Spritiual Warfare

Intro

Good morning! Some of you may know my name, or at least know of the family name. I have a lot of ancestors buried in the cemetery across the road. My Great Grandfather Lamar O. Ball was called out of this church a long time ago and spent most of his ministry in west Tennessee. Then my father was called out of a church in west Tennessee and is now back down in south Mississippi. Now I have been called out of west Tennessee and south Mississippi. You see our family moved from Adamsville, Tennessee to Gautier, Mississippi the summer between my junior and senior year. I finished High school in December, and just finished my first semester of college. I first heard the call to ministry while in Adamsville and that church started the licensing process, but we were unable to complete it because we had been called to move. So the church in Gautier completed the process and behind the license in the frame are the letters from two churches saying they see the hand of God upon me. Now, before i go any further, I just want to say I’m absolutely thrilled to be here with you for the next month. If you have your Bibles with you this morning, would you please open them to Ephesians 6. Since moving to the coastal area, and even just since I finished high school, I have grown and realized just how much the world is suffering. In the middle of March, I had the opportunity to go on a spring break mission trip, and while I was there, I saw brokenness unlike I had ever seen before. In that brokenness I saw a lot of professing Christians living in the world. Every one on that beach was fighting a fight. On the third or fourth night, my group was in the prayer room and I realized that I had been fight my fight wrong the entire time. I didn’t really understand what was going on when we first walked into the prayer room, but then I realized what was going on. They had different areas set up where you could pray for different things, but I felt something telling me to start in the middle at the stage on my knees and pray. I didn’t know what to pray for or how long, but I spent our entire alloted time in that one position, drenched in sweat in a freezing cold room almost ready to pass out from such intense prayer. There were people coming up to me afterward asking if I was ok, and trying to help me up because the pain in my knees. Now I don’t tell you that to brag or to try to show off, no, I tell you that to say that that night I learned how to fight. More than ever, I felt that I was a soldier on the front lines of battle. So if you’ve found Ephesians 6 in your Bible I ask that if you are able, would you stand in honor of the reading of God’s word. Ephesians 6:10-14 says…

Ephesians 6:10–14 CSB

10 Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens. 13 For this reason take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand. 14 Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest,

PRAY>

We Are At War

We are at WAR! In WW II alone, there was an estimated 70-85 million deaths. There have been people dying in the spiritual battle ever since Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden. The death count is at its highest now, and it is still rising.

**This spiritual war is something unlike anything the world has ever seen, yet it has been around since the beginning of time and yet very few know about it, and even less know how to fight in it.

**When we think about war, we always think about weapons, and battle, and death, but we think of it physically. Being in our fleshly bodies we tend to think more about the physical than we do the spiritual. However, we are not physical beings.

**We are spiritual beings in physical bodies on a physical earth waiting for the spiritual reign. But while we are in the physical bodies, we are tied to the flesh and subsequently want what what the flesh wants. While we are still flesh, we often think with the flesh and want to help and fight with the flesh. Now Ephesians 6:12 says…

Ephesians 6:12 CSB

12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.

So if this is true, then how are we supposed to fight while we are still in the flesh??

Well I’m glad you asked.

The Armor

Verse 11 of Ephesians 6:11 says…

Ephesians 6:11 CSB

11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil.

As christians, we are called to stand, to stand firm in our faith.

** This illustration of “Armor” is a physical representation of a spiritual matter, and there are 7 different pieces to this armor. The first of which is the belt of truth.

** I don’t believe that this is just any random belt, but rather a utility belt or a tool belt. a belt used to store things. One of the things this belt would hold is the sword of the spirit, which is God’s word. And we know from John 1 that the Word was with God, the Word was God, and the Word became flesh. So the WORD of God, also being God and coming to walk among us in Jesus. And Jesus said in John 14:6

John 14:6 CSB

6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

So Jesus is the truth that we need to use to defend against those who do nothing but lie.

** The second is the breastplate of Righteousness. Another word for righteous could also be holy. God said in Leviticus 20:7

Leviticus 20:7 CSB

7 Consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am the Lord your God.

God says this multiple times throughout the Bible, to be holy because He is holy, or to be holy because He is God. So we are to take up righteousness on our chest, and be above reproach in what we do.

** The third is the sandals of readiness for the gospel of peace. Meaning that we should always be ready to have peace. A lot of times we want to fight meaningless battles amongst ourselves about what color the carpet should be or wether someone is sitting in our seats or not. So STOP IT! these are useless battles we are fighting with each other when we should be readied with peace. We are called to be unified in out faith. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians about the disunity in the church and told them to be unified in peace, and now in Ephesians he says to be ready for peace.

** The fourth part of the armor is the Shield of Faith. Being grounded in our faith is one of the most important things as a Christian. Without a firm foundation in our faith, when a storm comes, our house will fall and be taken into the storm. But when we have that solid foundation when we have that shield the devil won’t be able to take us. Having that shield of faith will block any attack thrown at it. Wether it be the devil sending a storm, or a person trying to sway you, you will be able to stay strong.

** Next is the Helmet of salvation. The helmet protects the head from being hurt. When you are saved, there is a change in your heart and mind. you no longer want the things of the world, but rather those that are holy. But like I said earlier, we are still in the flesh, so sometimes we think fleshly things. So we need that helmet to protect our brain from evil, to stay focused on what is good and holy. the Helmet could also act like blinders on a horse keeping your eyes focused rather than allowing your mind to wander.

** Then there is the Sword of the Spirit. It is used not to cut down, but rather as a symbol of authority. to be able to say i have the spirit with me, to correct and to educate. thats another reason to hide God’s word in our hearts that we might be able to use the sword to rebuke those who are wrong.

** Last but certianly not least, is prayer. like i was saying in the beginning prayer is acctually how we fight. in the armor there are 5 defencive weapons and two offenceve. the sword and prayer are the two offenceve. the sword is how we attack against those who say and do the wrong things to rebuke and correct them, and prayer, is how he attack the devil and keep him at bay. prayer is our most powerful tool as christians.

*As Humans, we want to see our enemies suffer. We want worse done to them than they did to us, but thats not going to benefit them or us. The human nature wants to fight back wants to hurt back, but the bible teaches to turn the other cheek.

*As warriors and as brothers and sisters, we need to change out tactics. We need to fight with the spirit and not the flesh.

*When someone wrongs us, we need to pray for them. Not in a condescending way, but in a positive uplifting way. We need to pray that our enemies’ hearts would be softened so that we can witness to them, or in some cases that our own hearts would be softened so we can teach and sometimes be taught.

*We fight through prayer. We can also fight by carrying our cross and following Christ’s example. a part of carrying our cross is wearing the full armor of God. Matthew 16:24 says

Matthew 16:24 CSB

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

*When Jesus is referencing the cross and denying ones self in the same context, He is saying we need to die to ourself and follow Him.

*The crucifixion was the worst death anyone could die in that day in time. So He’s saying that if someone isn’t willing too die for Christ then he is not worthy to follow Christ.

*But the death here is more than physical. The death here is to self. If we can’t die to the flesh then we cannot follow the spirit.

*Likewise with the cross. God is using the cross in this passage as a figure of speech. The cross represents our witness as Christians.

* Going back to the death thing. Oswald Chambers once wrote, “Death means you stop being.” That hit home for me. To stop being. I don’t thing that many people if any can fathom that. That means its gone. When you die to self, the flesh stops being, and we let God have control over our lives. That will have the biggest impact on your life.

Conclusion

So this morning I ask you, are you living a life that would show you are fighting kingdom battles, or are you still trying to fight physically.

or have you yet to join th battle and need to be saved from your sin. if that the case then its as simple as ABC…

the altar is open this morning. i will be standing in the front to reieve any one who needs. so whats stopping you from fighting kingdom battles today??

PRAY>