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My name is Rick Renner, and I just want to say I am honored to be with you today and that Joseph has allowed me to speak into your life. I love Joseph. I love Heather and Z Ministries. I believe in what they do, and Denise and I are very firm supporters of them. I'm going to tell you, they're the real deal, otherwise I wouldn't be so attached to them. But anyway, if you want to support a ministry that's really touching the world. And by the way, remember, Joseph always says they're believing for a million to reach a billion. I like that phrase so much. I'm sorry it wasn't mine. What a great phrase and what a great goal to raise up a million believers to reach a billion. And if you sow your finances into this particular ministry, you're really sowing your money into a good place. And I just want to encourage you to do that. And I want to say thank you. But today, I want to talk to you about spiritual warfare. You know, there was a time when spiritual warfare was a topic that people talked about pretty frequently, but as the years have gone by, people kind of forgot about it. But the devil did not disappear. The devil is still working. And when we come to Ephesians chapter 6, the apostle Paul speaks to us very, very clearly about spiritual forces that we are up against. So I want you to open your Bible to Ephesians chapter six, and we're going to begin in verse 12. It's very classic. And by the way, I write about this in my own book, which is called Dress to Kill. It's a classic on the subject of spiritual armor and spiritual weapon. And you can go online to get it atamazon or renner.org but it's a book called Dress to Kill. But when you come to Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 12, Paul is writing, and he says, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual wickedness in high places. In the very beginning of that verse in the King James Version, it says, for we wrestle. That word wrestle is really a very important key to this verse. In Greek, it is the word pale, which is spelled P A L E. The word palle means to wrestle, to fight. It describes combat. But from this word Paula, the Greeks and the Romans had a sports facility which was called the Palestra. It's from this word pali. And when the readers read Paul's Epistle and saw this word russell, which is the Greek word poly, they understood exactly where this word came from. Now, if I said the word football, would you need me to stop and teach you what football is? No, because you're raised in a society where everybody knows what is football. You know, that it's played with a ball, it's played on a field, it's played with football players. You know all that well. The first century didn't have football, but they had the palaestra. They had this word, palai, and it was just as famous as football. And everybody knew what this word palestra meant. The palestra is where the pole took place. The palaestra was a facility which was called the house of wrestling or the house of combat sports. And there were three primary athletes which competed in the palaestra. That's where this word Russell, comes from. The first athlete that fought there were wrestlers. And wrestlers were not like the wrestlers which we have today. They fought until their opponent was decimated. And by the way, all the sports in the palatra were fought naked. Ay. And there was no part of the human body that was off limits. So just imagine what the wrestlers were doing to one another. They could grab and twist and do anything to any part of the body they wanted to do. And in fact, we have records where wrestlers would even use their thumbs to gouge the eye out of their opponents so they couldn't see. We have records of wrestlers who got behind their opponent, gave them a big waist lock, threw them up into the air, broke their spine and dropped them on the floor. That was wrestling. In the Palaestra, it was a spine snapping, eye gouging event when they wrestled. But then there were boxers. The boxers were not like the boxers we have today. There were no rounds. You fought until your opponent was crushed. The boxers wore leather straps which began at the ankle. They were wrapped 16ft, all the way down the arm, one over the wrist, over the hand, over the knuckle. And then for each knuckle, there was affixed a small little nail that was serrated like the blade of a hunting knife. It was really like you were fighting Freddy Krueger. Can you imagine fighting somebody that had serrated nails coming out of every knuckle? And that is the reason why if you go to a museum and you look at the ancient art of the Romans and the Greeks, very often you'll see on these vases you will see depictions of sports. And if you look at boxers, their ears are missing, their nose is missing, they've got blood flowing from their face. And that's because they were fighting people that had nails affixed to every one of their knuckles. These were horrific, horrific boxers and they were so committed to decimate their opponent. Then the same period when Paul was writing the book of Ephesians and he used this word wrestle, the Greek word poly, where you get this word palestra, a house of combat sports. We actually have a real life example of one boxer who got hit so hard in his mouth that it knocked all of his teeth out. But he knew that if he alerted to his enemy that he had been wounded, he, he was going to get hit again. So rather than spit his teeth out, you guessed, he chose to swallow his teeth. He just swallowed his teeth and kept fighting. That's also in this word wrestle. But then there was the third sport and the third sport was called pancreation. Ay. It's a compound of two words. The word pan means all the the word kratos, K r a T O s is the word for power. If you compound those two words together, pan and kratos, it forms the word pankration. And by the way, it's a sport that's been revived in recent years, but not revived fully to the way it originally was. Pankration was the athletes who survived the wrestling match, they survived the boxing match and now they came to fight others who survived their wrestling match and their boxing match. And when they came, they were pankration. They had more power than anybody else. And Pankritus brought clubs that were spiked with nails. Can you imagine it? They brought satchels of rocks, they brought axes, they brought everything they could and they fought until one lived and one died. That's the way the pankratists fought. Now when Paul's readers were reading this verse, verse 12, 4 we wrestle. They didn't just see the word wrestle, they saw the word paulae. They knew that he was talking about the palaestra. And Paul in this verse is literally saying, you better be serious about spiritual evil that is going to be arrayed against you. Because spiritual warfare can be a back snapping, eye gouging, blood spilling event if not up to it. That's why he begins in the previous two verses talking about power. You've got to have the power of God to deal with the enemy. Now when we go further in verse 12 then Paul begins to speak by divine revelation he says, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood. By the way in the Greek it uses the word human. The Greek literally says the wrestle is to us this is important. It means this is not what people are going to experience in Africa. Or in some other part of the world. It means every single Christian at some point, like it or not, is going to be drawn into a conflict with these unseen powers that have been marshaled against them. I have been drawn into conflict with these powers and my friends. That's why you need to be walking in the power of God. You need to renew your mind. You need to know the promises of God. You need to have the sword of the spirit be dressed in the whole weaponry of God. Because at some point you're going to be pulled into this whether you like it or not. The devil is threatened by you and he will come to attack. But notice the verse says, for wrestle not against flesh and blood. Flesh and blood is the distraction. It's the distraction. You may fight your spouse, but the problem really is not your spouse. It's something unseen working behind the scenes to cause strife. And when you fight your spouse, it's like fighting waves. There's just going to be another wave and another wave and another wave and another wave when the real problem is not the wave waves, it's the wind working behind the waves. And people get distracted and they fight with symptoms. They fight with what they can see. But Paul says our wrestle, our fight, it's not against what we see, it's not against the symptoms, it's not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness in high places. And Paul repeats the word against over and over and over five times in this verse. Well, when one word is repeated over and over and over sequentially very fast, always pay attention to that because that word is important. The word against, against, against, against. And normally you would think the Greek word against would be the word anti, but in this verse it's not the word anti every single time. It is the Greek word pros. The word pros, P R O S describes a very intimate encounter. The same word can convey the idea of a face to face encounter. Ribcage to rib cage, shoulder to shoulder. And now Paul is telling us how close the contest can begin can be. He says it can be face to face with principality, shoulder to shoulder with powers, ribcage to ribcage, against the rulers of the darkness of this world very intimately, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Pros, pros, pros, pros. Very, very close, intimate contact with these powers which will be dispatched against you. But who are these powers? Well, first of all, the word principalities, the Greek word ar case. It describes those that hold the highest seats of power and they have held them from ancient, ancient times. And here we find a realm of demonic powers, which are principalities. They're like princes. They have great power. And they've been sitting in their positions of power for eons of time. Directly under them is the second category, which the King James Version calls powers. It is the Greek word exousius. It describes those that have received license and authority from the principalities, and now they can do whatever they wish to do, wherever they want to do it. They're roaming the earth to do what they want to do. And then we come to the very bizarre word rulers of the darkness of this world. The Greek word cosmo crater us. Now, please be patient as I explain this word to you. The word cosmo krateros, here translated rulers of the darkness of this world, is a compound of two words, the word cosmos and the word kratos. The word cosmos in this particular case describes something that is ordered. It's the same word we use to describe the universe, because the universe is an ordered place. The word cosmos always depicts order. But the second part of the word is kratos. The word kratos means power. But when you put these two words together, cosmos and kratos, it forms the word cosmo krateros, which here is translated rulers of the darkness of this world. But it really depicts kratos, power that has been organized, power that has become orderly, power that has become harnessed. And it was the word used in the first century to describe a military boot camp or a training center. Well, think about it. What is a boot camp? What is a military training center? It's where recruits are brought in, and the recruits are kratos. They are raw power, but they're disconnected. Their power has never been disciplined. Their power has never been harnessed. Their power has never been focused. But when they are brought into the boot camp, suddenly all the raw power of those men, it is harnessed, it is organized, it is disciplined. They become a mighty force where they are trained, and then they are dispatch. This word is really important because it tells us the devil is so serious about inflicting the human race that he's taking no chances. He actually trains evil to do what evil does. For example, there are some demon spirits that do nothing but cancer. That's the weapon that was placed in their hand. They are spirits of cancer. Really. It's the truth. And when somebody dies in the hospital, they don't disappear. They just disconnect from the dead body, walk down the hallway and attach themselves to the next person. They're spirits of cancer. That's all they do. They're spirits of perversion. Spirits that are specifically trained to attach themselves to young people and to twist their thinking or to confuse them about their sexuality. And once they completely cause a young person to question his identity or his gender and they're finished, they disconnect and moving on to do to the next person, because that's the weapon that is placed in their hand. Now, the reason I'm telling you this is not to scare you. I've told you many times, God's not in the business of scaring, but he is in the business of preparing us. But what this means is the devil is not accidental in what he does. He is very serious in dispatching evil into the world to victimize the human race. And when demon spirits are sent forth to do their deal, their motto is Kill, steal and destroy. That is the motto on their lips when they are dispatched as forces. And where are they dispatched to? Well, the end of the verse says spiritual wickedness and high places. The word wickedness is the Greek word poneros. And the word poneros is really the word which describes that which is malevolent or that which is malignant. Malevolent. Malignant. There's no good in them. And Paul says they've been dispatched into high places. And that's a misnomer, it's a bad translation. People think, well, that's in the stratosphere. It's cosmic warfare. And there is such a thing as cosmic warfare. But in this particular case, the word high, high places, the Greek word describes the air below the mountaintops. It is the air where we live. It's the environment where we thrive. Which means the devil has not dispatched demon spirits to the moon or to Mars. There's no one out there to afflict. He has sent them low. They've been sent forth like troops into the planet, into this atmosphere with the motto kill, steal and destroy. And when they arrive on the scene in our environment, they are malevolent. They are malignant in their intent. Now, why in the world would Paul give all of that to us? Not to scare us, but to wake us up. He wants us to understand, like it or not, if you're a serious Christian and if you're a threat to the domain of darkness, at some point the devil is going to launch an assault and you're going to find yourself drawn into a conflict. And. And if you're not walking in power, and if you're not walking in spiritual weaponry, it may end up being a Back snapping, eye gouging, blood spilling event. But it doesn't have to be. It doesn't have to be. And that's why verse 13 goes on to say wherefore the word warfare in Greek is dia tauto. It means on account of these things. On account of these things. On account of what things? You got to keep it in context. On account of the fact that you're going to be pulled into a wrestling match. On account of the fact that I've told you the devil's going to come after you, he's going to marshal his forces against you. On account of the fact that there are principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness that had been dispatched into our environment on account of these things. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day. And having done all to stand. But notice this, he says, take unto you. The word take unto you is even important. It is the Greek word ana la bete. It's a compound of two words. The word ana a n a means repeat the action. It describes that which is repetitive to do what you did before. The second part of the word labeta is a direct form of the Greek word lambana which means I take or I receive. But when you put it together, it is a direct command. And Paul is saying to his readers, you've dropped your armor. No wonder you're under assault. And the church of Ephesus was under assault. If you read chapter four, they were backbiting, they were into strife, they were into mudslinging, they were grieving the Holy Spirit, they were living far below what they knew. They were really dealing with an all out assault. Now Paul tells them why, he says wherefore in light of all of these things, Anna la bete, bend over, pick up the weaponry that you have dropped and put it on and wear it like you once wore it. Move back into the power of God like you once did. And here's the good news, if you moved away from the power of God, you can move back into it. If you've dropped your weaponry, you can pick it up again. And now Paul says in response to everything I've said to you, isn't it time for you to bend over, pick up all that weaponry, put it back on, walk in the power of God again. And then he says, put on the whole armor of God. Here's the reason why that ye may be able to stand against, to stand against, to stand in the evil day. And having Done all to stand. And here we find that when we're walking in the power of God and when we're dressed in spiritual warfare, we have the ability to stand and to push against evil that tries to invade our day. That you may be able to stand in the evil day, you can push it back across the line. The very use of this phrase means if you're a child of God, you, as Paul teaches in the book of Colossians, have been translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear son. And when you're living in the kingdom of light and the kingdom of God's dear son, your life is not to be affected by evil, which could include strife or unforgiveness. It could include sickness, it could include poverty, attacks of every kind. All those things belong to the kingdom of darkness where you used to live, but now you're living in the kingdom of light. And if those things have tried to come across the line into your life, you have everything you have to push them back across the line. You can push them back across the line. And that leads to the next statement in this verse, that you may be able to stand in the evil day. What in the world is the evil day? Somebody might say, well, maybe that someday, prophetically in the future, the evil day in the future. No, no, no. Come on, don't make it so complicated. The evil day is any day that evil gets in your day. If you wake up and you get a diagnosis you didn't expect evil got in your day. If you wake up and strife tries to erupt in your home, you. Your home is not designed for strife. Evil has tried to get in your day. Those spirits that are malevolent and malignant, they're trying to invade your space. And their motto is kill, steal and destroy. They're trying to bring something malevolent and malignant into your life. That's an evil day. Or you've just got a bill that you did not anticipate, you don't know how you're going to pay it, and you're very worried that something evil has happened to you. But this verse says, if you're walking in the power of God and in the armor of God, you've got everything you need to say to the devil. Excuse me, this is my space. I'm pushing you back across the line. You do not belong in my life. You've got what you need. You have the power of God, you've got the weaponry of God, everything to push it back across the line. And Then the end of the verse mysteriously says, and having done all to stand. And here's the way I always heard this taught when I was growing up. Having done all. Stand. Having done all. If you're walking in the power of God and it doesn't work, then just stand. If you're using the word of God and the promises of God and nothing's working, then just stand. If you're moving in the power of the Holy Spirit and using the blood of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit and the blood of Jesus is not working, then just stand. But, friend, there's multiple problems with this. The Word works, the blood works, the power of God works, the promises of God work. They all work. So it can't mean that. And if they don't work, what in the world do you think you're going to benefit by just standing as the devil beats the life out of you? Just standing is not going to do anything. The Greek says something totally different. Would you like to know what it says?