The Invisible War
Notes
Transcript
The Invisible War
The Invisible War
Opening:
Good evening students!
It is so nice to be with you all virtually!
This message was prerecorded but we get to experience this service all together at once.
Feel free to drop us a comment right now, letting us know who is with us tonight!
We threw down a challenge this week- We will call it the cardi B challenge.
Here is her video
So anyway we wanted to see you saying......... in a random place and then sending it to me! and oh my word!
You guys did not disappoint!
Check this out!
VIDEO
That was a ton of fun!
If you have a favorite— let us know and the winner will get a roll of TP to help save them durning this ........
Go ahead and vote now! one vote per person.
When the music stops that means the voting has stopped.
DANCE PARTY
Alright awesome! Great job to the winner of tonights Challenge!
Well I will be back in a bit to give the message tonight but before I do I would like to pray.
Pray.
Alright see you guys in a bit.
WHAT AM I READING
WORSHIP
MESSAGE
Intro
Hey all we are going to be pushing pause on our series can I ask that.
I know that this may be sad for many of you.
However, our leaders and I feel like this series is a better in person series where we can have real, honest conversations.
So until we get back we will be putting a pause on this.
In the meantime we are starting a new series called Supernatural.
By the way check out this graphic!
Lauren Betts made this for this series!
It is so dope!
We planned on doing this series after the “Can I Ask That” series anyways, so we are going to just jump ahead.
The time that we are currently in right now is a perfect time for the enemy to attack.
These next couple week I believe are really important for you and for us as a youth group.
Here is why— as i mentioned before in one of my first devo’s the enemy will try to isolate us.
He will make us feel alone.
And if I were a betting man, I would say that some of you are feeling pretty alone right now.
You may be scared, anxious, nervous, fearful, and those are all real feelings that I know I have had since this whole Corona thing started.
It is scary— but know this loved one you are not alone.
You may feel like, which is exactly what the enemy wants you to feel.
So we are going to dive into this series called supernatural and tonight we are going to be talking about this Invisible war.
So if you have your Bible, which I hope you do.
Because if you are watching this stream on your phone then you cant use it for you Bible!
So go ahead grab your Bible- This is your best and sharpest weapon against the enemy, it shouldn’t be that far from you.
I hope you grabbed that pen and notepad too!
When you get your Bibles turn to
Alright
I’ll meet you there in a few.
Now tonight we are going to be chatting about the unseen world around us.
I believe that there are other forces at play in this world.
It is very clear from Jesus casting out demons, army of unseen angels (), God appearing in his heavenly consul with other little g- gods.
God has taken his place in the divine council;
in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
In the mist of other gods- little g.
I am sure you have heard in the Hebrew the term eloheem which refers to God- Big G.
Which is true.
However the Hebrew word eloheem refers to any divine being.
So not only is it true here, when Asaph was writing the Psalm here, but here are a couple of places where the term is used to describe different divine ones.
Or spiritual beings if you will
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
God Himself
They sacrificed to demons that were no gods,
to gods they had never known,
to new gods that had come recently,
whom your fathers had never dreaded.
this refers to demons- spiritual being
The king said to her, “Do not be afraid. What do you see?” And the woman said to Saul, “I see a god coming up out of the earth.”
this refers to human dead in the afterlife.
You see these are passages of the Bible that we tend to jump over or even skip because it is hard to wrestle with.
Here is another one:
How about the sons of God rooming the land?
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.
the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose.
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.
Gen 6:
The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men.’
Or job 1:6
or what about in Hebrews.
Or
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
I think it is fair to say that we have a very small understanding of this spiritual world.
And to be honest it does not make all the sense to me either.
But I will tell you something it has caused me to dive deep into this topic.
To get a better understanding.
And I want to echo what Chelsea said last week, study it for yourselves.
If anything that I have just said as peaked your interest: Study it! Reach out to me, I can hit you up with some resources and maybe just a direction to go.
But you will have to work for the answer.
The unseen world is obviously all around us.
It may seem supernatural if you will.
And before you ask, I have never seen an episode of the show Supernatural.
Write in the comments if you have and if the show is good or not, give us your review.
Alright that is off track: lets get back to what we are talking about today.
This world of the unseen is very real and God through Paul is warning us about it right here in:
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
-
Now Paul is the author of the book of Ephesians.
And this section that we are actually going to be looking at for the next several weeks here is at the tail end of his letter.
We learn three truths from these first three verses tonight.
The first is this.
We draw our strength from the Lord (v.10)
We draw our strength from the Lord (v.10)
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
Paul is concluding his letter here and he is at the end and he is saying finally!
The Letter of Ephesians is one of my favorites.
As Paul speaks about the Christian life.
How we can experience the blessings from God.
We see God’s power through Christ.
That we were all sinners at one point but we were bought with the blood of Christ.
The Gospel of Jesus is what we boast in because it has nothing to do with us but everything to do with Jesus.
And Jesus is were we are united.
There is no longer separation of those who are in Christ.
We are to be have unity as the Body of believers.
We have this new life which is in Christ.
Light will defeat the darkness.
Then Paul talks about the intimate circle of the home.
And at the end of all of this!
That this life which sounds grand and amazing is not going to be easy.
Paul is reminding his readers that this life cannot be lived without a spiritual battle.
And How do we go through this spiritual battle?
By drawing our strength from the Lord.
We cannot strengthen ourselves- We would not be very powerful.
It is interesting that Paul uses his words very carefully here.
He says not by the Lord, which would be good enough but he says we get strength, but “in the Lord.”
When we live life in union with God- there is no need to fear powerlessness.
Apart from God we can do nothing.
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
Apart from the vine we can do nothing.
The vine is Jesus- as he is saying I am the true vine.
Apart from Christ we can do nothing.
Illustration:
I picture Paul giving the final battle preparation.
I picture Paul giving the final battle preparation.
“Draw your strengthen upon the Lord yee weak feeble sinners!”
I posted a question on Friday about your favorite scenes from movies or books that give you this pre-battle speech!
Many people posted and I loved hearing all of your favorite ones!
One that will always stick out to me is Argons from Lord of the Rings the Return of the King
He is rally his troops!
To fight the final battle of middle earth
Check this out!
“Sons of Gondor!
Of Rohan!
My brothers.
I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me.
A day may come when the courage of Men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day.
An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the Age of Men comes crashing down, but it is not this day!
This day we fight!
By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!”
LETS GO!!!! Right!
Paul may not have looked like King Argon/ Paul was pointing us to the True king that we go to for strength.
Application
When you are at your wits in— know that there is one you can put your hope in.
In the time of the Corona Virus- There is still one that we can draw our strength from.
Its not me, or you, or your family, or celebrities- BUT IT IS GOD AND GOD ALONE!
Who right now are you drawing strength from?
Is it your phone, Social Media? Maybe you aren’t drawing strength from anything.
Maybe right now you are just going day by day.
Look that doesn’t seem too hopeful. So that means that we have to go back to the cross surrender ourselves and draw our strength from him.
That was point one:
Point two:
We stand against the forces of evil (v.11)
We stand against the forces of evil (v.11)
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
Ephesians 5:
This is honestly why I feel that Paul was giving us this epic speech to conquer the world.
Armor up.
We are going to dive more the armor of God next week, but for this week it is important to understand that we need to protect ourselves from the evil on/ the devil/satan.
You do not put on armor just to have it one right?
No that is silly.
You put armor on when you are trying to protect yourself or when you are heading into battle.
By putting on the armor- the whole armor of God — you have a chance to stand up to the evil one.
It is not a guarantee but you have a solid chance of holding firm.
BUT one has to put on the armor, if you do not put on the armor you have little to no chance of survival.
When the armor is on and it is on through God’s strength right verse 10, we can stand up to the schemes the plans of the evil one.
Putting on the armor of God would have reminded the reader to look at
and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Illustrate
Put on the armor- One way that we show our character or things that define us is our clothes.
Our clothes define us and reveal who we are.
We literally wear our identity on our sleeves.
Today I am wearing a shirt that my amazing wife made me.
I saw this around and I thought the phrase was really good.
It says the Church has left the building.
You see the church is every believer, this makes up the church.
The building, the four walls that holds the church— but we the people of God are the church.
The was always meant to be outside the walls of a building.
I wear this as a reminder durning this shut down that we our church— our building my be called Bethel Baptist Church but God’s church is alive and well outside a building.
God cannot and will not ever been contained to a building.
He is too great.
We must suit up/gird up/ gear up/ prepare for battle--
Whatever you want to call it!
Next week we are going to look at the armor of God.
How we suit up against the evil of this world.
While we may wear our identity on our shirts or our social media- The Christian identity is to be shaped by truth, faith, salvation- the GOSPEL.
When we are identified in the armor of God- We stand!
To stand hints at strength, stability, and success in a conflict or difficulty.
The schemes of the devil reminds us that he is the master of trickery-
And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
He is a trickster and he is leading the fight in this invisible war.
He is a trickster and he is leading the fight in this invisible war.
He is a trickster and he is leading the fight in this invisible war.
We fight in an invisible war (v.12)
We fight in an invisible war (v.12)
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
We do not wrestle or struggle against
We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against something else.
We actually fight/ wrestle against something stronger than flesh and blood.
We are fight against rulers which is not earthly rulers- because that would defeat Paul saying you are not fighting against flesh- but you are fighting against earthly rulers.
No rulers there means principalities.
This is not a term we throw around a lot- for very obvious reasons.
Principalities is a rule of a prince.
Yet this prince is not of flesh and blood- it is Satan.
Paul goes on to say against authorities- as in power of evil.
and the cosmic powers over darkness.
Against the spiritual forces of evil- only time in the NT the spiritual is used to define evil forces.
Where are they, they are in the heavenly places.
We could say that Paul was still talking about human realities, but that is the uneasy side of us talking.
The side that get a little uncomfortable because we are talking about angels and demons— things we can’t see.
Folks- this is the reality of Spiritual warfare.
Your greatest enemy is not flesh and blood- it the spiritual powers of evil— now they may use human instruments.
Here is the deal there is a battle going on right now
Paul is not just talking about individual people— but he starts this passage by saying WE...
This is him addressing the whole church.
As we have said before- Paul is literally reframing everything and putting it all into this battle speech!
He is talking to the whole church- not to single saints.
Lone Soldiers are easy to pick off.
Our battle is to hold a strong position through God.
What do we do— we must know where we find our identity.
If you put your identity is people, in your family, in your social media, or your sport, or whatever talent you have— it will fail you.
You will need to draw strength from God- you will want to put on the armor of God so you can stand firm— with your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ against the evil forces that are unseen.
There is a war waging that we cannot see.
I will tell you right now who wins, it is not Satan and his crew.
It is Jesus!
So what is your battle cry sound like- is your hope in Christ or other things of this world?
Right now is when we need each other.
Right now we are all isolated.
Right now Satan is getting what he wants.
He wants you to have a crazy amount of alone time
He wants you to be drawn to your phones all day long.
I have that stupid thing on my phone that tells me how long I am on it every day… I hate that number!
If the enemy can isolate you, he can influence you.- that is a quote from Lisa TerKeurst “It is not suppose to be this way.”
Every single day- I challenge you to wake up for battle.
Dive into God’s work, pray to him, seek out your community of believers.
I know we may not be able to have any face to face time, but we can talk via zoom, facetime, google hangouts, marco Polo, facebook messenger, snapchat, a good old fashion text— or I know this may be extreme, you could call them on the phone.
I know crazy right.
Stand firm in your identity.
Your identity in Christ.
There is a war coming and we best be ready for when it arrives.
Are you?
let’s pray
WORSHIP
Closing
Hey! If you have any questions about tonight’s message, shot me a message or your breakout leaders.
I am sure they would love to hear from you.
Next week we will be talking about girding up for war/for battle.
Supernatual “Gird Up”
We will see you guys next Sunday Night right here at 6:00!
Thanks for watching and know that you are loved.
have a good night.