I'm gonna get you guys because we don't have much time again gonna get you time to turn to Ephesians chapter 2
I'll get you guys to go to Ephesians chapter 2
We'll get there eventually
But the passage that I was given was Joshua 23 verse 3 it says and you have seen all that the Lord your God have done
unto all these nations
Because of you for the Lord your God is he that has fought for you
Now these are the words of Joshua and if you know who Joshua was he was the one that led the Israelites into the land of
Canaan okay into the Promised Land and as he went into that land Joshua fought many battles
Hey, Joshua was a man of war wasn't he and these words that he spoke I'm gonna give a little bit more context
I'm gonna go to verse number one. These are words. He spoke at his old age
These were words that he spoke toward the end of his life verse number one
It says and he came to pass a long time after that the Lord had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies
Roundabout that Joshua waxed old and strict stricken in age and
Joshua called for all Israel and for their lead for the elders and for their heads and for their judges and for their officers
And said unto them I am old and stricken in age
So it gets all of Israel together says look I'm old, but there's something I want to communicate to you
There's something I want you to know that's verse number three
And you have seen all that the Lord your God have done unto all these nations
Because of you for the Lord your God is he that have fought for you and look let me tell you something yes
We're not of Old Testament Israel, but we are the children of God
We are in that new covenant with Jesus Christ and this same promise is given to us
Hey that if we're in the will of God if we're serving God we're keeping his commandments where his children
He will fight our battles. He will fight our wars
What a great promise to know that the God of the universe can fight the wars for us
Say why did Joshua have such a strong?
You know belief in God well this this this teaching goes all the way back to the books of Moses
Okay
And I'm just going to read to you from your own me chapter 20 verse 1
And this is obviously being spoken to Old Testament Israel after coming out of Egypt
It says when thou goest out to battle against thine enemies and see his horses and chariots and a people more than you
Be not afraid of them for the Lord thy God is with thee which brought thee out of the land of Egypt
Hey, so what God says look when we're facing our problems when we're facing our warfare our fights when we need to soldier on
for the Lord
Even when it seems like we're outnumbered
Even when it seems like our enemies are more than what we are the promise is that God will fight for us
Okay, and and then verse number two and it shall be when you come nigh unto battle so as you approach the battle
This is what was meant to happen that the priests shall approach and speak unto the people you see one of the
Responsibilities of the preach of the priests in this time was to preach was to edify the Saints
Kind of like a preacher today like a like a pastor today and look if wherever as a church going into battle
You need to hear words of encouragement from the preacher, and what was the priest meant to say it's already read
It's already here for him verse number three and shall say unto them
Hear oh Israel you approach this day unto battle against your enemies
Let not your hearts faint fear not and do not tremble neither be you terrified because of them
For the Lord your God is here that goeth with you to fight for you against you enemies to save you you see God
Does not want us to be afraid he doesn't want us to be fearful
He doesn't want us to tremble in the day of battle, and you say well
You know what about us? What kind of battles do we have to face?
You know we go into war are we going to fight for you know you know the nation of Australia or something like that
No, that's not a requirement for us as a believer
But even so we are required to prepare for the battle and we're going to go through that now
Okay, but let me just read this you because you might think well if God will fight all my battles
Do I have to prepare do I have to fight if God's going to do it for me and Proverbs 21 verse 31 says?
The horse is prepared
against the day of battle
But safety is of the Lord you see you still have to prepare your horses
You still have to prepare yourself and your armies for the battles to be had but safety is of the Lord
Okay, the protection the victories you must remember will come from the Lord all right
So let me just explain two things for you
How can you prepare you can prepare in two ways number one is to know your enemies now?
You guys are in Ephesians 2 Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1. Let's see who your enemies are
For you to fight your battles Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1 and you have he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins
wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world notice that according to the course of this world a
According to notice the next one the prince of the power of the air
The spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience
Let's keep reading among whom also we all had our conversation in times past look at the next one in the lusts of our
Flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind that were by nature the children of wrath
Even as others you see Ephesians chapter 2 and if you're familiar with Ephesians chapter 6
It talks about the armor of God
We're going to look at that shortly
But Ephesians chapter 2 starts off by telling us who our enemy is who we fighting against and the three
Enemies that we saw in this passage was number one the world
Okay, number two was the prince of the power of the air okay?
That is Satan and then in verse number three it said the lusts of our flesh
Okay, the lusts of our flesh, so we have three enemies guys as believers the world
Satan
Okay, and your own flesh and sometimes as believers. Yeah, we look at the world we go
Wow the world is so wicked
You know we need to fight against that and we then we know we see the forces of Satan
We know that Satan at the end of days pulling the strings of this wicked world and say we're going to fight against Satan
But one thing we often forget as believers is that there's a war within our flesh
There's a war within our bodies, and we know what that is it's the new man versus the old man
Hey that flesh is it is against the Lord is against the word of God is against following the commandments of God
So you need to have victory, but you need to remember the words of Joshua
The only way you can have victory is by knowing that the Lord is fighting for you
Okay
The Lord is fighting for you and the reason Joshua wants Israel to remember this is because they've had so many battles
And when you have many victories you might be tempted to think the reason you have victory is because you're such a great person
Okay, you might be filled up with pride, and you're filled up with man
I'm such a great warrior, but no you got to be remit
You need to remember the reason you have victories is because the Lord will fight for his children
Right now let's go to Ephesians chapter 6 Ephesians chapter 6
How else can we prepare Ephesians chapter 6 verse 11 of course?
I had to turn here okay in a passage in a passage like this
But we need to make sure we put on the whole armor of God you see we need to prepare ourselves
We know who our enemies are we know that God gives us the victory
But you see that victory is given by God
And it's seen here as the whole armor of God God gives us the ability to have victory
He gives us his armor Ephesians chapter 6 verse 11
It says put on the whole armor of God hey not just parts of the armor not just one shield
Not just the helmet no the whole armor of God is necessary for you to win your battles that you may be able to stand
against the wiles of the devil
Verse 12 for 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
Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day
And having done all to stand
Stand therefore having your loins gird about with truth and having on the breastplate of righteousness
Hey, how do we fight we need to have the truth we need to be righteous okay?
We need to be walking in the righteousness of God verse 15
And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace
Hey we need to be preaching the gospel that's part of wearing the armor of God
Verse 16
Above all taking the shield of faith hey we need to have faith that our Lord will come through
Wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked and take the helmet of salvation
Hey the only way you can fight these spiritual battles is by remembering that you're saved by
By being saved remembering that God has given you victory overall anyway
And then it says and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God
Hey you need to know the word of God you need to memorize the word of God
You need to use the word of God like a weapon to fight against the enemies that we all have
All right now I better wrap it up soon I've got less than a minute
And I'm going to conclude on this guys because I'll just read it to you
First Corinthians 15 56 it says the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law
But thanks be to God look at this which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ
Hey it's Jesus Christ that has given us our victory over sin over over eternal death
And then it says therefore my beloved brethren so because we have victory it says be ye steadfast
unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord for so much as you know that your labor
Is not in vain in the Lord you see this I just want to end on the on this statement
That my old pastor used to say all the time and it's absolutely true it's hey we don't
fight for victory we're not going to fight for victory we've already been
given victory by the Lord when we go out and battle we fight from victory
It's Christ that has already given us victory over this spiritual world
welfare that we face and we need to make sure that when we fight
we fight from the victory that God has given us let's pray