← Church of the Highlands - Sunday Messages - Audio
Church of the Highlands - Sunday Messages - Audio
How to Fight Spiritual Warfare
00:38:57
Part 3 of Lets Talk About it
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Transcript5 lines
- [00:25]
A
Well, happy Sunday, everybody. Want to. Yeah. Let's put our hands together, welcome our entire church family. Want to welcome everybody to every location. So glad to be in the house of God with you today. And I want to come alongside. We want to come alongside what I know campus pastors have already shared. And that is first. If you're here for the first time, we welcome you. And of course, especially today, I want to celebrate all the graduates, high school and college at every location. One more time, Highlands. Let's celebrate what an achievement. We believe God's best for you. And we are so excited at the Pettus House for all things summer. And so you've already seen some vision for summer, but we have one more announcement that's actually coming up this fall, and that is why this lady on my right is here. Can y' all welcome Jill to the stage, everybody?
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Good morning, church. First of all, on behalf of a mom, I am so grateful for the events that we have here at Highlands. Every single time we have engaged in those events, our family has been impacted, and I'm just so grateful for it. So dive in, jump on in and come and join us for the summer at Highlands. It's going to be an incredible time. All right, we've got an announcement coming this fall. I really have been praying for the women of our house. And I've been seeking God and saying, God, what do they need in this season of life, in this season of our world? And last week, I got to share a little bit at Mother's day of where I've been really parking. And hearing God speak is in Romans 15. And there's a verse that I want to share with you today. It's Romans 15, 5, 6 in the message paraphrase. And it says, may our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. Then will be a choir, not our voices only, but our very lives, singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to the God and our father of our master Jesus. A stunning anthem. So I want to announce, save the date, September 10th, we are going to have anthem women's night.
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Come on.
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And listen. This is kind of mirroring our men's night. Men. Can I just say, y' all have been crushing it at men's night. It has been such an outreach. God has been doing so much. But for the women, we're moving from a conference to a one night event. One because we've heard your feedback from the conference. But also, this is Gonna be easier to get childcare. And we are going to pack out this night and God is going to do amazing things for the women of our church. And I cannot wait. So anthem Women's Night happening September 10th. And who is this for? It's for you. It's gonna be an incredible night that is free of charge and so come. But it's also a great opportunity to invite. Invite your neighbors, invite your friends, invite your co workers. This is for every woman in every season, high school, College and beyond. 105. Come on, we want you there too. And we cannot wait. And I cannot wait to see you there.
- [03:30]
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Come on, put your hands together. Let's celebrate that. I love it. I love it. I love it. And just like with Men's Night, believing, we're going to see there's a massive chance to reach our communities and God's going to use that. And honestly, it's just, that night's just the beginning of what I've seen and heard out of Jill's heart for the women of our house. So I'm excited to get into the Word of God today. Does anybody at Church of the Highlands love God's Word? Oh, I think we can make some more noise than that for the Word of God. And I'm excited. Today we're in a series called let's Talk About It. These are topics you requested back at Easter Week one, and this very practical week one, you know, how to read my Bible last week, how to build a strong family. And I announced it last week, heading into this week, that today is all about spiritual warfare, how we fight spiritual warfare. So I want to frame today's talk. And really this is actually how I usually teach, the framework I use when I put messages together. We're going to start today with really digging into some theology. And I don't want that word to scare you. It's really just the study of what God has to say about this topic. Because I believe right belief leads to right behavior. When we know what we believe. Come on, somebody. We know how to live. And so we're gonna unpack that from that angle today. Then we'll get very practical off of that theology. But this is a big topic, bigger than our time. Today we're actually gonna do an entire series in the month of August around the Holy Spirit and spiritual warfare. But today's a big day, even heading into summer for us to be equipped in this area. So I wanna start with a quote from C.S. lewis, who just really frames the tension that a talk like this has this is what he says is there are two equal and opposite errors in which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe and feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They, meaning the devils. Satan themselves, are equally pleased by both errors. And hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight. So basically, this is laying out a framework of extremes. So you have one extreme, which is kind of all science, that materialist, all science, all reason. That there's just really no supernatural. And honestly, in this extreme is also can be a very religious concept for me. I grew up in a church, and Satan was really more of a character in a TV show kind of. He was the idea of evil. But when I imagined him or even how I heard him talk about it, it wasn't like he was a real force. It was just something we talked about. There's an angel on one shoulder, devil on the other shoulder. That it's that kind of extreme of just materialism and just, you know, what we see is what we get. And then there's the other extreme, which is that there is a demon under every single rock. All right, this may be an environment you grew up in, and that's definitely a reality. You know, Satan is behind everything. My kids sometimes try to live in this extreme. Like, why didn't you clean your room? The devil made me not clean my room. Like, what are you talking about right now? I was talking to somebody a while back, and they're like, the devil stole my peace. And this is true story. I started asking them, well, talk about more about the devil stealing your peace. They're like, well, you know, their life. They're like, well, I'm watching the news like three or four hours a day, and I'm drinking three Celsius a day. And every time I get sick, I'm on WebMD googling it. The devil did not steal your peace. You went and lost your peace in the chaos of the world. Right? So there's these two extremes, all right? There's no devil or the devil's behind everywhere. And today we want to really lean in to balance. But I was actually surprised that when I was researching, I would assume honestly that America is more on this side, the side of kind of all materialism. And maybe we were at one point, but actually America is more spiritual than ever before. And these are stats I found as I was studying. Nearly one in three Americans now engage in astrology, crystals and fortune tellers or similar practices. That was A shocking stat for me. One in three, almost 33% Americans, you've seen this. If you watched previews or see the movies that are coming out now, 20% of American movie releases are in the horror genre. That was 8% 10 years ago. And that doesn't even include kind of the superhero, sci fi, very spiritual world. That puts it over 60%. And this next one was very shocking for me. The psychic industry now generates over $2 billion in America. Shocking. So we're actually on that extreme as a nation right now. But what we're gonna do today in God's Word is we're gonna find the perfect balance, because wisdom is found in the balance. And so we're gonna look into God's Word. And I love this today because my favorite way to teach is actually exegetical or verse by verse. And so we're gonna do that out of Ephesians chapter six. Today we're gonna dig into the word of God. And I know a topic like spiritual warfare can feel a little heavy, but can we have fun in church today? Okay, are y' all with me today? I feel it. All right, let's go for it, man. Thank God for his word. Ephesians 6, verse 10. Finally. Be strong. Everybody say be strong. Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly realms. Therefore, we put on, we're going to study this today, the full armor of God so that when that day of evil comes, we will be able to take to stand our ground. And after we have done everything to stand, stand firm. Then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with a breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with a readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all of this, take up the shield of faith, which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take up the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, verse 18. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. Let's put our hands together for the word of God today and where we find wisdom in that balance. So today I'm going to lay out three foundational kind of theological truths. And then after that, we'll get practical, because you asked for it. We're going to have two essential practices. And that's a total of five points I have for you today. But the fourth point has six sub points, which means today in God's house, there's 11 points. Are y' all ready? Basically, get your app out. Cause you're gonna wanna follow along today. All right, here's number one, foundational truth. We have an enemy. We truly have an enemy. He's more than a character in a TV show. He's more than that cartoon character with a. You know, with that thing that he holds in his hands. Ephesians, chapter six. Pitchfork. I thought that was it, but I wasn't sure. Jason and I didn't want to go out there. Now you got me. So thank you. I love you. Finally. Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand. Against who? The devil and the devil's schemes. I need us to know today there's no fear in this, but we have an opponent. And anytime in my life, in any area, I have an opponent. I just want to get to know them. If you played sports, this is game film time. We have a game coming up. We're stepping into spiritual warfare. And so we're gonna watch some game film today from the word of God and find out who our opponent is and who he isn't. Now, here's who Satan is. Satan was originally an angel created by God. This may be surprising if you're new to church. And you can go to Ezekiel chapter 28 to study this more. But he was in the different types of angels. He was known as a guardian cherub. So he's a cherub angel. And there's a lot of study we could do here for another time, not today. It's very interesting, but essentially that just means he was a very powerful angel, Extreme power, and very intimately close to God, like side by side with God. But then something happened and something changed within Satan. And we find out that story in Isaiah chapter 14 that says this. How you have fallen from heaven. O morning star, son of the dawn, shall you have been cast down to earth. You who once laid low the nations. You said in your heart. And this was Satan's sin, this is his mistake. I will ascend to heaven. I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit enthroned on the mount of the assembly. On the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds. I will make myself like the most high. But you are brought down to the Grave to the depths of the pit. And in Ezekiel talks about, like, lightning. So Satan's this guardian cherub, this intimacy with God. Pride begins to grow in his heart. And because of that pride, he was cast out from heaven, away from God's presence. Now when we think about this, and I've even seen this kind of this drawn out or even in a cartoon before, like a Bible story cartoon, that we kind of sometimes imagine that as a big battle, like the forces of Satan and the angels that were with him against the forces of God, and they were just duking it out. But this, both in Ezekiel and Isaiah, it tells us a different story. There was no battle. Everybody, hey, look at me today. It was like lightning. Satan was cast out of God's presence instantly. And it was like lightning. It was dramatic. There was no battle, but there was a soundtrack. Y' all actually want to hear the soundtrack of that moment? Y' all ready for this? Goodbye. All right. That's the soundtrack right there of Isaiah 4. You'll give me something. I'm trying to have fun on spiritual warfare because of pride. He wanted to be God. But now Satan stands against God's agenda. And in God's word, we see these six names of Satan. These are the names of Satan. He's a liar. He's an accuser. We experience this through not just Satan, but the demonic forces of evil. He's an adversary. He's a tempter. He's a destroyer. He is a deceiver. He takes no days off. Satan has no Sabbath, but he does have a strategy. First, Peter tells us he prowls around like, what, a roaring lion, and he is looking for someone to devour. That is who Satan is. Now can we talk about who he is not? And I love this. And to illustrate this, I always share a framework that I was given years ago. It's the opposite game. So I want you out loud to share the opposite of what I say. So what is the opposite of hot? What is the opposite of up? What is the opposite of winning? What's the opposite of left? Don't answer this one out loud, but in your mind, think of it. What is the opposite of God? And I would for a long time would have said, well, of course Satan is the opposite of God. Oh, no, no, no. Our God has no opposite. You want to see it in God? Yeah. Put your hands together. God's word. Jeremiah 10 says, no one is like you, Lord, you are great and your name is mighty in power. The devil is not all powerful. The devil is not Omnipresent. He can only be one place at a time. And guess what, everybody? The devil is not under every rock. He's not all knowing our God is almighty. Satan is not almighty. That is who he is and that is who he isn't. Here's number two. But we are in a battle. And this is what we see. Of course, in Ephesians we have an enemy and like it or not, we are in a battle. Verse 12, back to our key text says our struggle. Everybody say struggle. It's not against that flesh and blood, but against the rulers and the authorities and the powers of this dark world and against spiritual forces of evil in heavenly realms. It's very important. This was life changing for me. This is equipping today for us as God's people to recognize that that first phrase right there, we are in a battle. And Paul, who wrote this book, the book of Ephesians, characterizes it as a struggle. And we often think of spiritual warfare and there is this aspect to it where the enemy will just hurl something out of nowhere at us. But wouldn't you agree spiritual warfare is a whole lot more up close and personal than that? It's right in our face. So that word struggle actually means the word wrestle. It means WrestleMania or from Alabama and Georgia, wrassle. Look at your neighbor and say wrassle. Spiritual warfare is a wrestle. It is hand to hand combat. It is face to face combat. It is up close, it is personal and it is violent. He's a deceiver and a liar. Look at me, Church. He's coming after us. He hates God and he hates God's people. We are, like it or not, in that battle. It's the battle that we're in. And that battle is a dog fight. You may have heard me teach this before, but that's the best way to think about it. So growing up, our boys growing up in our house, they've always played sports. And the first sport for all of our boys, we never played baseball because I just looked at the calendar and there's so many baseball practices. So we went to the flag football route, which is a great sport. And so just always think about our boys growing up. You know, on a Saturday morning, flag football is happening. We're at home, they're eating cereal, waking up, life is peaceful. And then we're going, you know, on a Saturday, a 15 minute drive for us over to a sports field and we're going to play flag football and listen in the Pettus house. If we're going to play we're going to win. Can I get a better amen? And it may just be flag football. The way I see it, it's life and death. It's your entire future. It's blood, guts, and glory, or we're not doing it. And so I would always try to get their mentality set before we got to the field. And I may have gone too far. I mean, we had a soundtrack, Eye of the Tiger, Back in Black. I mean, it was just intense, loud music. And I would always, right before we get there, play a YouTube video of this motivational speaker. And his whole line was basically, it's a dog fight. He would talk about all these scenarios. So I would just get my boys yelling, it's a dog fight. Whoever they were playing today, you know, it's a dog fight. And then, of course, they get out of the car. It's been so intense. It was always shocking. They get out of the car and they're like, hey, Dad, I know it's a dog fight, but can I have my Gatorade and my goldfish? You know, football. Hey, everybody. Spiritual warfare. It's a dog fight. It is up close. It is personal. The devil hates God and he hates God's people. And yes, he will hurl. But we have to be ready every single day to engage in spiritual warfare. Whether we like it or not, we can't dismiss it. We got to be ready to engage. This is what the great Billy Graham said. Spiritual warfare is not an option. It's a necessity. And if you're a child of God, you are in a battle every day for your faith. And I've also heard it remixed like this. It's a dog fight. And that is from Billy G. All right, so it's a dog fight. We're in a battle. We have an enemy, and no matter what attack we face. And this is where I want to encourage us today, because we're going to from a distance or up close and personal, no matter what attack from the enemy we face. Here's the good news. Today we fight. Fight from victory. And God's people have nothing to fear. We do not fight for victory. We fight from victory. And I want to lay out some truth to us today. Can you catch this in your hearts and even in your minds today when you imagine Jesus on the cross, never imagine him winning victory for himself. Hey, everybody, he did not need. He already had the victory. Our God didn't need victory. What did he do on the cross? He won victory for all of us. And we now stand in that Victory that was won for us on the cross of Calvary. Our God came to set us free from our sins, but our God came to give us victory. Everybody, in every area of our life. Romans 8, 37, no end. How many things? All these things. We are now more than conquerors through him who loved us. Put your hands together and celebrate the victory of God. So how, Pastor Mark, do we fight from victory? Well, Ephesians 6 tells us. It tells us four different times that we are to. And here's verse 14. We are to stand firm. We take a stand. What is spiritual warfare? Here's our definition as a church. Spiritual warfare is standing firm, not in our own victory, but in the victory of Christ. Even a more dramatic maybe way I can impress this, we will never win spiritual warfare. Jesus won spiritual warfare. When we stand firm in Christ, he wins our battles for us. And that changes everything. Just like everything else, we can't earn it. We receive it as people of God. The victory in every area of our spiritual warfare. How do we do that? Here's how I want to get practical. We have two essential practices. And I told y', all, I warned you. This first one has six sub points. Number. Number one, essential practice. We got to every day suit up in the armor of God. We've been given a beautiful picture here in Ephesians 6. It's a cornerstone of spiritual warfare because it is so practical that Paul, who wrote this book of Ephesians actually from prison, was likely, you know, literally chained to a Roman guard. And he used that as a metaphor for us. So even 2,000 years later, we can get our minds around what it means to actually engage and stand firm in this spiritual warfare. Back to the text. He says, stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, you take up that shield of faith so you can extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, that is the word of God. We stand firm by putting on these six pieces of the armor of God. Again, why armor? Paul is likely looking at a Roman soldier. But there's even a greater way to maybe unpack this is that, you know, all these pieces of the armor equate to a piece of the armor the Roman guard was wearing. But here's a great revelation for us all. These pieces of armor also defend against one of those names of the enemy. I won't put him back on the screen. Remember earlier? He's a liar. He's an accuser. He's an adversary, a tempter. He's a destroyer, deceiver. Hey, everybody, there's a piece of armor for every one of those knaves. Isn't the word of God amazing? I mean, I could have gone 47 points today. I love his word. God is so beautiful. It's beautiful how he equips us. So I want to go through these, and then we're going to pray for these later on as we close out the service. Number one, the belt of truth defends against the liar. And if you want to know his really ultimate attack, Satan is a liar. He will lie to you. He will lie about you. He will. And I want to lean in right here for all of our graduates at every location again, celebrating just family at Highlands and next generation. But here, it's so important for every graduate to hear as you step into this next season, whether it be into career or into college, do not step in without that belt of truth. The enemy is coming after you and what you believe. He's coming after truth. We got to put on truth every single day. And that and that in the armor of a Roman soldier. That belt holds all the armor together. And that is what truth does. Hey, graduates. And all of us who are older would agree you're going to need it like never before on that college campus, in that classroom. You need to know what you believe, and you need to strap it on every single day. Psalm 43 says, Send out light and send out truth because they lead me to your holy hill. Truth will lead us. It's powerful. Here's number two. That is the breastplate of righteousness. Defends against the accuser. So the enemy loves to accuse us and condemn us. I won't have you raise your hands. But every single one of us, likely this week, honestly probably even today, have faced an accusation of the enemy. You may not have recognized it, but he comes at you with shame, with regret, with condemnation. He has you overthink the mistakes of your past, and he wants to get all of that. Y' all look at me today. Satan's working overtime. It's a dog fight. He wants all that to live in your heart because if he gets your heart, he gets you. But guess what, number one, it's okay to recognize this. We all have a past. Without the grace of God, we actually deserve some of that condemnation and shame. But guess what? Jesus won that victory for us. And because of his grace and mercy, because of the blood of Jesus, it's been wiped away as far as the east is from the west. And listen, if God has chosen not to remember your past, why are you put on that armor? And what are you? You are now the righteousness of God in Christ. That's what I'm gonna choose to wear. And defends me against the attack of the enemy. Here's number three. That is the shoes of peace. Defend against the tempter and man, we need this. We need this, we need this. Oftentimes we think about this armor that, you know, I'm going to walk into. I'm going to, you know, everywhere I go with peace. And it does mean that. But there's another aspect of these shoes that we often forget. The Roman shoes of the soldier had spikes on them to hold their ground. And I want you to know, today in faith, today in the armor of God, you have some spikes on that are going to help you hold your ground. First Corinthians 10 says, no temptation has overtaken me. God is faithful and he will provide a way out. We just gotta stand firm in that truth. And as I was praying today, I want to be a little bold here. Today, as I was praying, I believe with all of my heart in this room, through that camera correctional facility, someone right now is in the crosshairs of a decision, and one that could even lead you away from your convictions or your family, or even maybe it's in the business space. It was just a decision around integrity and character. And all hell is coming against you. Do not yield your ground. You stand. I'm preaching today to somebody. You stand on the truth of this word and God's gonna get you through. I know you don't see a way. A way is coming. A way is coming. We stand firm in those spikes. We weather that storm. And as we do, here's the promise of Philippians chapter 4. We have peace that transcends all understanding. Here's the next one. Y' all get anything out of this today? The shield of faith. Thank God for the shield of faith that defends against the adversary. It defends against that never ending attack of the enemy. He's never going to stop attacking. But Isaiah 54 says, no weapon formed against me shall prosper. So whether it's an arrow or he comes at that intimate wrestling in the middle of it all, whatever it is, we just have an opportunity to take up the name of Jesus and the shield of faith to ward off every single one of those attacks. We just refuse. We refuse. If you Want to know? I got one prayer today is that no one walks out of here with any fear of the enemy. I just refuse to be afraid of who Jesus has already defeated like lightning. Bye bye. He's gone and I'm refusing. Now those attacks are real, but I do not have to stand in any fear and any doubt. I just stand my ground. I heard the story from the British evangelist Smith Wigglesworth, which, by the way, one of the greatest names ever, Wigglesworth. And one night, as the story goes, he wakes up in his bed. And Satan, who can only be one place at a time, this is a big moment. Satan himself is sitting on the end of his bed. Now, I don't know what you would do if you woke up in the middle of the night and a demonic presence like that was at the end of your bed. Maybe you felt an attack like that before, but this story gives me such faith. Smith Wigglesworth sits up in his bed. He looks at the foot of his bed and sees that it's the devil himself. And you know what he does? He doesn't run, he doesn't hide. He goes, oh, it's just you. And he lays back down and he goes to bed. Come on, somebody. That is the shield of faith. The shield of faith. Next up, we have the helmet of salvation that defends us against the destroyer. And listen, this is, of course, the attack of the enemy. The devil's trying to destroy our minds. Everybody I know we dealt with a pandemic a few years ago. We're still dealing with a pandemic of a demonic attack with anxiety and depression and all the things the enemy's coming at us in our minds. So this is one we can't spend, listen, more than even once a day. We can't. We can never walk out of our homes without putting that helmet of salvation on. We have armor. Let's don't leave it on the table. Let's not leave it on the shelf. That we would have. Here's the promise, the mind of Christ, that his thoughts about us and the world we're living in become our thoughts. And I'll just be vulnerable here. This is one I've had to really lean into, even personally, you know, the last year, a little over a year, stepping into this role. Jill and I are having the time of our lives. But I'm telling you, this role, and it's bigger than us, which means we need the power of God, which is good news for you to hear as your pastor more than ever before. Having to lean not on my own understanding, I have woken up many times and thought, when I look in the mirror, you are not Chris Hodges. And I know y' all felt the same thing. That's okay. I give you permission to think. And I have felt at times so disqualified and wanting to run from it. And every single time I put on that helmet of salvation, I stand. It doesn't make any natural sense, but in the supernatural, I now have the strength to stand and just be who God's called me to be, which is what I'm going to do in Jesus name. Lamentations 3 says, I call to mind, and therefore I have hope. You're a child of God. You have the mind of Christ. And then finally, we have the sword of the Spirit that defends us against that deceiver. And of course, I love the sword, the word of God, because it is defensive. And we see that in the desert when Jesus is being attacked by Satan, he's got a word for every one of those attacks. But y' all do know it's also an offensive weapon. It's the only offensive weapon we have in the armor. And it goes to attack the enemy. James 4:7. Resist. Resist the devil. He's a coward and he will flee. You have victory. How do you have that victory? You stand firm in the victory of Christ. I have the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the sword of the spirit, the belt of truth, the shoes of peace. Put your hands together and thank God for his armor. Second, essential practice. And this is where it gets extremely practical today. And we have to suit up every day then. Secondly, we got to step out in the power of God. And Jill and I even have a sign next to our door in the mudroom as we're walking out of our house that says, suit up and step out. It's got the armor of God on it that we need his power as we step out into our life. Ephesians 6:10 says, this says, finally, be strong in the Lord and his mighty power. That's the beginning verse for that section. And then go to verse 18, the very last verse that we read in the armor of God section. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions, with all kinds of prayers and requests. I love that Paul at the beginning and at the end reminds us it's never in our strength. We don't even strengthen ourselves. We are not strong in our power. We are strong in his power. And that is what we are putting on. When you get in the Word every day, don't go A day spiritual warfare starts when I open this up in the morning two weeks ago. If you missed it, go back and watch it. I'm gonna get in scripture every day observation, every day application. Every day I'm gonna pray every day. Every single day, I'm gonna worship to remind myself I'm not God, he is. I'm not gonna do what Satan did and get pride in my heart. I'm gonna yield to God every single day. Every day I'm gonna pray. I'm going to pray to hear, but I'm also going to pray intercession. No weapon formed against me is going to prosper. I break off those evil attacks of the enemy. And then every single day, I'm calling everyone at Highlands to join with what we do as a family. And as that, every single day, I'm going to suit up in the armor of God over my life, my spouse's wife, my kid's life, I'm going to pray that helmet, that breastplate, that shield, that sword, that belt, those shoes, I'm going to pray over them now. To help you out in your app today, we've actually laid out basically a digital version of what's on our wall, an outline that you can take with you for your phone, how you can begin to pray the armor of God every single day with these key scriptures. We've also, and I love the team, put this together, put together a spiritual warfare playlist that you can link to through the app, both Apple and Spotify. And then finally, in our prayer resources, we actually have an armor of God prayer that you can read word for word. So if this is new for you, this can be a spiritual warfare prayer for you and your family every single day. All that's in the app for you, you can grab it this week. Hey, everybody, we're going to suit up and we're going to step out in the power of God with no fear. Can I get an amen? Tim Keller says this. Tim Keller, who's got a great way of framing deep biblical truths, is one of my favorites. He says, preach the gospel to yourself not just once, but every single day. And Paul was definitely looking at a Roman soldier. He was definitely, as a good pastor does, trying to be very practical by sharing these truths through the idea of armor. What's even more powerful is he was pulling from a deeper truth. You can actually go back and I challenge you this week. Go read Isaiah 11 and Isaiah 59. 59. And what you'll see is this. The armor that Paul is talking about is already In God's word, in Isaiah 11:59, we actually see Jesus, a prophetic vision of Jesus himself, wearing that same armor, a helmet of salvation, a breastplate of righteousness. Jesus is wearing that armor. So hey, everybody look at me one more time. It's not our armor, it's his. And he doesn't just wear it, he fulfills it. We preach the gospel to ourselves. We put on the armor of God. He's my peace, he's my salvation, he's my righteousness, he's my truth. I'm going to put on Jesus because Jesus armor already won. I put on Christ every day. I put on Christ in my marriage, I put on Christ in my mind, I put on Christ in my neighborhood. I'm putting Christ on over my kids. I'm putting on his armor. And then he goes out and wins the battle for us. This is what God has provided us through the power of his Word, through the power of his Son. Would you bow your heads and close your eyes at every location? Want to pray for us? We're actually going to stay together so no one moving around, please, through this moment and even through our offering moment. And I will lead us into a song of warfare today. We're gonna finish out strong today declaring Jesus name. But first I just wanna pray as we do each week, for anybody here, the sound of my voice, who wants to begin a real relationship with Jesus or even come back to that. And it's in my heart today that there's dozens, maybe even hundreds of people here today. You know it. If this is you, you don't have an authentic and real relationship. You're not accessing the power of God through a relationship with God and you know it. And you feel that separation and you feel that lack of power in a very real and visceral way. And maybe you've been religious, but you haven't had relationship. Or you maybe you've been materialistic, trying to solve all the world's problems in your own strength. But today you've come to the end of yourself. Well, I got good news for you. The gospel of Jesus says you're in the perfect place to meet him today. Don't walk out of here without saying yes to Jesus. And if I could pass the mic, everyone who's following Jesus would tell you it's the best decision you can make. I want to embarrass you or call you to the front. Just pray these words. I'm going to help you pray these words and mean them. And then later I'll tell you how we'll help you take some next steps. But it all begins in this moment. Say, Jesus, today I give you my life. I ask you to forgive me of my sins, all of my mistakes. I repent. And I declare today. Come on, declare this in your heart. You're my Lord, which means you're in control. You're my savior, which means you've forgiven me of my sins. And you're my best friend, which means you'll fill me with your power. And God, right now, I just pray over everyone who just made that decision. Bless them their life. The old is gone, the new has come. Now for all of us today, this is everyone in the sound of my voice. Can you, as I pray the armor of God over you, can you even pray it over yourself today? God, we put on the helmet of salvation. We have the mind of Christ. God, we thank you for that helmet, the breastplate of righteousness. God, we wear it today. Our heart is a wellspring. It will overflow with your truth. God, our past is broken. In Jesus name, we take up that shield of faith. We will no longer fear those evil powers and principalities. God, we stand firm knowing that you have won the battle. We take up that sword of the spirit, your word, as we read it daily. God, would you allow it to become our truth that we use as a weapon that can defend or take ground? We put on that belt of truth. We walk in it, God, it holds it all together. And God, we thank you for those shoes of peace which give us the strength and temptation. And so right now, in Jesus name, we take our stand. We suit up. And now, God, as we walk out these doors, in a moment, we step out with your power. In Jesus name, everybody said, amen. Can you put your hands together to celebrate those who made the decision? So this next moment is actually still part of the service. That's why I asked for just no one to move around for a moment. And what matters most to me now, and this is why I want us to be together in this moment, is that we're able to walk alongside every person, especially those who made a decision. We have two ways to do that. There's a paper connection card, which we've traditionally had and will continue to have in front of you. But also we have a new way to connect via phone. And if you don't have it, you know, accessible, that's fine. But if you have your phone, can you wave it at me? Okay. A lot of you guys. Almost almost everybody. And you know, there's a lot of Thoughts around a phone, like it or not like it. God's called us as a church to be a part of redeeming it. And this phone is a way that we always connect in life with text or emails. And it's cool that we've been given this new tool to connect with you via phone. And what I love about tap, which is that icon in front of you, you can tap it here in a moment or on your seat back if you're on the front. It's allowing us as a church to do something we've never been able to do through paper, and that is respond to you faster. So today you can check a box that lets us know your decision and we will be able today to reach out to any of those who make that decision with next steps. And for everybody, every week, I'm asking you to tap every week so you can put in a prayer request. It is the honor of our life as a church to pray for you not just during 21 days, but those prayer requests will be prayed over today and throughout all week long because you're putting them, sending them to us via tap. So you can take your phone and go ahead and do it right now. If you want to go ahead and tap it. Maybe it's your first time, you can tap that link. Click on it. Some basic information, if you have the app, it will autofill that. If you made a decision, let us know. But everybody, I'm asking you, I'm almost begging you, give us a prayer request today and we will pray over that. It's our honor as a church and as you're working on that, you can go ahead and tap and work on that. We are going to worship God with our offering our tithes and offerings today. Ushers, make your way forward. Always a holy moment in our service. And I do just today I have this moment. Usually campus pastors do. Thank you for being the most generous church that I have ever heard of, that others have ever heard of. This church is so many things. A praying church, faith filled church. This is a generous church. And you saw the video earlier, you heard Jill talk about these events. All that's possible this summer, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands globally will be impacted because you said yes to generosity to your tithe and your offering. You do it for Jesus. But I just wanted to say thank you today for making it possible and we talk about here at Highlands. Giving is worship. It's a way to honor God. But can I also maybe open a door to a new thought today as you give. And I'm going to pray over you. Giving is also spiritual warfare. It's saying devil you. It's we. We have already decided. Everything is God's. My life, my resource, all of it's God's. And when we give back, we're telling him no to pride, no to our own way, and yes to God's way. First Chronicles says it this way. But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to give? Isn't that the spirit of giving? Everybody that I get to give? I don't got to give. I get to give. Everything comes from you. And what I've given you is only that that's already come from your hand. And so thank you for being generous. And I want to pray for you all today as you give. Stand to your feet. Ushers are prepared. They'll pass those buckets. One more song. It's called in the mighty name of Jesus. And so we're going to sing it today as a declaration of spiritual warfare. One final moment together as a church family. I love you with all of my heart. Let's pray. Jesus, we love you. We. We honor you. We worship you. God, I pray for those who are giving in this moment. Bless them. Bless their gift. Use it in Jesus name. Amen.