abides in
you.
Now notice it doesn't say if you know how to rebuke the devil in Jesus' name, you know.
If you know how to do spiritual battle and, you know, rebuke him and holla shalabang
on a six-pack dollar type of Pentecostal type rituals where they try to, they feel like
they're literally doing these battles against Satan, you know, these spiritual beings, these
spiritual battles.
That's not the way a spiritual battle works.
And the weapons of our warfare are not carnal.
So it's not by means of yelling at Satan, you know, and casting out devils and demons.
That garbage does not work.
You know, you may have watched Exorcism, Exorcist a little one too many times.
You know, that's garbage and it doesn't work.
I guarantee you Satan would like for you to think it works, you know what I mean, to make
you look stupid, to make you look idiotic.
But at the end of the day, the sword of the Spirit is what helps us to overcome Satan.
And I'm going to explain what I mean by overcoming Satan, all right.
Now one thing we do have to understand though is that we are in a battle against Satan,
but not specifically with Satan.
What do I mean by that?
Well, you know, Satan's not omnipresent.
So you know, he's not battling every single one of us.
In fact, to be quite honest with you, he probably has bigger fish to fry.
But the Bible does tell us that we are battling, we're not warring against flesh and blood,
against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of the world, against
spiritual wickedness in high places.
So he has demons and devils working for him who are fighting against us.
But it would be safe to say yes, we're fighting against Satan because it's his infrastructure
that we're going up against.
And it's that infrastructure that's going up against us as well.
And it would be ignorant, it would be foolish to think that the Christian life is just roses
and daisies and there is no fighting.
You need to recognize that we are in a spiritual battle.
Do we have a good time?
Yes.
You know, are there times of victory, times of joy?
Absolutely.
But at the end of the day, we're in a war.
We are in a battle.
And if you don't recognize that and put that at the forefront of your mind every once in
a while, you know, you're on the losing part of that battle.
Now you're in 2 Corinthians chapter 2, I'm going to read to you from 1 Thessalonians
chapter 2 verse number 18.
It says, Wherefore, we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again, but Satan
hindered us.
Let that sink in a little bit.
There are times when Satan can hinder us.
Now, you know, what that specifically means or what he's referring to, I'm not quite sure,
but maybe if I were to safely assume, I would say it's through wicked people.
You know, it's through reprobates or infiltrators, etc.
But we're not going to necessarily focus on that today because I hit on that last week.
And those are actually pretty easy to take care of.
You know, when Satan attacks us through infiltrators, this is what we do.
We kick them out.
We call them out by name and we boot their hinder parts out of the church.
That's what we do.
And then we post it on YouTube, amen.
So that others may be warned of these infiltrators, these wicked heretics who want to bring damnable
heresy into our church.
That's the purpose of it.
But that's easy.
You know, when their folly is made manifest like Eric Ballesteros and he started posting
stupid videos about how you can stop believing and try to propagate their garbage, you know,
that's when we step in and say either you repent of this, you get it right, or you're
thrown out, you know.
And let the door hit you where the Lord split you, you know, because we have no sympathy.
We have no mercy, no compassion for damnable heretics who are infiltrating our church.
Those are actually the easiest attacks that we can actually overcome.
Attacks like, hey, to be quite honest with you, it's kind of fun sometimes, okay.
You know, the attacks that often are not that fun is those attacks that come maybe from
other Christians.
Or attacks from Satan and his minions that use our own flesh, use our weaknesses, use
times of difficulty of trials and tribulations, and those are the difficult ones to overcome.
You see, when an infiltrator comes into our church, we band together, don't we?
It makes our church stronger, doesn't it?
You know, we band together to fight against the enemies of God, and it's just take out
the trash and that's it.
Those are easy to overcome.
But it's these other ones that are not so easy that we need to give heed to a lot more.
Look at verse number 10 of 2 Corinthians, it says here, to whom you forgive anything,
I forgive also.
For if I forgave anything to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I in the person
of Christ, lest Satan should get an advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices.
You see, there's a lot of Christians who are simply ignorant of what the devices that Satan
uses to overcome Christians.
You know, they just live with their head in a hole somewhere and try to just be completely
ignorant of what Satan tries to use.
Now go to, you don't have to turn there actually, go with me if you would to 2 Corinthians 10.
Now in 2 Corinthians chapter 2, he couples being ignorant of his devices with forgiving.
You know why?
Because one of Satan's devices that he uses against Christians is bitterness.
They become bitter towards a person, they become bitter towards the church, they become
bitter towards an individual, a family member, whatever it may be, and that can often really
derail a Christian in a big way.
Because they can't forgive that person, that person is just, you know, on their mind 24-7,
they harm that person, and Satan can actually use that to hinder that Christian from going
forward for God.
You see, the life of a Christian should be characterized by forgiveness.
Be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake
hath forgiven you.
And so we need to make sure we apply that to our personal lives and recognize that we're
not ignorant of that device that Satan tries to use against us.
But it says devices.
So there's more than one way that Satan tries to skin the cat.
There's more than one way that he tries to hinder us.
There's more than one way that he attacks us.
Now before we get into 2 Corinthians 10, let me just mention this by way of introduction
is that it's imperative that we daily have victory over Satan's attacks.
The reason for that is because in Luke chapter 4 when Satan is attacking Jesus, Jesus comes
out like a champ, amen?
And the Bible tells us that at the last temptation, Satan, he departs for a season and Jesus Christ
comes back in the power of the Spirit.
You see, when you win a battle, you come out stronger than when you went in the first time.
And if you want to grow, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might, you need
to learn to overcome the wicked one.
You need to be able to overcome the wicked one with straight A's, doing well, pleasing
God and in the power of the Spirit.
A lot of people, they fail, they falter, they give into temptation, they allow Satan to
just trample all over them because they don't actually try to do any fighting.
Let me just let you in on a little secret.
When you're fighting toe to toe with someone, you never win by just defending yourself.
You know, a boxing match is never won just defending yourself.
You got to throw a hook, you got to throw a right, you got, you know, in kickboxing
you got to throw a knee, a flying elbow.
You got to make sure, you know, the defense is important so you can set yourself up for
a knockout, set them up for a knockout, okay?
You see, the Christian life is not just defensive.
We got to be offensive as well.
We need to make sure that we're constantly on the offense, fighting the good fight of
faith, amen?
Why is that?
Because then we return to the power of the Spirit, that we have God's favor, his power
in our lives to be able to accomplish great things.
Now, how does Satan attack?
Well, let me say first and foremost, I'm going to mention the battlefield of his attacks
which is our mind, okay?
It's not through, you know, apparition in your house, you know, where the shadow comes
about and tries to choke you or something like that, you know, too much Hollywood movies,
okay?
It's not through any of those means.
That's not how necessary our Satan attacks.
Where does he attack?
The mind?
Look what the Bible says in 2 Corinthians chapter number 10 and verse number 3, 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, 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.
So we see there that God commands us to cast down imaginations.
That's referring to the mind.
You see, if Satan can get a stronghold in your mind via a lie, via doubting God's word,
via whatever may be that pleases God, he's got you hook, line and sinker through imaginations.
Now go to 1 Peter chapter 1.
How do you imagine a vain thing?
How is it that people can open themselves up to imaginations from Satan, you know, through
lies?
Well, one is through just simply being idle.
You know, when you're idle and you're not doing anything, you're just sitting there
just thinking and not thinking about anything productive, you often open yourself up to
satanic attack.
Why?
Because you're imagining, the Bible says that the heart is deceitful above all things and
desperately wicked.
Who can know it?
And when you're just there alone, just with your own thoughts, you're not being productive,
you're not reading the Bible, you're not praying, you're not soul winning, you're not working,
you're not doing things like that, you're not keeping your mind busy, Satan comes and
he attacks you.
He uses the imaginations.
Now what do we do against that?
Well, we cast down those imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against
the knowledge of God, because every imagination seeks to exalt itself against the knowledge
of God.
You see, that's why we need to make sure that we gird up the loins of our mind, okay?
Now I'm gonna read to you from Philippians 4, verse number 8, it says, finally, brethren,
whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever
things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there
be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things.
You see, it doesn't take a whole lot of discipline to be negative.
That's easy.
I mean, I don't know if it is for me.
It's easy to be critical and negative and just like think about the worst aspects of
life.
That's easy.
It takes discipline to think on these things.
It takes discipline to think on the goodness of God.
It takes discipline to be positive in your outlook and your perspective of life.
And that's what we need to do.
We need to discipline ourselves to be positive thinkers.
And when I say positive thinkers, I'm not talking about like, you know, the little train
that could or whatever.
It's like, I think I can, I think I can.
If you could think it, you can make it.
Now I'm talking about think on these things.
I'm talking about thinking of, of, of the, when I talk about positive, I'm talking about
the promises of God.
Now look at 1 Peter 1 verse 12, 13, excuse me, it says, Wherefore, gird up the loins
of your mind and be, be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought
unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance.
So what is it saying here?
Well, when it talks about girding up the loins of your mind, it's, it's that figurative,
it's that, it's symbolic of a man girding up his loins to work.
He's girding up his loins to work.
And therefore, spiritually speaking, we need to gird up the loins of our mind and fortify
it to work.
Not to be idle, not to just waste time, not to waste time on social media, not to waste
time on video games.
Amen?
You know, turning your brain to mush, making you an idiot.
Okay, look, if you play video games, all right, don't tell me, but look, go read a book instead.
You know, why don't you go read a book instead?
Why don't you go learn a trade?
Why don't you learn a skill?
Why don't you gird up the loins of your mind?
You know, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober.
And it says there in verse number 14, as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according
to the former lust in your ignorance.
You see, a person who's not girding up the loins of his mind is not only idle, he's ignorant.
In other words, he's not adding knowledge to his mind.
He's deciding to be ignorant.
And my people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge.
He says don't fashion yourselves according to the former lust in your ignorance.
In other words, what he's saying is, look, know what the Bible says, know what harms
you, know the commandments of God, know what God says, thou shall not and thou shalt, and
do those things.
Don't fashion yourself according to the former lust.
When you didn't know any of these things, well, now that you have the Holy Spirit of
God living within you, now that you have the Bible, don't be ignorant.
You know, if you're not a fast reader, that's okay, read the Bible slowly, but gain knowledge.
You know, I just get bored.
Well, then you really need to turn off the TV then and just not watch it at all.
Because television gives you a short attention span, it makes you stupid, it turns your brain
to mush, and it causes you to be lax in regards to the Bible.
You know, because you're used to having one image after another, whereas the Bible requires
concentration and focus, okay?
It goes on to say, verse 15, but as he which hath called you is holy, so be holy in all
manner of conversation, because it is written, be holy, for I am holy.
So notice that being holy works in tandem with girding up the loins of our mind.
Why?
Because when we think right, we're gonna act right.
When we think according to the Word of God, it's gonna flesh itself out, and we're gonna
be holy as he is holy.
But that requires us to know what the Bible says.
You know, the Bible tells us to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ.
The grace of God that hath appeared to all men, teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly
lust.
This is what God teaches us through his Word, to be holy.
The Bible tells us in Philippians 2, verse 5, let this mind be in you, which is also
in Christ Jesus.
So we need to make sure that we understand that one of the ways that Satan attacks is
through our imaginations.
And look, stop imagining the people are looking at you.
I don't know, she looked at me a little weird right now.
I don't think she likes me, you know.
You're imagining things.
Go have a cup of coffee.
Amen.
He said that like a little, I don't know, he said hi a little weird to me.
Like I just feel like, I just feel like he doesn't like me, you know.
You need to go soul winning or something.
Go do something else.
You're imagining things.
You know, people can often create a large scenario without nothing ever being done.
You know, the ladies are laughing because mostly it's the ladies, right.
Let me just be real honest with you, okay.
Yeah, I said it, okay.
Ladies have a very broad imagination.
And if they're not careful, you could allow your imaginations to get the best of you.
You know, gird up the loins, no, you're not wearing pants, but gird up the loins of your
mind.
Amen.
Gird up the loins of your mind.
If you're really cold of those imaginations that are causing you to fear and have anxiety
and doubt, you need to get your mind into the word of God.
And look, if you don't have children and you're married, you need to make sure that you stay
busy at home, okay.
Stay busy at home.
Give yourselves projects.
And then when you have children, don't worry, you'll be busy.
You'll be busy.
You definitely will be busy.
But if that's not the case right now, you need to keep yourself busy.
Keep your mind busy because if not, your imaginations can get the best of you.
Think of David.
When Saul went to David and said, hey, I'm not going to chase you anymore.
This is the paraphrase version.
I'm not going to chase you anymore.
I'm not going to go after you anymore.
David said this.
David said in his heart, the Bible says, I shall now one day fall by the hand of Saul.
And he went into the land of the Philistines for like a year.
The land of the enemies because he imagined in his heart that Saul would one day kill
him.
Now, did that happen?
No.
How did David die?
The way everyone would want to die.
In bed with his family around him, old, accomplished, that's how he died.
Yet he spent, he wasted an entire year of his life, you know, in the land of the Philistines
because he said in his heart that one day he would fall by the hand of Saul.
This is just an imagination.
You know, be careful what you tell yourself in your heart, okay.
The Bible tells us, go to Romans chapter 12.
Romans chapter number 12.
You know, don't imagine a vain thing.
Don't have the, don't create scenarios.
Your imagination should be used for goals.
Your imagination should be used for accomplishments, for things that you want to do for God in
the future, to dream big for your children.
You know, ways you can improve as a person with your skills.
This is what our imagination is for.
To think upon what may be with us in the Lord.
But if we're not careful, that can just turn around and bite us in the rear end and we
can actually regress as a Christian because of our imaginations.
Okay, look at Romans 12 verse 1.
It says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your
bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,
they may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
You know, when someone is led by their imaginations, they have poor judgment, poor judgment.
Whereas when you renew your mind, you're able to prove, you're able to test what is that
good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
You can think clearly, you know what's going on because you have your loins, the loins
of your mind girded up.
Don't let Satan get a hold of your imaginations.
Test it down.
Throw it down.
Now, I'm not saying you have to like be animated when you do it like at home, you know, like
you're just actually like fighting, you're just casting things down.
It's just figurative to tell us, hey, we need to make sure if your imaginations are getting
the best of you, that should be a red flag and an announcement to you that you're not
in the Bible enough.
Okay.
And look, if you're having trouble sleeping at night, okay, if you're having trouble,
I'm not talking about the ladies who are pregnant, okay.
That's, I get you, okay.
You know, if you're having trouble sleeping at night, it's because number one, you're
not working enough throughout the day.
Don't tell me you have insomnia but you're not working, okay.
You know, go work and you don't have to worry about insomnia.
You have to worry about not waking up if you work hard enough, okay.
You know, if you're having trouble sleeping at night, it's because you're just imagining
things and you're just sitting in bed thinking about the worst outcome of your situation.
Stay busy for the Lord.
Let God take care of the things you can't control and move on.
Do what you're supposed to do.
But don't let your imaginations ruin your life.
You got to make sure you renew your mind on a constant basis.
And look, the worst situation that can happen to you in this lifetime is still nothing in
comparison to eternity, amen.
So hey, as bad as your situation may be, still nothing in comparison to the fact that
it doesn't compare to the weight of glory that you're going to see in the future and
eternity.
Now go to Ephesians chapter number five.
So the battlefield of his attacks is our mind.
Place an emphasis on your mind.
You know, make sure that you're exercising yourself rather unto godliness.
Make sure you are feeding your mind.
Make sure, and look, maybe just not even with the Bible, maybe just read a book outside
of the Bible.
Just exercise your mind.
You know, train your mind to learn.
Train your mind to read, to learn a skill, to do something that will exercise your mind.
Memorize things, even if it's not the Bible.
Okay, why?
Because you know, you don't want your brain to go to mush.
It's very important that your brain works sufficiently as a Christian.
Why?
Because we need to focus.
We need to concentrate.
We need to be sober.
We need to be vigilant because our adversary the devil walketh about as a roaring lion
seeking whom he may devour.
Now the second thing I want to get into is the timeline of his attacks.
What is the timeline?
Well, he attacks in seasons because it tells us in Luke chapter four that he departed from
Christ for a season.
Now we see Satan throughout the gospels in a sense of, you know, his minions possessing
people and so on and so forth, but really we don't see him come about until he enters
into Judas which turns in Jesus.
That was three years right after the fact when he started his ministry.
So that was the season, okay?
And we need to recognize that fighting Satan is a lifetime process.
So you might have beat Satan last week, but it may not be the same this week.
It may not be the same next month.
It may not be the same next year.
He comes in seasons.
So you can't live off of last year's victory is what I'm saying.
You know, a lot of churches are like that, aren't they?
They want to talk about the heyday and how they overcame all these battles in the heyday
and how we used to be.
Yeah, you are used to be here is what you used to be, okay?
You know, we need to make sure that, yeah, thank God for the victories of the past, but
understand that there's still battles in the future coming up.
That's the timeline.
Satan always comes in season.
He said, why is that important?
Well, it's important so you don't put your guard down because when you're prospering
in your Christian life, you often forget that there's an enemy out to get you, okay?
And when you forget, you put your guard down, you think of David who everything, everything
was going fine and dandy.
They were winning battles.
And what does the Bible tell us?
At a time when kings go forth to battle, David tear behind in Jerusalem and what happened
in Jerusalem?
Well, he got into adultery, okay?
And Satan was able to use that to really destroy his life.
Now obviously, that was his flesh, but that was a tool that Satan used to drop him, okay?
Now look at Ephesians chapter 5 verse 14, Wherefore, he saith, Awake thou that sleepest,
and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because
the days are evil.
What days?
These days.
The days in which you live are evil.
Therefore God says you need to redeem the time.
Use your time wisely is what it's telling us.
Use your time to be productive.
Use your time to be spiritual, to grow, to know the Bible.
Give yourself over to prayer as we talked about this morning.
Redeem that time because the days are evil.
Now you may not be in an evil day today, but tomorrow could be a different day.
Things can change at the drop of a hat.
At the drop of a hat, things can change just like that, and look, when things change and
something catastrophic takes place in your life, it's hard if you have not read the Bible
or if you have not exercised yourself in disciplines, in spiritual disciplines, to just start up
when you're going through that trial.
I mean do it because that's what you got to do, but it's very hard to do it when you're
going through a trial.
It's better to do it beforehand and go into the trial already having those disciplines.
I think we can say that Job walked with God before all that stuff took place in his life,
and that's why he said he didn't charge God foolishly.
That's why he said the Lord hath given the Lord taken, blessed be the name of the Lord.
I mean that's a grade A attitude to have when you just lost all your children, all your
possessions, that which is most important in your life, and even the respect of your
wife.
I mean when your wife's telling you to curse God and die, it's like okay, I got nobody.
But he obviously had a close relationship with God.
He obviously walked with the Lord.
He obviously redeemed the time, and when that evil day came upon him which Satan did unto
him, he passed with flying colors.
But it's sad to say that that's not everyone.
People rather choose to just waste their time playing video games, doing things that
don't matter, not focusing on their spiritual life, and when the evil day comes, they backslide.
What does it mean to backslide?
It means you regress.
You get out of church.
You don't read your Bible.
You're allowing sin into your life.
You go backwards, and you're not going forward anymore.
Our church started about a year and a half ago, and guess what?
Thankfully, there's a lot of people who were here when we first started the church, or
should I say in Tustin, when we first started the church, but there's a lot of people who
aren't.
They backslid.
Not everyone.
There's people who just moved or whatever it may be, but there are those who simply
backslid.
Why?
Because they did not redeem the time.
They didn't take into account that there was an evil day coming upon them one day as well.
And look, when an evil day comes, it doesn't necessarily mean that you're a bad person.
Job was not a bad person.
It's just that the days are evil.
Go to Ephesians 6.
I'm going to finish reading from Ephesians 5, verse 17 says, Wherefore, be not unwise,
but understanding what the will of the Lord is, and be not drunk with wine where in his
excess, but be filled with the Spirit.
Ephesians 6, verse 13 says, 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.
Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate
of righteousness, et cetera.
Now go to James chapter number one.
James chapter number one.
So recognize this, attacks come in seasons.
And I'm not saying like live in paranoia.
Don't be like a paranoid Christian where you're just like, is today the evil day?
Is it going to happen today?
You know, just live life.
Live life, serve God, take care of your spiritual responsibilities, and when that day comes
upon you, it doesn't come upon you unawares, because you've been exercising yourself unto
godliness, and what happens?
You're basically ready for it when it comes.
And then as you begin to mature, you actually expect it.
And you plow through that thing with flying colors, just succeeding through that thing,
overcoming the wicked one, doing great, okay?
Now let's talk about the target of his attack.
What is the target?
He attacks us when we're the weakest.
You know, you guys ever watch National Geographic?
That big buff lion?
What does he go for?
Does he go for the big buff zebra?
No, he goes for the young'un, you know, the one who's like can't run as fast, or the one
that's sickly, or the one that's like limping or whatever it may be.
Why?
Because that's the easiest one to get.
That's not to say he, you know, obviously he will go for the meaty one if that's the
only one there.
Primarily, they will go for the weakest link.
And Satan attacks us when we're the weakest, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
That's when he attacks, okay?
Now how do we know that?
Well, because when he attacked Jesus Christ, he had just fasted for 40 days and 40 nights,
and guess what?
He was weak.
Obviously he's got in the flesh, but because he took upon him the flesh, you know, he needed
to eat, and if he didn't eat, he'd be weak in the flesh.
And that's exactly when he was attacked.
You know, he was tempted with bread, he was tempted with, yeah, kingdoms.
He was attacked with many things, but yet he overcame that, but we see there that what
condition was he in?
He was weak.
He was tired.
And look, let me just tell you this, is that that is when Satan will attack you.
When you're physically weak.
I'm not saying now, you know, go to the gym and just start, go pump weights or whatever,
you know, just Satan's not going to get me.
I'm talking about like, when you're physically weak, he already got you because you're so
prideful, right?
No, I'm just kidding.
I'm talking about the fact that he attacks you when you're tired.
You know, we get tired, and what happens when you get physically tired, you actually get
emotionally tired, you know, and what happens when you're emotionally tired?
You're cranky, okay?
You're emotional.
You're just like up and down and up and down, and what happens when you're emotionally tired?
Well, it's all linked together.
You get spiritually tired as well because when you're physically tired, you're emotionally
tired, you're not picking up the Bible.
You're not praying.
You're not asking God to help you to be filled with the Spirit.
You're not walking in the Spirit so you don't fulfill the lust of the flesh, and what happens?
That's when Satan moves in, okay?
Now what I have here in James chapter one, look at verse 13.
Let no man say, when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted
with evil, neither tempted he any man.
But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed.
Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth
forth death.
Do not err, my beloved brethren.
So what is it telling us here?
Ultimately, it's our fault.
Even if Satan's the one putting it out there, it's our fault.
Now what is the remedy to this?
How do we make sure that when we're tired, because it's going to happen physically, when
we're emotional, because it's going to happen, when we're spiritually weak, because it's
going to happen?
What do we do to compensate for that?
Well, there's something that's called standards, and standards are protective barriers that
we place in our life when we're spiritual so that when we're weak, we can't give in
to sin.
You know, when we're tempted, we've set up a protective barrier that protects us from
getting into sin, okay?
You know, a good example of this is, you know, I remember, and I think I've mentioned this
before, I remember when I first got saved, I learned this principle from my old pastor,
my father-in-law, and he basically taught us to separate from friends because my temptation,
my biggest temptation when I got saved were my friends who were worldly, you know, gangsters
and just guys who, you know, and gangsters are not necessarily doing like Bible studies
on Friday night.
I don't know if you know that, okay?
You know, these people who are not a good influence, I knew that if I kept hanging out
with those people, I was going to revert to doing what they're doing.
So what did I do to abstain from that?
What did I do to protect myself from that?
Well, one thing I did was that I erased all their phone numbers from my phone, okay?
So that when I was weak and I was tempted, I would not be willing, I couldn't call them
because I don't know their numbers.
I didn't memorize numbers.
I just have them on my phone there, right?
But I took it a step further.
I actually got myself a new number so that they couldn't contact me.
So not only would I not be able to contact them, they were not able to contact me in
a time of weakness.
Oh, you're just, you're exaggerating.
That's too much.
That's too radical.
Yeah, you know, I had friends who did not do that, who got saved around the same time
I did.
And guess where they're at?
Well, not in church.
Because in a time of weakness, their drinking buddies came around.
Their drinking buddies got a hold of them.
And what were they doing a week after?
Drinking 40s with them, you know?
And look, you could be King James, Baptist, soul winning, leather lung all you want to
be, but the fact remains is that we're flesh.
And if you don't set up those protective barriers in your personal life, you're going to give
into those things, you know?
Let him that stand and take heed lest he fall, okay?
And that's what helps us during these emotionally unstable periods of our life.
When you're strong, when you're reading the Bible, you're praying, you make sure that
you set up protective barriers in your personal life so you don't make provision for the flesh
to fulfill the lust thereof, okay?
That's what you need to do.
And don't go into this with like, well, I'm spiritual right now and I'm strong.
I know that I can overcome it.
You know, you should be strong enough to understand that you can't overcome it.
And therefore, you want to set up those standards and protective barriers that will help you
through that.
Matthew 14 verse 38 says, watch ye and pray lest ye enter into temptation.
The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.
Go to 1 Peter chapter 5, 1 Peter chapter number 5.
You know, people get emotional, they get emotional, you know?
And there's nothing wrong with emotions.
God gives us emotions.
But we got to make sure that we like, we control our emotions.
You know, he that ruleth his spirit is greater than, or excuse me, is more mighty than he
that taketh the city.
You know, he that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down
and without walls, you know, without walls, you know, like those protective barriers.
Why?
You're allowing the enemy to come in and basically mess up your life, to tempt you and cause
you to fall and stumble.
Now look at this, what it says here in 1 Peter chapter 5, because we know the scripture where
it talks about Satan walking about as a roaring lion, right?
But look at verse number 7.
The verse is right before that.
Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.
Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about
seeking whom he may devour.
So what do we have to do first before we're sober and vigilant?
Well, we got to cast our cares upon him, for he cares for us.
That's the emotional aspect of our being.
You know, when you're stressed, you're not able to pay the bills, you're in debt, you
know, and the list goes on and on and on.
You got to cast those cares upon the Lord, for he careth for you.
Because it's in those times that you're like, man, just forget everything, you know.
I'm a failure, I can't do it.
You get discouraged, you know, this is never going to be wiped away, or I'm never going
to be able to fix this situation.
You know, you need to cast your care upon him, for he cares for you.
And then be sober, be vigilant, and understand, hey, you got to be careful in that situation
because your adversary is going to try to devour you in this condition that you're in.
He's going to try to devour you in the state that you're in.
Why?
Because you're weak at that point.
Okay?
Go to Romans chapter number 8, and look, just face facts.
You know, while we're in this flesh, we are going to be battling Satan and our flesh until
the day we die, or Christ comes back and raptures us.
It's going to happen, okay?
Now look what it says here in verse number, verse 26, it says, Likewise the Spirit also
helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we opt, but the Spirit
itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
And he that searcheth the heart knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh
intercessions for the saints according to the will of God.
So we see here that it talks about the infirmities of our flesh, and it says that the Spirit
that dwells within us makes intercessions with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Now what groanings is it referring to?
Look at verse number 22, it says, For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth
in pain together until now, and not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits
of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit
the redemption of our body.
You know what we groan?
We groan what it talks about in Romans chapter number seven, you know, the wretched man that
I am.
Who shall deliver me from this body of sin?
Okay?
I mean, every Christian feels like that at one point, one time or another, where you
just you feel like you're failing God and you're like, man, I just, you know, I mess
up.
I mess up.
I screw up.
I tease God.
I know I'm not doing right.
And it's this body.
It's this flesh.
So keep in mind that when you feel that way, you know what, we're still waiting for the
redemption of our body.
So that will kind of help us to understand one day we will be redeemed.
Our bodies will be redeemed and we will no longer struggle with this.
And you say, why is that important?
What's important because it helps us to basically put a timeline in our life to realize that
it's not always going to be this way.
It's hard for us to imagine a world where we're not tempted to sin, but it does exist
and it will exist one day.
So understanding that that will take place one day in the future will help us to prioritize
our spiritual life and fight now.
Do battle now.
Not be careless today.
Now go, if you were to go to first Chronicles chapter 21.
So look, if you're emotional, if you're weak physically, you're weak emotionally, you're
like, what should I do?
Should I memorize like 10 verses of the Bible?
Just no, you go take a nap, just go do that.
You go eat and you go take a nap.
I'm not joking either.
I mean, that's like a remedy for little kids, but it's a remedy for adults too.
Little kids is like, when my children are like, what's wrong?
I don't know.
They're just, they don't know why they're crying, which some ladies do that sometimes
too.
No, I'm just kidding.
When they're like that, you know what it's time to do?
It's time to go.
It's time to go take a nap.
That's what it's time to do.
Okay.
And look, children do that outwardly.
Don't do that inwardly.
Okay.
And sometimes, you know, when another brother in Christ is emotionally and he's just like,
this guy needs to go take a nap.
This lady needs to go take a nap.
And I don't tell him that.
Okay.
But maybe I should, huh?
Hey, you need to go take, we got a cot in the back, maybe you want to go take a nap
or something?
But that's really what it is.
You think of Elijah, right?
This guy just got done whooping all these prophets.
And then Jezebel, one woman, comes and threatens him and he just runs for his life.
And then he's like, I want to die, you know, it's like, what in the world?
You just got done like slaying all these wicked false prophets and you did it in style.
And then one woman rises up and threatens you and you just run with your tail tucked
between your legs.
But what did God tell him?
Eat and sleep.
You brought him meat, he ate, but what did he do?
He slept.
And then when he woke up, what did he do?
He ate some more and then he slept again.
Now, don't do that too much, okay?
Because then, you know, that's not good.
But you know, there's times when that's exactly what you have to do.
And the reason that's important that you sleep it off sometimes is because you make some
of the worst decisions when you're emotional.
Don't make big decisions when you are emotional.
I just can't believe this happened, I'm going to move across the country, you know, tomorrow.
It's just like, no, why don't you sleep on that?
You know?
And then you sleep on it, it's like, what in the world was I thinking?
I don't know.
That's a bad idea.
You know?
Oh, man, I don't know what to do.
I'm just going to run my credit card and get, you know, in debt and buy whatever I want
to get.
And just, why don't you just go to sleep, why don't you go get yourself like a 99 cent
burger first and then just go to sleep or something?
Because you're not thinking right, you know?
And people make a lot of dumb decisions when they're emotional.
You need to be spiritually mature enough to understand when you're in that condition
and say, you know what, I just need to go to sleep.
I just need to go just unplug for a little bit and go to sleep and rest for a while.
And when you wake up, you know, it's a new day, read your Bible, pray, and take up your
cross and take care of your responsibilities and everything's A-OK, you know?
Now what do I have for you here?
First Chronicles 21.
So the next thing I want to talk about is the weapon of his attack.
What is it?
Well, he attacks us through seeds of doubt, OK?
Unbelief.
Now, what is the first time we see seeds attacking in the Bible?
Genesis chapter 3.
Yea hath God said, and this is exactly what he does today.
He attacks us through seeds of unbelief.
Now let me make something very clear.
He doesn't attack us through seeds of unbelief of our salvation.
OK?
Am I saved?
Look, if you question you're saved, let me just help you out.
You're not saved.
OK?
Case closed.
And you can get saved today.
OK?
Because if someone thinks that they can just stop believing that they're saved, it means
they don't even believe in eternal security.
When I'm talking about, and what the Bible refers to, unbelief, is a person who is saved
who questions God's provision or protection or his blessing, not salvation.
Amen?
Amen.
No one ever goes through a time in their life and is like, I'm just going through a hard
time, man.
What's the problem?
I'm just, you know, I don't know if I'm saved or not, you know?
What in the world?
I'm talking about someone who is saved.
I'm not talking about someone who is not.
Obviously, if someone believes that, you know, like someone like Eric, you know, they're
not saved.
And by the way, I've learned and I've observed that most people who do that, you know, even
though they claim to be saved, they're struggling because they know they're not saved.
They know they're not saved.
And unfortunately, the old IFB was weak on this point right here, because you would go
to certain old IFB churches, and they're just like people getting saved over and over and
over again.
It's like, didn't I see that guy get baptized?
Like, this is like the fifth time he's getting baptized?
Yeah, well, this time he really got saved, you know, he got right with a guy who really
got saved.
You know, why?
And then you asked him, I was like, why?
I thought you got saved before.
Yeah, but I was struggling with sin.
Okay, you won't really save them.
You're not even saved this time if that's what you think that you have to do in order
to be saved is repent of your sin or stop sinning or stop struggling with that one sin.
You know, that it could be just done and settled.
Oh, but brother here, doesn't the Bible say if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful?
Yeah, it does say that, but it doesn't mean what this idiot says it means.
Because by the way, let me just chase this rabbit real quick.
In this video he makes, and I didn't watch the whole thing because, you know, I got to
redeem the time because he's evil.
So in this video that Eric makes, and I'm not talking about this Eric, this Eric's cool.
You know, in this video that he makes, he says, he quotes the verse right before where
it states, if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful, and the verse prior to that talks
about if we deny him, you know, he will deny us.
And what does he do?
He just leaves the viewers in obscurity of what that means, insinuating that that's talking
about salvation.
Just how he insinuates that if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful is in reference
to salvation.
It's in reference to salvation.
It's in reference to the deliverance of the flesh.
Because the entire chapter is talking about being a soldier for Jesus Christ, enduring
afflictions, enduring hardness as a good soldier.
So if we deny him, he will deny us.
What is he going to deny us?
Rewards.
What is he going to deny us?
Blessings.
It's not referring to the fact that if we deny, you know, I deny you that I even believe,
you know, and then he's just going to deny us.
But that's funny that he wants to use that verse and not, just not expound upon it at
all.
Wanting to plant seeds of doubt in the minds of his viewers.
Sounds like someone we're talking about, Satan.
Who wants to do something like that?
You know, that's a stupid interpretation of the Bible.
And I don't care what anybody says.
The guy looks like a crackhead when he's on doing his videos.
Can you comb your hair?
Can you at least look halfway decent?
Because what you're saying on your video looks, sounds so garbage, so stupid.
It just looks like the way, or it sounds like the way you look.
Anyways.
So seeds of doubts.
Okay, that was a good rabbit, I enjoyed it.
Skinned that rabbit, rabbit stew, we ate it, it's all good.
When I talk about unbelief, I'm referring to the fact that we question God's provision,
we question God's protection, we question the promises of God.
Not in relation to salvation, okay.
Now look what 1 Chronicles 21 says, this is an example of this.
Verse number 1, it says, And Satan stood up against Israel and provoked David to number
Israel.
And David said to Joab and to the rules of the people, Go, number Israel from Beersheba,
even to Dan, and bring the number of them to me, that I may know it.
And Joab answered, The Lord make his people a hundred times so many more as they be.
But my Lord the king, are they not all my Lord's servants?
Why then doth my Lord require this thing?
Why will he be a cause of trespass to Israel?
Nevertheless, the king's word prevailed against Joab, wherefore Joab departed and went throughout
all Israel and came to Jerusalem.
And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people unto David, and all they of Israel
were a thousand thousand and a hundred thousand men that drew sword.
And Judah was four thousand, threescore and ten thousand men that drew sword, but Levi
and Benjamin counted he not among them, for the king's word was abominable to Joab and
God was displeased with this thing, therefore he smote Israel.
And David said unto God, I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing.
But now I beseech thee, do away the iniquity of thy servant, for I have done very foolishly.
Now what was the sin of David?
It was the sin of doubt.
He was not exercising faith in God.
Because God specifically told the kings of Israel, hey, don't number people.
Don't number the soldiers, because at the end of the day, the battle is of the Lord.
But when these kings actually begin to count how many soldiers they have, they're basically
afraid that they may not have enough to win the battle.
That's why Joab's trying to tell him and say, hey, don't do that, because the Lord is the
one who's gonna deliver it.
I mean, Joab is the one telling him this.
He's not necessarily the most spiritual guy in David's army, yet even he knows, hey, the
battles of the Lord's, and therefore he sinned.
So what did he do?
He caused doubt in the mind of David, and therefore he numbered the people.
Now go to Mark chapter nine.
Mark chapter nine.
Mark chapter number nine.
This is something that Satan can do.
He can cause us to doubt.
And this happens when you allow other ideologies into your life via YouTube, via books, via
things that are outside of the Bible that talk about the Bible.
That's why it's important that we don't read books by liberals.
These books by liberals that use different versions of the Bible, you know what I mean?
We need to make sure that we're grounded and that our foundation is the King James Bible,
and that we're adhering to the doctrines of the Bible, and we understand, hey, and look,
we need to see the Bible as being truth even if you have not read the Bible once.
Understand and be determined to say, hey, you know what, I'm gonna believe the Bible
no matter what.
Not archeology, not history, I'm gonna believe the Bible is God's word because the Bible
says that it's God's word.
Now look at verse number 22.
This is a man who had a child who would cast himself into the fire, and it says in verse
number 22, and oft times it hath cast him into the fire and into the waters to destroy
him, but if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us and help us.
Jesus said unto him, if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth,
and straightway the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe,
help thou mine unbelief.
Who's been in a situation like that?
Where it's just like, Lord, I have faith, but help my faithlessness, help mine unbelief.
Okay, why?
Because at the end of the day, after salvation, faith without works is dead being alone, and
what does that mean?
We have faith, right?
But in order to exercise our faith, that requires action.
That requires action.
That proves to people, that proves to others that we have faith in God.
But there's times when we don't have faith or we have faith but we have unbelief as well.
How is that expressed when we don't do what God tells us to do?
It's like saying, I believe the Bible, but I just don't think God can fix this situation.
I believe in the Bible, but I'm not going to go to church even though God tells me to
go to church.
I believe in the Bible, but I'm not going to do X, Y, and Z.
At that point, you have faith, but you also have unbelief, okay?
Go to Luke 22, Luke 22.
You know, this is, it may sound cliche, but we need to be a people of faith, amen?
And obviously we're saved, but we need to make sure that we're actually, we have a living
faith as well, that we're exercising our faith, that we are putting it into practice on a
continual basis, that we're going from faith to faith, okay?
Look at Luke 22, verse 31 says, And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired
to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.
But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted, strengthen
thy brethren.
Now there's a guy who used this verse, you know, Adam Fannin, he used this verse to say
that, you know, Peter got saved again, which is heresy.
You know, he said he got saved, you know, once in the Old Testament, but now that he's
in the New Testament, Jesus said, when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
He had to get saved twice, but this is not what that teaches there, okay?
Converted is not always in reference to being saved or converting someone to be saved.
What that simply means is that he's having a renewal.
He's being transformed.
That's what converted means.
When you convert something, it means you're changing it, is what that's talking about.
And so because he prayed for him, this faith fail not, he says, when you're converted,
when you overcome the temptation of Satan, hey, strengthen your brethren, why?
Because when you overcome Satan, you become strong.
You come back in the power of the Spirit, and therefore you're able to strengthen your
brethren as well by your example, okay?
Now go to Hebrews chapter 11, Hebrews chapter 11.
We need to make sure that we're exercising our faith, and one of the ways you exercise
your faith is that when you see a commandment in the Bible, apply it.
When you hear truth from the preaching of the word of God, an application that's something
that's applicable to your life, put it into practice right away.
You know, exercise faith, have a living faith, make sure that you're obedient to the word
of God.
Be not hearers only, but doers of the word of God, you know?
People who just hear, but they don't do, they're deceiving themselves, because they think they're
just spiritual from just hearing all the Bible, hearing the preaching, when in actuality,
you need to be a doer of the work, and not hearers only.
You know, it doesn't really benefit you if you're just hearing it, but you're not putting
it into practice, because the fact is, it's a command that requires your volition to actually
put it into practice.
Look at Hebrews 11, verse 32 says, and what shall I more say for the time would fail me
to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthah, of David also, and Samuel,
and of the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained
promises, stopped the mouths of lions.
And you know what the biggest lion that you can stop is Satan himself.
You can quench the fiery darts of the wicked.
Now, there's a lot of verses I want to go, but we're almost out of time, so let me just
skip some things here.
Go to Matthew 16, this will be my last point.
We're talking about the attacks of Satan, and you know, this is applicable to every
Christian all across the board, because you know, his devices is not, you know, he doesn't,
he doesn't necessarily make a custom-fitted device against you.
He uses the same thing with you that he uses with other people.
The only difference is is the temptation that you have differs from other people, but there's
someone else in this world who has your temptations, because there are no temptations taking you,
but such as is common to man, okay.
Now the last way he attacks, we're going to look at the assistance of his attacks.
He often attacks through fleshly Christians, unfortunately.
Now we understand that he attacks through reprobates, you know, through people like
that.
We understand that, but you know, there's often times when he does attack through Christians.
Now I don't believe that Christians can be possessed by devils at all, okay.
Why?
Because once you're saved, you have the Holy Spirit of God living within you, and you're
sealed, he's sealed there unto the day of redemption.
Grief not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
We have the earnest of his Spirit dwelling in us unto the redemption of the purchased
possession unto the praise of his glory, the Bible says, okay.
So the Holy Spirit is in us, therefore, Satan, the devils, they can't inhabit this body regardless
of what the Pentecostals say.
You know, or what's his name?
Chris Lasala.
You know, who literally claims, yeah, thank you, who literally claims that he has like,
how many demons?
A thousand demons.
Is that what he says, a thousand?
He says, look, most Christians, average Christian has a thousand demons in him.
You know, he has like a thousand, and you know what, he's telling the truth that he
does have a thousand demons in him.
You know, I believe that wholeheartedly, okay, because he doesn't have the Spirit of God
living within him, and he's just openly admitting that he has a thousand demons living within
him.
Hey, he's right about that.
But the reason he has a thousand demons living within him is because he doesn't have the
Holy Spirit.
You know, we have one Spirit living within us, because we're saved, and that's the Holy
Spirit.
That's not to say that Satan cannot influence sometimes, you know, Christians to behave
in such a way because they're not walking in the Spirit.
Let me give you an example of this.
Look at Matthew 16, verse 20.
Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.
From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go into Jerusalem
and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised
again the third day.
Then Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, Be afar from the Lord, this shall
not be unto thee.
And he turned and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan.
I mean, what an insult, right?
It's called an insane person.
He says, Thou art an offense unto me, for thou savourest not the things that be of God,
but those that be of men.
Now I don't believe that Peter was indwelt by Satan.
I believe what he's communicating here is that Satan is influencing Peter, and you can
tell based upon what he's saying.
And there's times in our life that we're going to run into Christians who are influenced
because they're not walking in the Spirit.
They're fleshly, and you know what?
They're going to offend you, right?
So don't think that just because you come to our church that the only offense is that
you're going to get up from behind the pulpit, okay?
You'll get plenty of those.
You might get them from right here.
People are going to offend you.
Brothers and sisters in Christ are going to offend you.
Why?
Because they're sinners.
And maybe they're not walking in the Spirit.
Maybe they're not reading the Bible.
Maybe they're just not spiritual.
And because of that, they're going to offend you.
And when you get offended, don't just leave the church and be like, I can't believe it.
That person just said that to me.
Leave it.
Because here's the thing.
You're probably going to do the same thing to someone else.
And in fact, you probably already did that to someone else.
The only difference is that person you probably did it to was spiritual enough to just forgive
and forget.
Okay?
And look, we're not Calvinists, so here's the thing.
We don't believe that God controls everyone's will.
The only will that you're able to control is yourself.
So when someone offends you, just worry about yourself.
Make sure that you respond biblically to that offense and pray for that person.
Okay?
Now, go to 1 Corinthians 3 and we're done.
I'm going to read to you from Romans chapter 12, verse 17, it says, recompense to no man
evil for evil.
Provide things honest in the sight of all men.
If it be possible, as much as lies in you, live peaceably with all men.
Okay?
What does that mean?
You know, if you're beefing it with someone in our church.
Just try to live peaceably with them.
You say how?
Say hi, hey brother, how's it going?
And when that is answered, you move on.
You know, go get a coffee or go do something else.
Okay?
But you don't have to express them that you don't like them, because they offended you.
And by the way, if they offend you to the point where you're just like, you just can't
take it, then go to them and just say, hey, you offended me, and then make it right.
But you don't have to be their best friends.
You know?
And not everyone has to be your best friend in our church.
You say, has something happened in our church?
No, nothing's happening.
Okay?
This is preventative, because it's going to happen.
Okay?
It's going to happen.
And how can we prevent this?
Well, we need to make sure that you're walking in the Spirit.
You need to make sure that you're doing your due diligence to be a spiritual Christian,
because you can't control the actions of someone else.
You can only control your own actions.
Okay?
Look at what the Bible says in verse number one, it says, and I, brethren, could not speak
unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
I have fed you with milk, and not with meat, for hitherto you were not able to bear it,
neither yet now are ye able.
For ye are yet carnal, for whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions,
are you not carnal, and walk as men?
So we see here that people who are not spiritual are carnal, and these are the things that
carnal people do.
Okay?
Look, let me just help you out with something, okay?
In church, you know, we got a lot of negative things to talk about, and sometimes we gotta
talk about negative things.
And that's something that needs to be talked about, but if it's like little details of
things going on in our church, or something that you don't agree with with someone in
our church, you know, you need to live peacefully with all men as much as lies within you.
Okay?
I pass, pass over a transgression as much as you can.
Amen.
Okay?
Why?
Because if you're planning to be here for the rest of your life, you're gonna have to
get along with the people here, right?
You know?
Well, I'm gonna go somewhere else.
Well, guess what?
Guess what?
There's people over there too!
There's Christians over there too!
And you're probably the one who's gonna bring problems over there, amen?
So might as well just stick around, mature in the Lord, learn how to walk in the Spirit,
not fulfill the lust of the flesh, and try your best to be a blessing to your brethren.
Amen?
Because at the end of the day, we have bigger fish to fry than our own brethren.
Okay?
We have greater battles to fight, and a church cannot be destroyed from someone coming on
the outside coming in.
It's often destroyed from the inside out.
Okay?
So we need to make sure that we keep the spirit of unity, and you know what?
Satan is the one who causes confusion, he's the one that causes division, we need to make
sure we keep that in check.
Okay?
And how do we do that?
By every individual taking a responsibility to be spiritual.
Amen?
Amen.
One Satan, let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for this day, we're thankful for our church, Lord, and the
members of our church, I pray, God, that you'd help us to be vigilant, and to understand,
Lord, these principles here.
Help us not to bypass these, what we just read today, because the fact is, is that we're
gonna experience, every single one of us is gonna be attacked by Satan and his minions
at one time or another.
We're either coming out of an attack, we're going into an attack, or we're in an attack.
And so we need to take heed to these things, and I pray that you'd help us to do so.
Help us to constantly remember to walk in the spirit and not fulfill the lust of the
flesh, to forgive our brethren, Lord, and just to apply these principles as much as
we can.
We pray these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.