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We are jumping back into our series called Firm Foundation. Somebody say Firm Foundation. We're talking about building a life that lasts. Building a life that you stand on. And. And we talked about from the book of Ephesians, which is six chapters. We bring three core principles out of it. Now it's only. There's so many more we could talk about. These are what I think build the strongest foundation in your life to help you stand against stuff that's coming against your life that will keep you on the journey for the whole journey. And so we talked first about what you build with. We talk about the gospel. Like, if you get the gospel wrong, if you get the invitation from God wrong, it's all wrong. Like, if it starts with you being the hero of the story, wrong gospel. If it starts with you being amazing, wrong gospel. What the Bible says about us and our amazing selves. We were dead in our trespasses and sins. You were dead, I was dead. We had no life to us whatsoever, right? We. We were dead men walking. Come on. So I see dead people. Come on, somebody. You know what I'm talking about. Like, we were dead. We needed a savior to come and wake us up and make us alive. And that's what Christ did. It is by grace that we are saved through faith. It's a gift of God, not of our works. So that none of us can boast. We didn't deserve this. We didn't earn it. We didn't do anything to get it. It was by Christ alone that you and I are saved and that Christ gets all the glory. Can somebody say Amen to that? Jesus. Jesus. And then we're seated with him in heavenly places. And we. We take our identity in his lap. That. That we. We find ourselves when we are seated in Him. It's not about our struggle or our striving. It's about being seated and resting in his power for our lives. Then last week, we talked about that dead guy. Didn't go away, right? You have a new guy and a dead guy in the U. We called you a UU Come on, look at your name and say you're a UU that's what you are. You're a you. You're. There's two you's. There's the old you and the new you. And Paul said, you got to take off the. The parts of the old you and put on the new you. You got to take off the old mentalities and the old ways of living and the ways that don't honor God. And you got to Start putting on the new you. It's a whole wardrobe change about our spiritual life that we're called into today. We're going to move from take a seat to take your stand. Somebody say take your stand. We're going to talk about being empowered to stand against the attacks of the enemy in our lives because there's a real battle going on and we have to know what it is. And we are powered by the spirit to do so. So Paul's going give a final recommendation here. He says, finally, if I could tell you one last thing to build your life on. He says, 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. Take your stand. Somebody say take your stand so you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers and against authorities of. Against the powers of the dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God because this stands against you. Take a stand by putting on the armor of God so that when the day of evil comes. Can we just take a vote? And would you believe that it's kind of an evil day that we live in right now? Like I. I would agree with Paul that the day is evil. Like, so we need to learn to arm ourselves against the evil days that you may. May be able to stand your ground. And then after you've done all to stand, keep on standing. It's like stand just. You need the ability to stand. You need a firm foundation that you won't fall from, that you won't sink in, that will allow you to stand. So stand firm. Stand firm with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with a breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. And in addition to all this, take up the shield of faith for which, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, and pray in the spirit. There are actually seven if you ever look at this. Most people will say the armor of God is six pieces. I'm saying there's a seventh piece. And the seventh piece is probably the most important piece, I think, to the whole thing. And that is pray in the the Spirit on all occasions, with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for the Lord's people. Like take your stand, be filled to the power where you can stand. We talked about last week that the old saints used to say this whole process was be saved, be sanctified and be filled with the Holy Ghost. That's what it was, saved. The gospel is the only thing that saves us sanctified is putting off and putting on. We need to be empowered by the spirit of God. So we take our seat with Christ and then we need to take our stand for Christ and we need to stand in a world that's trying to bring us down. I want to talk today about spiritual warfare. Spiritual warfare. Let me say this. Just because you don't know it's happening doesn't mean it's not happening. And just because you want to act like it's not happening doesn't mean it's not happening. And just because you choose to not fight against it doesn't mean it's not fighting against you. There is a work of the enemy trying to destroy your life. The Bible tells us that the mission of hell, the mission of the enemy of your soul, is to steal, kill and destroy. His desire is destruction. His appetite is to devour your life. Just when you thought he was some cute cuddly little devil that sits with a pitchfork on your shoulder all dressed in red and ripped. Come on, somebody. They make Jesus out to be so homely looking, then they make the devil look like he's a buff dude with a pitchfork. Just when you think I might want to look like the devil. No you don't. His desire. He has one insatiable desire and that is to destroy your life, destroy your marriage, destroy your hope, steal and rob from your faith. There is nothing that he wants that is good intentions for you, your life. And just because you want to turn a blind eye to it doesn't mean it's not happening in your life. We have to learn to take a stand and fight the right fight. Here's what I need you to know. We're going to go deep from the get go. So get on your waiters. Come on somebody. You have an enemy. You can't get any deeper than that right there. You have an enemy. You need to realize that. And, and the enemy is not always the thing that you think it is. Our enemy, our adversary, the Bible said, is like a roaring lion seeking to devour us. It's not always obvious is real, but he's also concealed. And if we're not careful, we'll point our sword in the wrong direction and we'll start fighting people instead of Principalities, we'll turn our weapon on our spouse. As if. Can I just tell you, bro, your wife is not the enemy. Can I tell you, sis, Your husband is not the enemy. Your co worker that's jealous of you is not the enemy. The political party of which you don't vote for is not the enemy. Oh, where you all at in the room right now? Your creditors are not the enemy. That's your dumb self, right? And we're pointing our sword. And if you don't fight the right fight, you won't win the battle. It's. It's. It's. People are symptoms. They're not the source. People may operate with evil intentions and they may be persuaded by evil desires, but people are not the enemy. They're the symptom, but not the source. They might be something that's probing into your life, that's hurting you, but it's not the source. The source is something far more vicious and far more nefarious. It is evil. And it is a plot of the enemy to bring your life down. And you have to point your sword in the right direction. You got to fight the right fight. You have an enemy. It's not people. It's principalities. It's like saying, I'm sick with an infection, but the fruit of that infection is aches in my body and a fever. And so as long as I handle the fever, I'll start taking medication for my fever. You may not feel the fever anymore, but your body still has the infection. You gotta have the right thing to get to the right source so you can handle the thing that's coming against you. And if we keep fighting people, we're fighting the wrong stuff. We got to turn our sword on Principality. Here's the reason why. People are our mission. They're not our enemies. God called you to love people and to reach people. People are your mission. They're not your enemy. And you can't hate someone and be an influence in their life at the same time. You can't turn your sword on someone and preach Jesus to them at the same time. You got to love your enemies. The Bible says. And. And you got to do good to those who persecute you and want to bring harm to your life. Because people are not truly your enemy. They're your mission. And you've got to learn to develop a love for people. Now. Now we got to become aware of extremes. Because I like the way C.S. lewis said. C.S. lewis said you can. You can focus on the devil too much or too little. I Think there, there are people that focus on them too much, but I think there's also people that focus on them too little. There's a too much people that they think there's a devil behind every rock. I remember my pastor used to say all the time, Jonathan Suber was a mentor of mine. He used to say, there's not a devil behind every rock. Maybe every other rock, but not every rock. He's there, but he's not always there. Right here's why I say we in the church I was raised. And maybe if you're raised in a Pentecostal church at all or any kind of a spirit filled environment, they would say things like, you gotta bind the devil. The devil is a sly old fox. If I could catch him, I'd put him in a box, I'd lock the box and throw away the key for all the dirty tricks he's ever played on me. You gotta bind him. Every time I see that, I think like a guy jumping off a horse to like get a cow, you know what I mean? Like, he grabs his three legs like, Are y' all with me in the room right now? I feel like I'm all alone in this place. You gotta bind the devil. But here, here's what I want you to know. You can't bind your way out of what you behaved your way into. Some of this stuff ain't the devil, it's you. The enemy is enemy. Come on, somebody. Like I bond the devil, he's. He's just wreaking havoc on my finances. No, that's not a spirit of oppression on your finances. You are just a poor manager. You. You're an idiot. You don't know how to spend less than you bring in. You don't have a budget if you just got a budget. You watch the devil just leave your life. Just get a budget, bro. You got to get a job not oppressing your finances. You're lazy. Are you with me in the room right now? The devil's after my marriage. No, you're just a jerk and full of pride. And if you'd ever humble yourself and say sorry every now and then, you watch the little devil just walk right out of your marriage because it wasn't the devil, it was you. Amen, Joe. Come on, preach, white boy, preach. You got a problem with discipline of your mind, your money, your mouth and your morals. Not everything's the devil. So we can pay too much attention, but we can also pay not enough attention and realize there are some things that are happening in your life. Maybe even right now that the enemy has found a place to attack you in. And you need to learn to stand. You need to learn to be empowered by the Holy Spirit to stand. Because not only do you have an enemy, he has a strategy. He's got a plan for you. He's got a plan to destroy your life. The Bible says this, I love this. So that Satan will not outsmart us. We have to be familiar with his schemes. If you just read that backwards, it's like, if you're not familiar with his schemes, he gonna make you look stupid. He's going to outsmart you. You got to understand the way he works. You got to understand he's got a plan. This word schemes, it's actually in other translations that may say devices or methods because the, the, the, the Latin word derivative of this is, is methodeo, which is where we get the word methods. Like he, he has a mission. His mission is threefold. He wants to steal, kill and destroy. But he's also got a method for how he's going to do it. He's been studying humanity for thousands of years and figuring out ways to bring each of us down. So the Bible tells us, yo, stay alert, be vigilant, be watchful, be mindful. Keep your eyes on the right enemy. Stay alert. Watch out for the great enemy, the devil, because he prowls around like a roaring lion. Somebody say like a lion? He prowls around like a lion, looking for someone to devour like a lion. If his mission is threefold, steal, kill and destroy. I think I'm draw a parallel for you today about like a lion, that there's three ways that lions attack as well that I think we need to be aware of for how the enemy attacks our own lives. Number one, look, he attacks in infancy what he doesn't want to deal with in maturity. He doesn't want that thing to get big. He doesn't, he doesn't want that to get full grown because he'd rather attack. You're not going to see a lion go after the biggest water buffalo in the herd. He's going to find the smallest one he can find and he's going to go after that one because he thinks if I let him grow up to be too big, the fight's going to be too hard. I gotta get them while they're young. Are you with me? So he's after, the enemy's after young. That's why you'll see like elephants, big old fat elephants. They'll get up in a herd and they'll take their smaller, younger elephants, they'll push them to the middle of the herd. Because in essence, what they're saying in that whole herd is, if there's a lion out there trying to get to them, you gotta get through my fat body before you get to those young ones right there. Come on. What would it be like to be a church that says we care so much about the next generation that we're gonna protect them, we're gonna build environments. We're going to focus on them with everything we have. We're going to push them to the center of it all and make them the center of attention. Because we're telling, hell, you're not getting to the next generation. You're not getting to our young ones. Because he wants to destroy them before they can ever mature into everything that God has for their lives. That's why I always tell you there's more going on behind this wall in our kids room. We're not just here to babysit your kids. We're here to empower your kids to become world changers. We're partnering with families. That's what we're doing. We're partnering with you to make sure that we're investing in your kids as an outside source, giving fuel for the fight and giving them hope for tomorrow and giving them word of God in their spirit so they'll get stronger and stronger and stronger. We're just a bunch of fat elephants getting around your kids, saying, if you want to get to them, you got to come through us. That's what it is. He attacks an infancy. What he doesn't want to do. Im with immaturity. Think about how the enemy listen the enemy twice. In scriptures it says that there were national decrees that were placed upon kids under the age of two. Male children under the age of two. Pharaoh did it. First he wanted to kill every Israelite child under male child under the age of two because he thought they're swelling up, they're growing up, they're getting bigger and they're getting stronger. I got to stop them from getting into full maturity. So I'm going to take them out when they're small so I can still have a handle on their lives. And then you fast forward that to the New Testament and Jesus is being born Herod. Here's that. There's a. The Messiah is going to be born somewhere in Bethlehem. So he sends a decree into Bethlehem. Every male child under the age of two needs to be killed. And so the next time, listen, next time you're sitting around and you see that little nativity scene and you're like, oh, silent night. Holy night, holy. I felt a little Adam Sandlerish whenever I was doing that. I don't know why I did, but I did. Kind of weird, right? And you think, oh, there's little baby Jesus. And look at Joseph of Mary. They look so porcelain. Y. Little angels fluttering. Cute little picture. That. That's not what's really happening. That's what's happening here. But if you pull back the curtain, Revelation chapter 11 tells us what's really happening. There's a woman who's pregnant with child. And that woman, the Bible likens unto Israel, and she's giving birth to Messiah. And it says, there's a big red dragon who's attacking. He takes his tail and swipes out a third of the stars, which is all the angels that followed Lucifer to rebel against God. And they're coming down to devour that child because he's thinking, I got to get him when he's young because I can't let him grow into his fullness. So the next time you're singing Silent Night, it wasn't so silent, bro. There was a dragon in heaven with a third of the angels of heaven who were trying to devour that infant. Because the enemy knows, I can't let this thing get full grown. I gotta attack it in infancy. There was a woman in the scriptures in the time of the kings named Athaliah, and she was a descendant of Ahab and she wanted the throne of Judah. And so she decided, I'm going to kill. She kills every heir to the throne. This next, except for one of the nurses, grabs a young boy named Joash and she takes him and she hides him. And this is such a key principle. The Bible says that she hid him in the house the Lord. I think that's so important. Here's why I was to challenge you. If you're going to have kids, make them church kids. Make sure you're hiding them in the house of God. Make sure you're not just sending them out into the world to fend for themselves. Make sure you're building a habitation where the presence of God is so you can hide your kids in the house of God so they can stand against what the enemy is trying to bring into their lives. Is anybody hearing me preach in this room right now? We. We. We've got to stand strong. And here's the reason why 70 to 75% of Christian youth leave the church in early adulthood. Think of that. Three quarters of the Youth leave the church in early adulthood. This is a national standard. That means, according to Barna's research in The Pew Report, 380, 000 students each year walk away from God at graduation. 380. That's America alone. Think about this. And this is even more important. Many of those youth lose their faith at the age of 14. Now, it doesn't play out because they're in your house and you're dragging them to church, right? So they stay in church, but they've lost their faith at age 14 because the enemy wants to destroy them when they're young. So that's why. Listen, if you're a young man or young woman in this place, I want you to know I love you and this church loves you. And we build this whole place with you in mind because we care about the next generation and we want to see you strong in the Lord and we want to see you grow into everything that God has for your life. And we'll do everything to be the fattest elephant you've ever seen to surround you and tell hell you're not getting to them until you come through us. So be fat. It's not just people. It's anything that's new. New believers, they say that new believers, that they're going to fall away from their faith. It happens in the first two years after their confession. Why? Because hell can't let them grow into something mature. And so I love celebrating. And I get up here and we'll celebrate all the people that God saved and thousands of people got saved in this church over the last 12 years of our existence. In the last year alone, we've seen over a thousand people get baptized into the new life in Christ. And we love celebrating that. But listen to me. You need to understand, as a church, we have a responsibility to that revival that's happening. We have a responsibility because hell has just targeted at each and every one of those new believers and wants to destroy their life. And it would be so stupid of us to just cheer about numbers of what God is doing in people's lives and never come around them and never be spiritual mothers and fathers to them and spiritual brothers and sisters and saying, hey, I know hell is going to attack you with everything, so I'm giving myself to you to make sure that I can protect you and I can surround you and I will disciple you and I will pray for you and I will be here for you. We need to be a church that cares, because hell cares. We should care. Oh, I'm preaching it Hurts right through here so bad right now, I don't even know what to tell you. I can't breathe. So listen. He attacks in infancy what he doesn't want to deal with in maturity. The second thing is this. He will attack in isolation what he doesn't want to deal with in community because we're stronger together and he'll try and get us alone. Here's how he starts to work that in your mind. No one's gonna understand what you're going through. Don't tell anybody. They wouldn't understand or they wouldn't care. They care about everything else but you. And he gets you thinking. So isolated that no one's gonna understand. No one's gonna care. You shouldn't take this to anybody else. Just live your life yourself. And that's why we can be surrounded with thousands of people and yet still be so alone dying inside. That's why you take. People say they had so much going on in their life. How did they commit suicide? Because they were dying inside and they weren't in community. People didn't see them the way they should see them. You got to be in community because there's strength in community. You got to be vulnerable in community. That's why we keep pushing life groups. You got to get involved in a life group. We move from rows to circles. Why? Not because it's just a good thing to do. It's because we're stronger when we get smaller like that and we get in community with one another and we can be honest with each other. So this. I grabbed seven guys that were on my heart. I started talking with Brent Bowling about this about a year and a half ago, and we. I started gathering. Seven guys were on my heart. And so we gathered together and we said, lord, what do you want to do? We're going to start this prayer meeting. And so I. It was just going to be these seven guys coming together. And I said, hey, you know what? Why don't you just invite a couple people with you to come to this prayer meeting? So we're going to do a prayer meeting with men every Tuesday morning at 5:30 in the morning. We're going to be here at Compass World Church, and we're going to come around men. I want to tell you a couple of things. There is an assault against men being men in our society, and I'm not gonna let it happen. And I'm not talking about misogynism, whatever it's called. I don't know how to pronounce the word because that's not who I am. I'm not talking about male. I'm talking about just men being who God called them to be and being okay with being that and coming around and, and filling them up with life and praying over them and allowing ourselves to become bonded together. As mentioned, we need that. The cool thing about this church is we have an uncanny amount we beat the statistics on how many men come to church. I'm so proud of you men that you come to the house of God over and over and over again. But I also know you don't feel equipped enough to lead your family spiritually. You don't know how to pray and you're, you're being deceived by the things of this world and we need to help come around each other and pray for one another. We need godly men to rise up. Are you hearing me in the room right now? And so it's our mission. So every Tuesday morning, starting this Tuesday morning, we're going to be here at 5:30 in the morning. I'm asking you, I'm telling you if I, if you consider me your pastor, you need to be here. We, we started. This was probably once we got. We haven't this first time I've talked about it. These guys just started inviting friends and not everybody comes to our church. Some of them don't go to our church. They're just going to come because it's a passion for men to rise up. Right? So I want to see you here at 5:30 in the morning. We got so big we were going to have it in the youth room. It's too big now. We're going to have it in this room. I pray. We feel. I'd love to see 600 men in this room take every chair and let's pray for each other and let's build each up in strength and faith and be the men that God has called us to be. Come on. You can't do it alone. Don't be in isolation. The Bible says this 2 are better than 1, 2 are better than 1. For they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. The enemy waits. He's waiting for that, that one wildebeest. That one. No, he's waiting for that one elephant. He's waiting for that one. He's waiting for that one water buffalo to just get outside of the pack, just feel discouraged and not stay in the pack and fall behind just enough. And then that little brushy tail you see in the foliage over there just comes prancing out to attack the one who decided to fall behind. Because if you do it alone, you're setting yourself up for destruction. Are you hearing me in the room? Isolation invites the attack of the enemy into our lives. Isolation isn't a condition. It's a strategy of Satan. He wants you to feel all alone, like nobody understands you. He did it for David. Think about David. David. The Bible says he would. He would always go. He was built for battle. He killed a lion and a bear to defend sheep. He killed Goliath to defend a nation. In one chapter, he took down seven nations in a year and a half. He was a fighter. And then the Bible says at the time of year when kings would go to battle, David sent all of his men. But he isolated and went back to Jerusalem on his own. And then all sudden, he got up on the roof and you know about the roof? The roof. The roof is on fire, man. Don't listen. Don't you dare sing another portion of that song. You promise me. Just get it out of your mind right now. As a pastor, I should never use that analogy. It's terrible, but it's a slippery slope up there. Come on, somebody. He looks over the roof and there's a naked woman down there. Because every time you're on the roof, there's naked women below. I'm just telling you, don't get on the roof. He sleeps with Bathsheba, has her husband killed. And he wanted to build a temple for God and it destroyed his whole future. Are you hearing me? Because he had the wrong kind of blood on his hands. Because he turned his weapon in the wrong direction. Why? Because he isolated himself and it cost him everything. Elijah. Elijah, man of God. Think about this. He's. He's on Mount Carmel. Entire nation of Israel has walked away from God. They're serving BAAL and Asherah. And he comes and challenges it. And he prays a 52 word prayer. And fire falls from. I mean literal fireball from heaven. When's the last time you did that pray? 52 words. And fire comes from heaven. And the whole nation turns back to God. And they slaughter 450 prophets and tear down the poles that they built for Asherah. And the Bible says that they all run down. And the next thing Elijah does is it says he runs into the wilderness. And he tells his servant, you stay here. I'm going alone. And that very night, he came under fear, depression and suicide. He just got off a mountain where God showed his power. And 24 hours later he's saying, take my life. I don't want to live anymore. Why? Because he got alone, he got isolated, and it's the enemy's playground in our life. Think about Peter. Peter followed Jesus so closely. And then there's a scripture where it says he, he fought for Jesus. Cut off Malchus ear. Jesus puts the ear back on. Can you imagine that? That'd be so cool. And Jesus is like, peter, you're such an idiot. I need you alive on Pentecost. I can't have you in jail. So he takes the guy's ear and he's like, slam. Can you imagine being Malchus in that moment right there where you came to arrest Jesus, somebody cut your ear off and Jesus puts your ear back on. You'd be like, what the heck is going on right now? Sorry, there's a little caveat squirrel moment for me. Jesus gets taken away. And the Bible says this three words. And Peter began to follow at a distance. That's four words. He began to follow at a distance. And then all of a sudden, after following a distance, he ends up alone at a fire with a bunch of unbelievers. And then he ends up denying Jesus three times. It all started because, listen, distance creates vulnerability and isolation creates denial in our lives. And we will walk away. Here's what I'm trying to say. You don't have to leave Jesus completely. You just have to start following at a distance. You just have to back up and not go in as deep as you were before. You got to live in the shade. You just got to live at 10% less than what is actual vulnerability. You, you can be honest to the and say, no, I'm not going to give you this last 10%. And that just keeps you following at a distance. You need an environment where you can get real, where you can tell the truth about where you are and you can bring people into your story. Think about this. If you got, if you got, you know, you got a, a whole herd of water buffalo. If you're alone, you got two eyes, four hooves, right? If you're, if you got a thousand with you, you just multiplied every area of your life. So it's not just two eyes. Now you got 2,000 eyes looking at the same situation. You got 4, 000 hooves fighting against the same enemy. We're stronger when we're together. And that's why you need to know when you're in isolation, people need to be able to look. You need other eyes looking into your situation and saying, bro, when I came to you and I went to hug you. You were a little cold on that hug. You were a little taken back. What's wrong? Is everything okay? You need to have a girlfriend. Be able to look into your life and be like, hey, sis, what's going on? I just feel like you're distant. I feel like there's something in your eyes. I feel like there's a wound in your spirit. What's happening? Can I lean into that with you? You need people who will come alongside of you. And you don't get that when you're isolated. You only get that when you're living in community. Well, we need each other. And the last thing is this. Listen. He attacks an injury. What he doesn't want to deal with in vitality. He's waiting for you to get wounded. That's where he's at right now. I would venture to say that there's a lot of people in the. The door the devil has open in your life right now is a wound that's in your spirit. You got offended. This is why Jesus says, don't let offense get in your heart. It's like a cancer that devours your soul. You can't allow unforgiveness to get in your heart. You can't allow bitterness to get in your heart. You can't allow resentment to overtake you. That's why in chapter four, Paul says, don't let the sun go down on your wrath and your anger. Right? Because if you just keep stewing on that, if you keep letting that wound stay open in you, it is the doorway of hell. It is the gateway of Satan to come into the wounded places of your life. You need Jesus to heal you. You need your heart to be healed. You need your spirit to be made whole. You let Jesus into the deepest places of your life. You need to let people into your life. But you need to let Jesus into the broken places of your life. Is he can heal you there. And there's a lot of people. It's not one big stab. It's a death by a thousand cuts. It's like just being worn out. And that's how he usually does it. Hell doesn't fight you at your strongest. He waits. Satan waits till you're wounded. And he'll let a thousand cuts just come upon you. And I think of Esau. Think of Esau. The Bible says that he gave away his destiny in a moment of physical weakness. He literally traded his birthright for a bull of soup. Now, I've had some good chowder. In my life. I'm not gonna lie to you. I've had some really good chowder. I've never had chowder good enough to forfeit my entire future for one bowl of it. How. How wore down do you have to be that you'd sacrifice your whole future for something so temporary and so immediate? How. How. How. How worn out would your soul have to be to make a permanent decision in a temporary condition? He traded his future for a weak moment in his life. You got to beware of the thousand cuts that can come upon you and wear you down. Think about Samson. He was worn down by the persistence before he was taken down by Delilah. She just kept coming after him over and over and over again trying to weaken him and wear him down. Tell me your secret. Tell me your secret. Tell me your secret. It was a thousand wounds. A thousand wounds until the Bible says his soul was vexed to death. He just got wore down by the attack. That was over and over and over again. He became emotionally exhausted. And then he revealed a secret that cost him his life. Where are you at? How weak is your spirit right now? How wounded is your soul? How exhausted is your mind? And you got to watch because the enemy's waiting for the moment of your weakness to devour you. Job attacked over and over and over again. And then Satan comes to try and bring the final blow. Jesus. The Bible says he fasted and prayed for 40 days in the wilderness. And the devil didn't come on day one. He didn't come on day 20. He waited till day 40, when Jesus was at the weakest moment. And then the Bible says Satan came to tempt him. Because he waits for weakness. The lion doesn't attack the strongest roar. He attacks. He listens for the weakest steps. Ones who just so broke down. I don't know if I can make it any further. He's not looking for strong roars. He's looking for weak steps. And listen to me. How weak has your step become? Are y' all hearing me in the room right now? Like you fell asleep on me? Because there's wounded people in this place. I'm telling you right now. There's stuff that's happening in your life because you're leaving a door open to Satan through the wounded places of your soul. And you need to let Jesus heal you. You need to let Jesus come in. Here's the reason I'm preaching all this. I'm closing with this. Because God gives victory over every attack of the enemy. God has the enemy has destruction prepared for You God has deliverance prepared for you. God has a destiny in store for you. Watch. Watch what the Bible says. I keep jumping over that. That's there too. No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. Here's the deal against. Against isolation. Satan wants you to believe you're the only one who's ever been through this. The Bible says you ain't that special. There's nothing you're facing that other people haven't faced, too. He just doesn't want you to get around other people who faced it because their victory is going to become your victory. Their testimony is going to get you out of where you are because it says, watch. God is faithful. If he did it for them, he can do it for you. If he got them out, he can get you out. And he doesn't want someone else's story and someone else's testimony being the victory in your life, life. And so it keeps us in isolation so we can't hear the power of God that wants to work in our lives. He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out. Somebody say a way out. He makes a way out of every attack that's in your life so that you can endure it. He has an answer for every attack that's coming against you. And it's called the armor of God. It's called building yourself up and putting stuff on your life, allowing the spirit of God to empower you. And here's. Here's what I can say. When you feel attacked with lies, there's a difference. There's a difference in just having a bad moment and just having a bad day and being attacked by the enemy where these lies are just penetrating your mind and you're swirling out of control and you're losing. You're losing the fact of the truth. Everything's becoming muddied and you can't see up from down. And it's this spiraling effect that isn't. That's not a bad day. That's a scheme of hell to wear you down. The Bible says for the attacks of the lies, it gives you the belt of truth so that you can gird yourself up and stand. That's why it's so important to memorize scripture. I want to challenge you. Get the word of God in your life so you know what is true. So when your world is spiraling out of control, you can say, no, no, devil, you're a liar. Here's what the word of God says. Here's what the word no weapon formed against me is going to prosper. Greater is he that's in me than he that's in the world. You need to come with the word of God against the attacks of the enemy. When he attacks you with temptation and sin, you have the breastplate of righteousness. The breastplate, it covers every vital organ that could take you out. You need something that covers the vital places of your life and that's God's. It's not your righteousness, it's his righteousness. Your righteousness is weak. It's filthy rags. The Bible says his righteousness is a breastplate. And righteousness means right side up living. Start living the life that God wants you to live so it takes away the secret places of your life so the sin no longer has a stain on you. Upside down living. You ever take a bucket or like a your kiddie pool and you turn it upside down and you don't come back to it for a couple years? You go, I'm like, oh shoot, I should go pick up that bucket or that kiddie pool. And the moment you pick it up, there's all kinds of critters coming off under that thing. Little nasty snakes, demonic kittens. You know what I'm talking about? Hiding in the dark places of your soul because that's the environment. That's the environment that lets, lets those kind of things live the upside down living. Christ's righteousness turns you into right side up living. It's like turning that thing over and the sun and the air can come in and kill everything that's trying to kill your, your life. So he says, hey, take my life and let it be a right side up living for you that you get this sin. You're, you are as sick as your deepest secrets. It's in the darkness that devil's playing and you got to turn that thing over and give it to God. When you're attacked with apathy, the Bible says he gives you the shoes of readiness. I love this. Because when you're tempted to not care about anyone anymore, he challenges you to run with the gospel and take the good news of someone to Jesus, of Jesus, to someone in your life. Because people, people can be people, can't they? I mean, I know I'm a pastor, I'm not supposed to tell you this, but I don't always like people. You I love. It's other people. People make me mad. People hurt me. People misuse us, right? People talk about us. People slander people, do all kinds of stuff. It can hurt. But when you're challenged to just keep sharing the gospel every day of your life with the good news of Jesus, it allows you can't love people and preach the gospel to them, or you can't hate people and preach the gospel of love at the same time. And so when you keep realizing, I am saved by grace and God wants to save you by grace, it allows for the apathy to be overcome with the gospel of peace. In our life, when we're attacked by doubt, he gives us a shield of faith. When we're attacked by condemnation, he gives us a helmet of salvation. When we're attacked by by the world, he gives us the word of God to be strong for us. And that's normally where the story ends for the armor of God the people build. Know how these little. I remember I tell you about felt boards all the time. They put this little armor on, it'd be those six pieces, but there's one more piece because it says, and pray in the Spirit on every occasion. Because the Bible tells us that the Spirit of God knows when we don't know what to pray, knows what to pray through us. The Holy Spirit knows how to pray through through us. When you're confused, you need to let the Spirit of God pray through you. It's not an issue of salvation. It's a weapon of warfare that you are equipped to let the Spirit pray through your life and pray spiritual prayers. It's a fight against the enemy. And you need to let God so baptize you with his presence that the Spirit knows how to pray through you against whatever coming against your life that you don't understand. Are you feeling me in the room right now? Finally, finally grow in powerful union with the Lord and union with his mighty strength. So how do we overcome? It's very simple. Get close to God, draw closer to God. I have found in my life every area of vulnerability and attack that's ever come against me. If I trace it back, I let my habits down. I let my discipline down. I wasn't praying like I used to pray. I wasn't going like I used to go. I wasn't sharing the gospel like I used to share. I got into this little mode where I just started falling away gradually. Didn't mean to do it, but just got comfortable in my own life and comfortable my own salvation. And I wasn't pursuing God like I should. And bam, stuff started attacking my life. And the moment I ran to God, guess what? God ran to me. Because here's what the Bible says watch as I close with this. Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will will come near to you. We all want the devil to flee. And we all want to have the power to resist. But you don't have the power to resist. And for him to flee if you don't submit yourself to God, you got to surrender your life to God completely. Would you bow your heads all across the room? I want to pray for you.