How do we fight the spiritual battles we face? Are we really prepared? Join us this Sunday as Kent brings the Word on spiritual warfare and fighting for what matters most. Let’s gear up together and stand firm!

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OPENING ILLUSTRATION:

So, I was working on a sermon about what we will look like after we die, and maybe someday I’ll do that, but to be honest, I decided at the last minute to preach a very different sermon.  I think it will likely be shorter, but I think it’s a vital sermon to preach.  

I want to enter it by telling you a story…

Years ago, when I was in college, I mean, like YEARS ago… I had a couple of friends I had known for a long time, I thought for sure they were going to get married, they were madly in love and had been as long as I can remember.  Out of the blue, one of my friends took this wide swing from her usual way of life. She started hanging with this other group of guys and was partying with them.  Her whole demeanor changed.  One night, I was with my friend and he said, “I feel like I need to go rescue her”.  We knew she was with these other guys in a hotel and they were partying.  I looked at him and said, “let’s go”.  We went to the hotel, we walked in to the room, grabbed her, and literally walked out.  These guys – who we knew got in our face and were yelling at us.  I remember asking one of the guys what happened to him, he used to love Jesus.  I kept telling myself, “if they punch you, don’t punch them back”.  For some reason, the guys left us and went back to the hotel room.  This memory is so vivid, we were sitting on the parking lot talking, my buddy, his girlfriend who was also a close friend and myself.  He kept trying to convince her that she had gone of the deepens.  We both were trying to reason with her.  And I just felt in that moment that what we were coming against was not of this world.  

I told them I was going to pray and I began to pray against satan and against evil spirits.  I prayed against demons and prayed that God would take the curtain off her eyes and help her see straight.  I can remember my neck tingling as I prayed and I’ll never forget what happened next.  When I said amen, she lifted her head and was crying and she said she felt like a curtain had fallen from her eyes and she didn’t know why she had been doing what she was doing, but she was done…

It was the wildest experience of my life…

Look, if I could just be honest with you as your pastor.  

Our church has been under what I would call a serious spiritual attack.

Our staff has had major physical issues and financial issues.  We’ve watched as our church has had marriages being ravaged, we’ve had people struggling in ways they have never struggled before.

And I believe it is all part of a Satanic attack on our church.

Listen, I need to say this plainly to you.

There is an enemy and He comes to steal kill and destroy (John 10:10)

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And the enemy is not your spouse, coworker, the person at church that made you mad, or any other person.  

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The enemy is Satan and He is making war on those of love God (Revelation 12:17)

I want to read to you what Paul says in Ephesians 6:

Ephesians 6:10-18

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 

We were trying to reason with my friend, but no amount of reason was going to overcome the delusion she was under because our battle wasn’t against flesh and blood, it was against authorities and evil powers in this dark world.

I’ve never had to convince people who come out of the drug scene or other darker forms of sin that evil exists – they’ve seen it.  

I had a friend who grew up in a family of real live witches – wicken – how she grew up she experienced true evil – some of her stories about what she watched and observed would turn your stomach..

Look, I’m not saying you don’t have issues in your family

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I’m not saying you don’t have trauma that needs to be dealt with

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What I am saying is that there is a spiritual component to what you are dealing with that can only be overcome through battling the darkness with the weapons of righteousness.

Listen to what Paul says:

13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. 

Paul tells the Ephesians to put on their armor and take up the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God

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Your weapon of righteousness is the authority of the Spirit and His word

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Here are just a few of the weapons found in the word:

-Deep true forgiveness of others (Eph. 4:32, Mt 6:14-15)

-Praying with authority to cast out spirits (Mk 3:15, Mk 9:14-29)

-Wholehearted Repentance (Acts 2:38)

-Fasting (Acts 13:1-3)

-Truth (See Jesus and the temptation in the desert Mt 4)

You still have to deal with reality.

Personally, I look for if there are any other reasons for an issue first.

Did we make a bad decision, are there mental or physical reasons or the issue, but if not.  I fight and fight hard spiritually.

This is part of being a fully activated disciple is to learn to fight the spiritual battle.

Your kids need you to fight this battle

Your spouse needs you to fight this battle

You need you to fight this battle

CLOSING ILLUSTRATION:

The first fight I ever had was with a kid who was half my size but who had grown up in an abusive family.  I didn’t know anything about giving someone a whooping and it’s all he knew.  He just beat the snot out of me while I pushed him around – honestly, he probably needed the win…

But when I was in college I took a kickboxing class and learned a little about fighting.  I can remember this friend who asked me if I wanted to fight and he and I went at it – it was friendly boxing, but we really went at it.  

Here’s what I learned – 

The person who is trained and ready for a fight has the ability to stand in a way the untrained and unready cannot…

Church, I’m calling you to fight

I need you to fight

I feel like right now there are a handful fighting

Satan doesn’t fight fair and it’s time we stand in the authority we’ve been given.  

I’m going to commit to fasting for your marriages this week and relationships

-if you have a need for someone to fight for you, come down here and have one of our prayer warriors fight for you…

I hope you’ll join me in fasting too

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