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We're just going to be reading the first eight verses of First John, chapter three. And this is the apostle John. The same. The same man who wrote First John wrote the Gospel of John, but he's writing First John. He's writing this letter a few decades after he wrote the Gospel of John. And this is what he writes. First John, chapter three, verses one through eight. He says, behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us. That we should be called children of God. Can I get an amen? He says, therefore the world does not know us because it didn't know him. Beloved John often referred to the church as beloved. He says, beloved now we are children of God and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when he's revealed. Who is that? That's Jesus. When Jesus is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure. Verse 4. Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness. And sin is lawlessness. And you know that he was manifested. In other words, you know that Jesus came to take away our sins and in him there is no sin. Now check this out. This is a gut punch right here. Whoever abides, everybody say abides. He says, whoever abides in him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen him nor known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous. But he who sins is of the devil. For the devil has sinned from the beginning. And for this purpose. This is our key verse today. For for this purpose, the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. Let's pray one more time. God, we love you. We invite you into our Bible study. Open up our ears to hear from you. Open up our hearts, Lord. Soften our hearts. We want to hear from you, God, would you teach us? Would you bless my dad now as he's guest speaking down in Atlanta? Bless him. May your hand of favor be upon him. But for those of us who are here and watching online, would you just do now a brand new fresh work in our hearts, Lord, here we are. Just to receive from you now through your word, by your spirit in Jesus name. And all God's people said amen. You may be seated. Now, as I mentioned earlier, we're going to really focus on verse eight. But what I want to do just real quickly with you is I want to kind of just quickly unpack these first few verses because we can't just gloss over it. It's just too good. And so here first John says, behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the children of God. Now we could pause right there and have a whole Bible study just on that amazing biblical promise. You know this, that when you, when you trust in Jesus for salvation, you invite Christ into your life. When you enter into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, what happened in an instant was you just gained a few million brothers and sisters around the world. I don't know if you knew, knew that, but you need to know that you've got a ton of brothers and sisters right here in this room. Why? Because the Bible says when you call on the name of Jesus, you enter into personal relationship with him, that you now you're one of God's kids. Now sometimes we throw out that phrase a child of God, very flippantly, like we're all children of God. That's not what the Bible says. You only become a child of God if you're adopted by God. And the only way you get adopted by God is by placing your faith and trust in his son, Jesus Christ. And then the Bible says for as many as would believe in him, he would then declare them children of God. And so if you've done that, then you have, you have a big family. Have you ever been on a, maybe you've like been on a missions trip, or maybe, maybe you've just been on a business trip or maybe you're, you're, you're new to your workplace and you run into, to a believer and you, and sometimes now you have to really dig out what does that mean, because we just label everything as Christian and that doesn't even mean anything anymore. But after you kind of talk with them and you find out like this person loves Jesus, they have a personal relationship with the Lord, there's this instant bond that happens, right? You know what I'm talking about? Like you might not even know them, they might be a stranger to you. You just learn their name. But then you find out they're, they're a follower of Jesus like you are. And there's this instant connection that happens with a complete stranger. Why? Because they're your brother or sister in the Lord, like we are. We are. There is this supernatural bond that happens in the family of God. And so it's a wonderful thing. John, John is essentially saying, behold, what kind of love is this that he's bestowed on us, that we should be called his kids. It's unbelievable. John says, and he says, therefore, since you're one of his kids, he says, therefore, the world doesn't know us because it didn't know him. If you're a Christian, you should be experiencing some degree of discomfort in the world. And if you're not, you're way too comfortable. You're way too comfortable. And this isn't even your home. You know, it's kind of like if you're invited over to someone's home and you just kind of take off your shoes, you put your feet up on their table, and it's like, whoa, this is like, this isn't your home. You're a little too comfortable, right? And it's no different like the Bible says. Philippians, chapter three. Paul says, I eagerly await my heavenly citizenship. He says, we're not citizens of this world, but we're citizens of heaven. And so if you. If you're a little too comfortable here in the world, you could potentially be in a very dangerous place. You should be experiencing a level or a measure, a degree of discomfort with the world around you. Now this world is dying, and they need to know the love of Jesus. They need to know the truth of who Jesus is. So I'm not saying to isolate yourselves, but if you, if you're. If you experience as you just go about your. Your daily life or your business, your job, you experience some like, measure of, like, loneliness or discomfort, like, I just don't feel like I quite fit in. That is a good thing. And John is saying, he says, he's saying here the world doesn't know us because it didn't know the Lord. It doesn't know Jesus. Verse 2. Beloved, now we are children of God. Check this out. Now we are children of God. And it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we do know this. He says, we know that when he's revealed, when Jesus returns, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Isn't that an amazing thing? So you need to know this. The Bible says that Jesus is coming again. The Bible says that you will either meet the Lord because you die and your body goes into the ground. Your spirit separates from your body and you go to be with the Lord. If you're a believer or the Bible says in First Thessalonians 4, there will be a generation of believers who do not experience death. But Jesus comes back in the air. And this is where we get the doctrine of the rapture. This is 1st Thessalonians 4, 13, that there will be a generation of Believers who are caught up in the twinkling of an eye to meet the Lord and to be with the Lord. And so here John is saying, when Jesus is revealed, he's saying, right now, we're children of God, but when he's revealed, we will be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Like him in what sense? Like him? In this sense, Jesus, when he died on the cross, rose from the dead. The Bible says that he appeared to his disciples in his resurrected, glorified body. So John here, he's alluding to the future time when believers will either at. At some point in the future, after you've died, your spirit separates from your body, or you go to be with the Lord in the air. You will at some time be. Be clothed or wrapped in a glorified body just as Jesus had. Now, what is, what does this glorified body actually look like? Well, the Bible says that Jesus's glorified body, after he rose from the dead, he appeared on the earth before he ascended back into heaven, that he appeared on the earth for a period of 40 days. Paul would say in Corinthians that he actually appeared to over 500 people at once. And so when he appeared to the disciples, remember, remember, what did he. What did he say to Thomas? He. He said, feel the prince. Feel the, the. The crucifixion marks in my hands. He said, thomas doubting Thomas, feel. Touch my side. Right? So Jesus's glorified body was tangible. You could touch him. He was a physical body of flesh and bone. But the cool thing about his physical, glorified body was it was not limited to physical limitations. He could just appear. He could just appear through walls. And so John here, he's alluding to the future day when believers will be like Jesus in this way, where we will one day have this glorified body. No more wrinkles, no more sag. You could indulge in Dunkin Donuts. You don't gain a pound and you still pass through walls. You indulge in a good Krispy Kreme, still pass through walls, no weight gained. This is a glorified body. Jesus ate. What did Jesus do after he appeared to his disciples? His disciples. Then on another random day, they went fishing. And when Jesus was on the shore, he called them in. What did Jesus do? He made fish tacos. He's making fish tacos there on the shore. He made fish and some bread. And he ate. So his glorified body could eat, could digest, ingest and digest food, but he could still Pass through walls, wasn't bound to physical limitations, could just appear, but he could be touched and felt. And John says, one day we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And then verse three, he says, and so therefore, everyone who has this hope. What hope? What he's just been talking about the fact that we're children of God, the fact that we have an eternal destination in heaven for those of us who trusted in Christ. The biblical reality of the glorified body. He says, because of this, everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure. This is very challenging because what John is saying here is, listen, you. You have this future hope, but that future hope should motivate your behavior here and now. This future hope of living eternally with the Lord in heaven and having a glorified body should motivate how we behave here and now. He says this hope should purify us just as he is pure. If you say you're a Christian and you got that bio on your social media, but your walk doesn't match the talk, please take that off your bio, okay? And. All right, there's someone who's changed their bio. You know what I'm talking about. Listen. Because John says, listen, our. What we say, what we say should, should. That we believe and profess to know Jesus. That should motivate our behavior to live in purity. What I do with my body, physically, sexually, what I, what I, what I. How I operate and function at. At work, not cutting corners and living a life of integrity. John says everyone who has his hope in him purifies himself. And listen, that's not saying we're going to be. We're. We're gonna be perfect. We're gonna be without sin. But what John here is saying is, listen, this. This should be this motive. There should be this motivating factor in your life. Just be like, Lord, would you. Would you go to work in my heart and just like purify my life by your Holy Spirit? If there's anything in my heart, anything in my thought life, Lord, that dishonors you, just uproot it. I don't want anything to do with it, Lord. So the Holy Spirit has this. By his word. There's just this purifying effect. And John says everyone has this hope, purifies himself just as he is pure. Here we get. Here's where we're going to get to some of the gut punch verses here, verse 4. But whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that he was manifested that, that Christ came to take away our sins and in him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Jesus does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen him nor known him. Now, face value, those are some very scary verses because I'll be the first to say I'm the dirtiest sinner in the room. What in the world. Like John here, he says, whoever abides in him doesn't sin. Whoever sins has neither seen him nor known him. And so there's this idea of like, well, but I do sin, but I, I've trusted in Christ. And is John saying that I, if I, if I sin even once, that I don't truly belong to the Lord? No, we know that he's not saying that because in the very first chapter of this book, he says, if you say you have no sin, you're a liar and the truth is not in you. What John here is saying and, and the original Greek language really brings, brings the, the depth to the surface here. Because when he says, he who abides in him does not sin, that phrase does not sin in our English Bibles, in the Greek, the, the Greek verbiage is in the linear present translation. What John is saying is, he's referring to this ongoing pattern of rebellion, this, this, this rebellious lifestyle. So what John here is saying is he who has this pattern, this ongoing pattern of habitual sin and rebellion against the Lord, you don't really belong to the Lord. And this is very challenging to us to. Again, we, we claim the name of Christ, but if, if there's this, this lifestyle of rebellion, I know what God's word says, but I, I want to live in opposition to what he says. And we, we fudge the truth to fit our natural human desires. Paul says like this, like the, there's not compatible a lifestyle of sin, a pattern of sin and following Christ, they're diametrically opposed. The two cannot be both true at the same time. Now, so John's not saying we're going to be sinless, but rather as we come into the light of Christ and God matures us as we walk with him, we should be sinning less. We're not going to be sinless, but we should be sinning less. As God goes to work in our hearts, as we surrender more of our appetites and desires to the Lord, the Lord will mature you, the Lord will mature me, and he'll. He'll begin that sanctification work in our lives. Listen, when, when you enter into relationship with Jesus Christ, your attitude for sin should now be completely different again. It doesn't mean we're going to not wrestle with sin. We're not going to struggle with sin. Absolutely we will. But our attitude for sin should be completely different. The things you once chased and the things you once desired. Even though maybe you might still wrestle with it. It's just this attitude change. Like, Lord, I don't want anything to do with that. I was the old man, the old woman. That was my former life. Lord, I wanna walk with you now. And as you turn from sin, repent of sin. The Lord will be faithful to work, his holiness, his purity, his righteousness in your life. And your attitude for sin will be completely different. So this is what John is communicating here and then here. Now we're kind of, we're bringing it to like the theme of our Bible study because he brings up this appetite for sin. And he says then in verse 8, he who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. And for this purpose, for this very reason, the son of God was manifested that Jesus might destroy the works of the devil. The title of our Bible study today is the Ministry of Satan. The ministry of Satan. Satan has ministry. John here, he says that Jesus has come to destroy the works of the devil. Now when we think of that word, ministry, we often correlate that with like church life, right? Like what I'm doing is, is ministry. Oh, are you in full time ministry? You know, we all have ministry. We're all serving the Lord in our different spheres of life and influence. Ministry just simply in its basic definition means to serve. And so you better believe that the devil, Satan, he has ministry. He desires to serve himself in his own evil kingdom. There was a study I came across by the Barna Research Group. It was just a few months ago. It came out in February of 2025 and the article was entitled Most Americans believe in a supreme being, but not the God of the Bible. That was the, the, the, the title of the article. And within their research they found this quote. Although the presence and power of Satan plays an important role in Christian theology, a mere 1/5, that's 20%. A mere 20% of self identified Christians listed Satan or Lucifer as a li. As l. I'll say it again. It says, according to this study, even though Satan plays an important role in Christian theology, only 20% of self identified Christians. We're talking about Christians listed Satan or Lucifer as living and impactful translation. 80% of professing Christians think Satan is a deadbeat. They don't think Satan has any influence over their lives. Personally, they don't think that Satan has any persuasion or sway over our media and culture. They, they don't believe that Satan has any impact or influence over global government leaders and Satan. You know, you need to know this. Satan is completely content having 80% of the church believe that he's dead because that's when he does the most damage. That's when he goes overtime and he works and he wreaks havoc in our lives and in culture and society and in politics and all of this stuff. Now we need to have the biblical balance. I'm not saying that Satan is behind every bad day, not Satan saying that Satan is behind every, every corner. He's not behind every sickness or every illness. That would be foolish. But it would be just as foolish to also dismiss Satan and think he's not impactful. Why? Because Peter, he would disagree with that study. The Apostle Peter would say in 1st Peter 5:8, be alert and what you'd say, sober minded for your enemy. The devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. That's what Peter said. It sounds to me like the Apostle Peter thought that Satan was alive and well, attempting to wreak havoc in our lives and in society. Now before we get into his ministry, just a little bit of background on who Satan actually is. And again, this is important for Christians to know. If you read your Bibles, you understand that Satan is a real personal being. There was another study I read a few years ago where the same group, the Barna Research Group, surveyed believers. And many believers only see Satan as a symbol of evil, but not an actual entity. Satan is a real being. He is not God's equal opposite. He is already a defeated foe. He was defeated on the cross. He knows his end, but he still seeks to influence and infiltrate our world. Satan really is more of a title than, than a name. The the Hebrew word Satan, it literally just simply means adversary. Another popular title is the Devil. And that just simply means slanderer in the original language. Isaiah 14:12 calls him Lucifer. But Lucifer in the original language it really just means light bearer or shining one. There's a reason why Paul in the New Testament would say that Satan the devil masquerades or disguises himself as an angel of light. Because in his original design created by God, he was originally designed and created as in the angelic realm, as an angel of light, he was a light bearer. Ezekiel 28 talks about this, describes Satan as having been created a cherub, apparently the highest Ranking order of the angelic realm. The Bible says he became arrogant in his beauty and in his status. He decided he wanted to sit enthroned above God. Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28, 1st Timothy 3 describe this. And it says that pride so filled Satan's heart that God kicked him from heaven. And Jesus would actually even say in I think it's the Gospel of Matthew, I saw Satan fall like lightning and he was kicked from heaven to the world. And because of his sin, God permanently removed Satan from his exalted position and his role. But, but he now here on this earth, he has influence even though he was cast out of heaven. And Revelation 20, verse 10 describes Satan's end. His fate is sealed. He will be thrown in the lake of fire when it's all said and done. But currently he roams the earth. He seeks to elevate his throne above God. He counterfeits all that God creates, hoping to gain the worship of the world and encourage opposition to God's kingdom. Satan is the ultimate source behind every false cult and every other world religion. Satan will do anything and everything in his power to oppose God and those who follow God. This is Satan's M.O. the Bible says. The Bible calls him the prince of the powers of the air. Again, we currently we're living in the physical material realm, but the Bible is clear. There's a supernatural spiritual realm that is unseen to the physical realm, but is just as real, if not even more real than the material realm. It's where God resides in the kingdom of light, but it's where Satan resides in the kingdom of darkness. And the Bible says that Satan is the prince of the powers of the air. Prince is the idea of dominion. The Bible in the New Testament also calls Satan the God lowercase gift, the God of this age. God has given Satan temporary authority and power in the world. Again, that power is limited. It's temporary. His end is destruction in the lake of fire. Revelation 20 tells us. But nonetheless, currently, right now, Satan desires to discourage and distract the believer and destroy and to destroy the non believer. He wants to take as many people with him to his end. He has ministry. Here's what the Bible says about it. He hinders, he tempts, he accuses, he lies, he confuses, he deceives, he robs and destroys, just to name a few. Number one, Satan hinders first. Thessalonians 2:18. Paul was writing to the church at Thessalonica and he said this to them. He said, therefore we wanted to come to you. Even I, Paul, time and again But Satan hindered us. Paul was telling this church, he was like, listen, I've been trying to come to you, I've been trying to meet with you. But Satan, he's hindering the work that God wants to do through me. To you, Satan is serving as an obstacle. He is hindering me from seeing you. Satan is a hinderer and he wants to hinder the work that God is doing in your life. Are you here today and you're a Christian? You desire to get in your Bible. You desire to be just transformed by the truth of God's word, to be filled with his spirit, to walk in purity. Satan will do everything he can to hinder that good work in your life. Sometimes I have trouble falling asleep and it's more so just due to the current like season of life I'm currently in. I've have three kids and my youngest is almost one and he has trouble sleeping through the night, you know. And so therefore, you know, if I'm on baby duty or my wife's on baby duty, there's just like always that anticipation, like are they going to wake up in the night? And so that then sometimes I'm like, I, why even bother go to sleep? Like he's going to probably be up and wake me up in 10 minutes. And so with that there can be just like this restlessness and this lack of sleep. But I came across the best form of Melatonin. It's the Bible. Have you ever. I'm not, I'm, you know, I say this light heartedly but it's totally true. Have you ever like, like at the end of a long day and you get in your bed and you just like not really totally feeling like you can fall asleep and you pick up your bible, all it takes is like literally read a few verses and you're out, right? I'm glad I'm not the only one in this room. I'm in safe company. But I'm, I'm like literally like, you don't need unisom, you don't need Melatonin. If you just get in your bed and open your Bible you will start to feel sleepy. And I say this light heartedly but it's so true. The enemy, he doesn't want you to read your Bibles, he doesn't want you to be in the Word. And so every time do you find like every time you try to get in your Bibles and you're like, okay, I've got 15 minutes, I'm gonna read my Bible, your phone goes off. You get text messages, your mind wanders, you get distracted. You feel sleepy and exhausted. There are times where I. I'll be like, okay, I have a few minutes. I'm just gonna pray. And I'm not even kidding. There was one time, a few. It was like a few weeks ago. I was on my bedside, on my knees, and with my head in my bed, I started praying. I woke up 15 minutes later, and I had a mustache by then, too. And it's like, how did this happen? I fell asleep. I have a mustache. I didn't even know I was growing one. And it was just crazy. This is how the enemy works in our lives. Because he doesn't. Again, it sounds kind of like basic and babyish when we talk about this, but it's so true. When you desire to go deep with the Lord and to get in the Word and to read your Bible, Satan will hinder the work that God desires to do in your life. That's why. Remember when the disciples were in the garden waiting? Jesus was about to be crucified. He said, could you not wait with me for an hour? He says, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. That's like a daily prayer, like, lord, my flesh is weak. Could you fill me afresh with your spirit? I need your strength. I can't even read my Bible, Lord. It's just difficult some days. And I'm not saying again that Satan is behind every rock and every. Every sleepy Bible reading time. I have enough flesh within me where, you know, I can get distracted all on my own. I don't need Satan's help. But is it matter of fact that Satan attempts to hinder what God desires to do in your life? Satan also, he tempts. First Thessalonians, same book, next chapter, 1st Thessalonians 3, verse 5. Says, for this reason, Paul is saying, when I could no longer endure it, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter, that Satan, lest by some means the tempter had tempted you, and our labor might have been in vain. What Paul is saying to that church in Thessalonica is, I wanted to come and see you. I wanted to check in on you. I wanted to encourage you in your faith. But Satan hindered me. But I was so concerned that he was going to tempt you and pull you further away from the Lord and our work was going to be worthless. Satan is the tempter. He will do everything he can to put our weaknesses in front of us, to pull us away from the Lord. My Weakness might not be your weakness and your weakness might not be my weakness. But I'm convinced that Satan and his demons know it. They observe us and study us. They know our weaknesses. They know what we're susceptible to give into. They study us in the unseen realm. They know what will trigger my flesh, they know what will trigger yours. And it might be different. But because he studies and observe and knows our weaknesses, he will do his best to put those things in front of us. Jesus would say the eyes are like windows to the soul. What we consume through our eyes penetrates our very soul. And Satan will package things in a nice pretty bow and present it to us. He tempts us. And this is why we need to know the word. Why? Because when Satan tempted Jesus in the desert, every time Satan tempted Jesus, Jesus quoted scripture. We have to memorize scripture. We have to know our Bibles. Because if, if we think that Satan has no influence, that Satan has no impact on our lives or in our world or in society and we think that Satan's again just like this deadbeat who has no impact, we will fall prey to his schemes, to his temptations every single time. Now temptation in and of itself is not a sin. Jesus was tempted in every way as we are, yet was without sin. The New Testament says, but it's when we give into that temptation where it becomes sin. And Satan is good at his job. He also a part of his ministry. He accuses. Revelation 12:10 says, Then I heard a loud voice saying, in heaven now, salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come for the accuser of our brethren, that is Satan who accused them before our God day and night has been cast down. He's the accuser of the brethren. The Bible says he accuses you. He accuses me before the Lord again. Satan knows our past. He bottles up our past. He takes it to the Lord, holds it up. He says, look at all that. You see what they did last night? You see what they did last week? See what they've been up to. And he accuses us. He takes our sin cause he knows it. And he uses it as his tool of accusation against us. Praise the Lord. The Bible says that right now, Jesus. Some people ask, what is Jesus doing right now? The Bible says he's interceding for you. Jesus is praying for you. Remember Jesus, he told Peter, he said, satan has asked to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that you would stand strong. Satan, he accuses and he condemns. He wants to leave you enslaved to guilt and shame. Even though you've repented and confessed of sin, Satan will remind you of your past and he'll accuse you. And when Satan does that, you know, it's kind of this cliche saying, when Satan reminds you of your past, just remind him of his future. Honestly too, you know, when Satan brings up your sin honestly, just say you don't even know the half of it because he's not all knowing. It's like, I'm worse than you think. Seriously. But thanks be to God when I. When I confess my sin, the Bible says he is faithful and just to forgive me of my sin and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. Greater is he within me than he that is in the world. You're a defeated foe, but he will accuse you. And some of you have been trapped in your guilt and in your shame for far too long. You've repented and confessed sin and the Lord wants to set you free. You don't have to. You don't have to fall prey to the ministry of Satan in this aspect. You don't have to fall prey to his accusations. Jesus is praying for you. Satan also lies. He's called the father of lies. In John 8:44, Jesus would say he was talking to the religious hypocrites and he would say, you are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and doesn't stand in the truth. And because there is no truth in him, when he speaks a lie, Jesus says he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. If Satan lies to you, he lies to us. God doesn't love you. God doesn't have a plan for your life. God doesn't see you. God doesn't care. He's a liar. That's why you have to bathe your mind in the truth of God's word. Constantly, constantly be bathing your mind in the truth of God's word. Because Satan will whisper a lie into your ear. And you have to be just so grounded in the truth of his word, he confuses. 2 Corinthians 4:4. Paul would again refer to Satan as the God of this age. He says he has blinded. He's blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. Satan has blinded the minds of unbelievers. That word blind in the Greek. It's the Greek word to Flow. And it literally can translate to make something blurry or to mask or to screen or to make something unclear. Satan desires to cloud judgment so that you don't make decisions that honor the Lord. He's the author of confusion. It should not be a surprise to us why we are seeing an epidemic of gender confusion in society today. All of this gender confusion and sexual perversion, it's rooted in the author of confusion. Can I just personally speak to those of you who might be here, I don't know who, who, who's here and necessarily what, what you're wrestling with, but can I speak to those of you who are here? Maybe you watch this later. To those of you who you are confused about your gender, Can I. Can I tell you that I love you and that God deeply, deeply loves you? And if you think that changing your physical outward appearance is a remedy for the internal confusion you feel, can I tell you lovingly, it is a lie from the author of confusion. It's a lie from the enemy. Do not believe it. And the applause that you hear, it's not for me. The, the applause that you hear is the body of Christ coming together, coming alongside you, saying, we love you and, and we. We can counsel you with the truth of God's word. And, and God loves you, and he is not the author of confusion. The Bible actually says, I think it's in 2 Corinthians, chapter 11, that God is not the author of confusion, but of peace. And if, if that's you been really wrestling with your identity, with confusion, come to the Lord, say, lord, I know that you're not the author of confusion. Lord, I desire to know you. Would you bathe me in your peace, Lord? Surrender your life to the Lord. Give him your confusion. And he so desires to breathe his life, his power and his peace over you, and it will blow your mind. You have no idea how much peace God desires to lavish upon your life. But that happens when we, when we, when we humbly come to him and bring him our confusion. And bring him our sin. And bring him. Bring him our, our. Our. Our sin, our mistakes, our, our dirt, our past. All this stuff say God, here it is, here it is. But I need you to move in my life and bring me your peace. The Bible says that Jesus is the prince of peace. He desires to again just like lavish and bathe your life in his life giving peace. Do not believe the confusing lies of the enemy. It's a trap. And it leads to turmoil and emptiness and destruction. He's the author of confusion. Satan is. It's a part of his ministry. He clouds judgment, makes. Makes things that, that were once basic and simple. He makes it so confusing. That's why in our society it's so upside down. The Bible says in the book of Isaiah that, that. That there will be a day where people call good evil and evil good. Everything's upside down. Why? Because it's rooted in who Satan is. He's the author of it, this confusion. And so be aware of how the enemy will use confusion to, to pull you from the Lord. He's also the deceiver. Second Corinthians, chapter 11. Paul would say, but I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. This is an awesome thing. Paul actually says, like, there's just the simplicity in your relationship with the Lord. Turn from sin and trust in Christ. Be filled with the Holy Spirit, the simplicity of following the Lord. But Paul would, would say to the church at Corinth, he says, I'm concerned, I'm afraid that the serpent, that's Satan, who deceived Eve by his craftiness, that he's going to lead you astray. Listen, we, we have to be, we have to be exercising, I think to the greatest degree we've ever seen such a great measure of discernment in the day that we're living in. Because Satan is. Satan is again noted in the Bible, described in the Bible as the great deceiver. Again, 2nd Corinthians 11, same chapters, this chapter that says he disguises himself as an angel of light. We gotta be turning up the discernment meter way up. And I'd love to have a whole Bible study on this, and maybe I will in the future, but I am super concerned about. And I know to some of you it's gonna be like, what in the world, like, that guy's a weirdo. Which, you know, I already am. But like, seriously, on a serious level, I think we need to be super, super concerned in using turning up the discernment dial when it comes to artificial intelligence, big time turning up the discernment dial. When it comes to AI and all of this stuff. There's. We have the capability now through artificial intelligence, to do some unbelievable damage. And I'm only coming at this from a biblical perspective. In a biblical worldview, the Bible is clear that It's Revelation, chapter 12, there will be a day. And I don't believe the church will be here to experience it, but there will be a day in the great tribulation where Satan will possess a person. He's known as the Antichrist. The Antichrist or the beast. He will set up an image. He will set up an. In the Greek it's E I K O N. It's where we get our English word icon. He will set up an icon. He will set up some kind of an image. And the Bible says he will breathe life into the image. It's life. It's a Greek word, pneuma, translated spirit. You will breathe some kind of spiritual power or life into this image that he sets up and he will demand everyone to worship it. This is in our Bibles. The Bible says in the end times that people will be so deceived by the doctrine of demons. The Bible also says in the end times that people will fall prey to strong delusion. And I think we're, I think we're, we're seeing the rumblings of it, the beginning of it. I'll give you, I'll give you an article I came across just to kind of, kind of bring home what I'm talking about here. If you don't know anything about the World Economic Forum, you need to do your research. There's a World Economic Forum contributor who says that AI could rewrite the Bible and create quote, correct religions. And this is a, this is from this article and his name is Yuval Harari. He's a contributor for the World Economic Forum. They often meet in Switzerland on an annual basis. Again, the Bible says there's going to be one world government, one world religion. I'm not saying the World Economic Forum is the one world government, but it's certainly, certainly we're not far off. And a contributor, a leader in the World Economic Forum, Yuval Harari, he's promoting the idea that AI will be able to generate a new globally accepted religious book. Quote, AI can create new ideas and can even write a new Bible. He said, in order to establish a unified and correct religion. Quote, throughout history. Check this out. Throughout history, religions dreamt about having a book written by superhuman intelligence that by a non human entity. Hello. That's kind of already happened, right? 2nd Timothy 3, 16. For the word is God, breathed God, inspired. But he says throughout history, religions have dreamt about having a book written by superhuman intelligence by a non human entity. And now he believes AI will become a new type of God. These are the kinds of conversations the World Economic Forum is having. You can, you can do all your own research on it. All of this to say the enemy is using the ministry of deception in his tool bag to deceive people. And I think we need to again turn up the discernment dial way up. And again, just be in our Bibles. You're. You're able to spot counterfeit when you understand the real truth and, and be in your Bibles, get to know God's word, study it, live it. But there's, there's great deception happening and Satan is the author of it. He also robs. John 10:10. The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I've come. Jesus says that you might have life and life to the full. Satan wants to rob you of your peace. He wants to rob you of joy. He's the ultimate thief. And Jesus labels him as such. He says the thief comes to steal. He also in this verse, he's called the destroyer. He comes to destroy. The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. The enemy hates your marriage, he wants to destroy that. The enemy hates your kids, he wants to destroy them. The enemy hates you and your desire to live for the Lord. And he is seeking destruction. That's his end game. He's the destroyer. And here's kind of where we, we leave with encouragement and the hope that we have. John here, he says in first John, there are two reasons why Jesus has come. Number one, in verse five, and you know that Jesus was manifested to take away our sins. And then in verse 8, for this purpose, the son of God was manifested that he might destroy everything that we've just been talking about. Destroy the works of the devil. If. And we're just going to kind of close our Bible study here. If. Listen, if you're a Christian, you profess to know Jesus, but you have just been like a sleepy Christian, not in the word, not having just this heart on fire for the Lord. Can I encourage you? That's exactly where Satan wants you because he renders you ineffective for the kingdom in bringing others to the Lord. Now again, the Holy Spirit doesn't share space with the believers. Filled with the Holy Spirit, a believer cannot be possessed, but they can be oppressed. A believer can be discouraged and distracted. If you're here today and you would say, austin, I have not given my life to Jesus, then you are. You are. It's open season for you. Come to the Lord. Repent of sin. Trust in what Christ did for you on the cross, his death and his resurrection. When you exercise faith in what Christ has done for you, he will fill you afresh with his Spirit, he'll come upon you in power. He'll give your life purpose and meaning. You have the promise of eternity. Come to the Lord before the deception gets too great. The enemy is at work. I want to just take a moment right now just to pray, because I know, I know, I know that there are marriages in the room. They've been under attack. There are families in the room right now. Satan has been going overtime on your family. You have, some of you have children who are very far from the Lord. And Satan has gotten a hold of their lives, pulled them from the Lord. I just want to take a moment, just pray and just ask the Lord just to protect us and to go to work on our behalf. Listen, the enemy's already been defeated. You are not fighting for victory, you are fighting from victory. The victory is won in Jesus. Let's press into him, let's follow him and let's watch him go to work. Heavenly Father, here we are now, just asking, Lord, would you go to work in our lives, Lord, Marriages are under attack. The family is under attack. Our lives personally are under attack. We're not saying that Satan is behind every bad day, but we also, we also don't want to dismiss the ways of the enemy, Lord. We see that he is at work, but you have come to destroy the works of the devil. First John 3:8. And so, Lord, we are fighting from a place of victory. We have the victory in Christ, but we just pray for an extra, just blanket of protection, Lord. On marriages here, on families here, Lord, on children who've strayed from you, Lord, Would you send people into their lives to bring them back to the truth of who you are, Lord, we know that Satan desires to steal, kill and destroy. He is hard at work, Lord. And so I pray that you would just blanket this room and watching online. Blanket us in your protection, Lord. Send your angels, Lord. We just ask, Lord, would you go to work in our marriages? Would you bring reconciliation where Satan has tried to sow division? Would you bring healing? Would you wake us up, Lord? Would you just set us on fire for you, Lord? Fill us afresh with your Holy spirit. Help us to get into our Bibles, Lord, to know it, to dig it out, to study it, to live it, to walk it, Lord, but you know we can't do that on our own. We're a fleshly people. We're weak. We need your strength, Lord. We need to operate in your power. Would you help us, Lord? Would you help us just to simply walk with you and to abide in you, Lord? You tell us that as we abide in you, you abide in us. Greater are you within us than he that is in the world. Would you bind the enemy, Lord, in the name of Jesus, go to work. In our lives may we see a wonderful awakening and revival. Pour out your spirit on us, Lord. We love you. We pray all of this in Jesus name and all God's people together said amen.