You think I look good now? Wait till you see me in my wedding dress. I get to see you in yours too, right? How are you today? I am too. Thanks for asking. Turn with me to the book of 1 John. 1 John, fourth chapter. I did an on-campus revival at a Christian college several years ago, and I went into the men's restroom, and there were three stalls, and they were marked 1 John, 2nd John, and 3 John. Somehow I've just never forgotten that. We're going to be in 1 John, okay? 1 John. Fourth chapter. We're going to start the first verse to kind of give us some context. But we're really going to key in on the fourth verse. First verse, 1 John 4. Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. Because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you recognize the Spirit of God. Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. But every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist. This is the first century church. That Antichrist was around then. Which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. Now verse 4. You, dear children, are from God, and have overcome them because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. Let's pray. Father God, help us to internalize that truth. That your spirit working in us, living in us, is greater than anything bad that we're going to experience in this world. Just help us to trust you, Holy Spirit. And we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen. Several years ago, I was invited by a lady named Susan Watson, who has an international ministry. She knows missionaries all over the world. She would ask me to be part of a team to debrief and minister to a group of missionaries who had come back from Africa, very beat up. There were five couples. They had gone to Africa to work as a team, which was really smart. They did a lot of things right. They were very articulate, well-educated, dedicated people. I liked all of them. They went to Africa as a team and began to work there. They were eager to bond with the people in Africa, so they started attending these festivals and celebrations with the African people, not knowing that they were participating in witchcraft. After that, they began fighting with one another. There was an adulterous affair between two people in the team. And four of those couples came back to the States, just really beat up. Some of them vowed they would never speak to one another again. It was a total meltdown. And my friend Susan Watson got all these people to come together in this retreat at a retreat uh area up in Indianapolis, just kind of debrief and minister to them. And uh she was she was with Campion Barrel and Associates, that's a counseling group out of uh at Greenwood. She's very sharp at what she does. I just I marveled just watching her lead these people through forgiveness, accepting forgiveness, and just getting on with their lives. But as we ministered to those people that weekend, one of the things I heard from them quite often is that they were not ready for the level of spiritual warfare that they encountered in Africa. They said their education didn't prepare them for that, their ministry training didn't prepare them for that. And you know what? I don't think they're the only people in the church who are not completely prepared for the level of spiritual warfare that we're encountering in our culture today. You agree with me? I mean, it's good, it's become blatant in your face, hasn't it? Uh I don't think they're the only ones who struggled with that. We were born into a world at war. Are you aware of that? The two most powerful beings in the universe are competing for your allegiance, and that's God and the devil. And the devil's power and authority is very, very limited compared to God. The devil's a created being, all his power, all his authority have been granted to him by God, and he's here to serve a purpose. And when his purpose is done, the Lord is gonna stick an apple in his lying mouth and cook him in a sulfur stew. Okay? That'll be his end. But for now, he has a purpose in the world, and so he's allowed some power and some authority. But we already read in 1 John 4, 4 that the one who is in us is greater than the one who is in the world. We don't need to be fear him. But we were born into this world at war. We have an enemy, we didn't choose him, he chose us. Now, some people would say, that's you believe that stuff? You're some kind of an idiot or something, you know. You don't have to believe in the devil to be totally victimized by him. In fact, I think he likes working covertly. He loves people who don't believe in him. Because you know what they do? They blame all the bad stuff that happens in their life on themselves or on God, you know? And he gets away with it. So we have an enemy. We didn't choose him, he chose us. We were born into this world at war. There's not a lot said about the devil in the Bible, and I've had people come to me and say, I want to know more about the devil. Do you have a good book? Uh yeah, I do. There it is. In fact, I think all we need to know about him is good right here. You know, we don't need to read anything else. I want to read a couple of scriptures that just talk about the devil. And uh, I don't want to give him too much credit. Turn with me to the book of Isaiah, the 14th chapter. This is our enemy. This is the enemy of our soul. Now, I love this passage of scripture because Isaiah the prophet is addressing the king of Babylon. He's a really evil guy. But it's like in the midst of that conversation, Isaiah looks right past the king of Babylon and begins to to to address the one who really causes the king of Babylon to be so evil. By the way, I believe that what manifests in the physical is birthed in the spiritual. You know. So uh let's pick up in verse 12. So uh Isaiah is addressing the king of Babylon, but now he looks right past the king of Babylon, and he says this, verse 12 How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn. You have been cast down to the earth. Thanks God. You who once laid low the nations, you said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven, I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit enthroned on the Mount of Assembly, on the utmost height of the sacred mountain, I will ascend above the tops of the clouds, I will make myself like the most high, but you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit. That's our enemy. Turn with me to the book of Ezekiel. In the book of Ezekiel, uh the prophet does almost the same thing as Isaiah did in his book. He is first addressing the king of Tyre, who's a very evil man, but then again, the prophet looks right past him at the one who's really producing the evil in the world. And he says this about the devil in chapter 28. Ezekiel 28. We're gonna pick up in verse 11. You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect and beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone adorned you. Ruby, topaz, emerald, chrysalite, ox, and and uh onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and burrow. Your settings and mountings were made of gold on the day you were created. Remember, the devil's created being, they were prepared. You were anointed as a guardian cherub. What was the devil's uh when he was called Lucifer? What was his role in heaven? He was a guardian cherub. What did they do? Well, they covered or protected the glory of God. What's that look like? Well, it sounds pretty important to me. You were anointed as a guardian cherub, so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God, you walked among the fiery stones, you were blameless in all your ways from the day you were created, till wickedness was found in you. Through your widespread trait, you fit you were filled with violence and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones, your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom. Because of your splendor, I threw you down to the earth, and I made a spectacle of you before kings. That's the enemy that we fight, a supernatural enemy with a lot of power and a lot of authority. However, he who dwells in you is greater than him. Remember that. Don't forget that. That's our enemy. We fight against the supernatural enemy. The battlefield. What is the battlefield? Turn with me to 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians. You didn't know you were going to have Bible study, did you? Hey, I thought this was a sermon. You're having a Bible study. 2 Corinthians, 10th chapter. Talk about the battlefield, where we fight our battles. 2 Corinthians 10, verse 3. For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish arguments. Truth is a major weapon in the battle. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and I'll get this verse. And we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. Remember that. We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. You know where the battlefield is, this battle for that we're fighting, this war we're waging. It's between your ears. It's five and a half inches between my ears. I measured. To remind myself how small the battlefield is. But I fight all my spiritual battles in a five and a half inch space. Now, if I can control that, I won the battle, correct? That's what it says. Take every thought captive, make it obedient to Christ. The battle is fought in our minds with the things we think, things we agree with. So don't make agreements with the enemy. Agree with God. Very small battlefield on which we fight all our battles. Tim O'Hay wrote a book several years ago called The Battle of the Mind. And that's it. It was so correct. Yeah, that's where we fight all our battles. It's between our ears. That's the battlefield. If we can control what's going on there, we can win all our spiritual battles. Believe that? That's what this book says. So I'm I'm I agree with that. That's the battlefield. What is the devil's purpose in our life? Turn with me back to the book of Matthew, the 16th chapter. Matthew the 16th chapter. We're gonna answer a question. Did Jesus actually call Peter Satan? Matthew 16th chapter. Let's begin at verse 21. From that time on, Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised alive. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. Never, Lord, not on my watch. This is not gonna happen. And there's that passage where Jesus says this, verse 23. Jesus turned and said to Peter, Get behind me, Satan. You are a stumbling block to me. You do not have do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men. So did Jesus call Peter Satan? I have an opinion about that. The word Satan or Satan in in Hebrew means a resister, opposer. I think that's what Jesus was addressing. He was saying to Peter, Peter, you're opposing me. You are resisting me. You're a stumbling block to me. But in the process of saying that to Peter, he reveals to us exactly what the devil's going to try to do in our lives. He's going to try to get you to oppose or resist the things of God, the things that are good. John Eldritch said, you can always tell a good thing because it will be opposed. Good is always opposed. You're working at something really hard, and there's just all this opposition. You think, well, maybe I'm not doing the right thing. Maybe you are doing the right thing, and the opposition is telling you, you are right on course. Good is always opposed. And the devil is opposing Jesus, resisting Jesus through one of his closest friends, Peter. But that's what the devil wants to do in our lives. He wants us to oppose and resist the things that are good. A man named Carl Ketcherside said several years ago, I heard him say this in the conference. He said, whenever there is a spiritual revival, there's also a corresponding revival of witchcraft. I never thought about that. Carl Ketcherside was a brilliant guy, so if he said it, I kind of believe it, you know. He said, anytime there's a spiritual revival, there's a corresponding revival of witchcraft. That was really true in the Jesus movement. When the Jesus movement broke out in the late 60s and early 70s, there was at the same time this revival of witchcraft. And uh I bought a whole box of books, testimony by a young girl, and it was called Escape from Witchcraft. And young people would come to me, and older people too, and they'd say, I think I might have a demon. I said, Well, you might read this book. I gave one of those books. At that time, I was a pastor at the Christian church in Nashville. I dressed in a suit and the tie. I looked really good. You guys admit you saw me dressed up, didn't you? I looked good, didn't I? Yeah, I did. But yeah, he saw me too. He did. I looked good, didn't I? I dressed up. Yeah. So anyway, I went down a street just two blocks. There was a men's store on Van Buren Street, right there in the middle of Nashville. I went there to drive, buy a dress shirt. I don't buy many of those anymore, you know. But I went down there, so I go in, I'm looking around. This girl comes up to wait on me, and we get into discussion, and she grabs my hand. She said, I want to read your poem. And she looks at it and she gets all horrified. She says, Oh, your lifeline is broken. You're gonna die. And I smile back at her and I said, I know, and I know where I'm going because I'm a follower of Jesus. And she got kind of upset. I said, Wait a minute, I want to go get you a book. I could see the church from where I was, and my office was in the church. I ran literally to my office, got that book, ran back, and I walk in and she's not there. I asked somebody who worked there, where is she? They said, We don't know. She got upset, grabbed her stuff, and ran out. I knew some people who knew her, and so I said, Hey, what's going on with her? They said, We don't know. She came home one day and packed up her stuff and left town. Those same people said she did not come back to Nashville until I moved away in 1974. Hello. What do you think that was all about? I think the devil said, I'm gonna get this girl out of town for this skinny preacher leads her to Jesus, you know. Is the battle that real? It is, it is. There is a real battle going on around us. How does Satan attack us? Turn with me to the book of James. The book of James. The first chapter. James 1. When tempted, uh, by the way, the the word temptation or tempt is and the word uh test are the same word in the Greek language. So you from the context, you you decipher, is this a temptation, is this a test? Sometimes they're both, you know. When tempted, no one should say, God is tempting me. For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. But now he goes on to say this. But each one is tempted when by his own, and you could leave the word evil out there, it's not in the Greek text, by his own desire, Greek word epithetemia, which just means strong desire. By his own desire, he is dragged away and enticed. And the phrase there is talking about the bait stick on a trap. Here's the bait that the devil will use to try to trap you. Your desires. So it starts in my desires. He is dragged away and enticed, then after his desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. What is sin? The word means to miss the mark. Here's my best definition of sin. It's any act or attitude that is rebellious to God. Get that? It's any act or attitude that is rebellious to God. And he says, When sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death. I don't think he's talking about physical death there. What is physical death? That's when your soul leaves your body. What's spiritual? Spiritual death, that's when your spirit gets separated from God, gets out of fellowship with God. We really see that in David's life, don't we? Here's a man after God's own heart who composed many of the psalms. And yet there was a time when he was pretty much out of fellowship with God. Here he was the king in his palace one day. His army is out fighting a battle. There are 50 men who followed David who would do anything for him. One of them was a guy named Uriah the Hittite. And they lived right next to the palace. So while the army of Israel is out fighting, and Uriah the Hittite is there with them, he's looking over at his wife, at Uriah's wife, saying, I think I'll just invite her over and whine her and dine her, and we'll see where this goes, and we know where it went. And she ended up pregnant. Uh oh. Well, I'll just invite him home. Give him a little RR. He can come back from the war and spend some time with his wife. Huh, solve the problem. Except Uriah the Hittite was such a dedicated soldier, he wouldn't go in and stay with his wife. He slept on the porch. Now, David said, I'm in big trouble now. So he sends him out to the front of the battle. The first row in battle usually died. And they volunteered. Duh. That's what kind of soldiers they were. Their wives would write them notes and say, if you volunteer for the first row, I'm never going to speak to you again. They usually died in battle. And so Abner, was it Abner or was this? He was charge of the army. I can't remember. Said, let's send. David said, Tell the king of the command of the armor, send him out with the first row out in the front, and then kind of withdraw from him a little bit. And David died, or Uriah died in battle, probably taking out every Philistine he could. He was that kind of guy. Well, between that time and the time a prophet came to David and revealed his sin, I think there was a time he didn't write any psalms, he didn't lead any worship, because in Psalm 51 he said, Restore me, Lord, that my lips may once again praise you. There was a time when David just felt far from God, isolated from God because of his sin. LSD. Lust leads to sin, sin leads to death. LSD is a bad trip. Don't go there. But that's that's the devil. That's how the devil attacks. Now turn to 1 John the second chapter. And it talks about where the devil will attack us. We've already kind of read about some of this. 1 John 2. Yeah, people are putting their coats on. I think it's gonna frost in here. First John 2. Pick up in verse 15. Do not love the world, cosmos, or anything in the world, created things. If anyone loves the world, or a love, in other words, he allows material things to take place of God. The love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world, and now he's gonna show us where the devil will attack us. The cravings of sinful man are again just the desires of your flesh, the desires of your eyes, and the boasting of what he has and does comes not from the Father but from the world. So he says there are three target areas where the devil's gonna hit you. First of all, the desires of your flesh, the desires of your eye, that's called covetousness, which you want stuff so bad that those material things take the place of God. And thirdly, the pride of life. Remember, that was the original sin in heaven. We read about that. Because of pride, the devil was cast out of heaven. It's saying, Look what I've done. Look at me, look at me, look at me. You know people like that? Uh-huh. Usually they have a big vacuum in them. They're very insecure. People are always trying to convince you of something, have a big vacuum. Sometimes the people with the greatest vacuum make the most noise. Look at me, look at me, look at me. That's the pride of life. Those are the three areas where John says we will be attacked by the enemy. The desires of our flesh, desires of our eyes, pride of life. Here's why we don't want to get caught up in that. Verse 17. The world and its desires pass away. But the man who does the will of God lives forever. It's about eternity. What kind of a reward do you want? A temporal award or an eternal reward? Those are the three areas where he will attack us. How do we win those battles? The war's been won, but we're still fighting battles. Kind of like when the Japanese didn't know that the war was over, and here they are out on all this far-flung islands just fighting away, and like soldiers decided, hey, the war's over. They didn't know it. But it's kind of like that with the devil, you know, the war's won, but he just keeps on fighting. Turn with me to the book of Colossians. We're gonna spend a little time in the book of Colossians. We're gonna hang out there for a little bit. Book of Colossians. Gonna be in the second chapter. Let's pick up in verse 13. When you were dead in your sins and in uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. What is my spiritual condition? Alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins. You notice that's past tense. Having canceled the written code, the Old Testament law, which is with its regulations that was against us and that stood opposed to us, he took it away, nailing it to the cross. I love this. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, talking about the devil and his angels, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them. That's a hard word to say, by the cross. There was a reason Jesus said it is finished on the work on the cross. It is finished. The war's been born. The way we win our daily battles is we trust the completed work of Christ. The cross was enough. Was it enough? Yes, it was. We must trust the completed work of the cross if we're going to overcome the enemy. Now the third chapter, let's pick up in the first verse, chapter three of Colossians, first verse. Since then you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things, for you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you will also appear with him in glory. Whatever you focus on expands, and that's what drives your life. You want to focus on all the bad things in life? Go for it, but just don't hang around with me. I don't want to hear it. All right. You don't want to hear it either. Yeah. Don't focus on the bad of the world. Keep your focus up there. Focus above. Focus on Christ. Whatever you focus on expands. Want to focus on your life, bad things in your life? You're gonna sound like an episode of the view, and I'm we're gonna turn you off. No, focus. Why would I want to watch a bunch of angry snarling women? Let's see them. I'll just let it run alone. Focus on things that are above. You've died, your life is hidden with Christ and God. Focus on him. Now the third thing he says in Colossians, he says to kill our earthly desires, our earthly nature. Verse 5, chapter 3, verse 5. Put to death, therefore. That's pretty strong language, isn't it just kill these things? What do I need to kill? Whatever belongs to your earthly nature, sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. By the way, all our desires are good. They were all created by God, weren't they? All of your fleshly desires are good. They were created by God. Well, what the devil does, he offers you an illegitimate illegitimate way to meet a legitimate need. Then that becomes bad. That's what temptation is. An illegitimate way to meet a legitimate need. So here's what he says. Just put those things to death. Sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You know why I'm not afraid of the wrath of God? He's not mad at me. Is he mad at you? No, he's not mad at you. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these past tense in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all of such things as anger, rage, malice, slander, filthy language, watching the view from your lips. Kind of what it sounds like, right? Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge and in the image of its creator. Colossians is such a good book. And what did it tell us? It says, trust the completed work of the cross. It's enough. It says, focus on things that are above, not on things of this world, and put to death anything in you that is drawing you away from Jesus. Simple, isn't it? Pretty simple. I read this uh a long time ago. There's an ancient uh Afro, or excuse me, uh American uh indigenous American proverb that says we have two wolves that live in us. You've probably heard that too. There's a good wolf and there's a bad wolf. And the wolf that controls us is the one we feed. That makes so much sense. Don't feed the bad wolf. Put to death the things that draw you away from Christ. I read this this week too. Love this. It says, Deliverance is not fighting demons. It is agreeing with the cross of Jesus Christ until darkness has nowhere legal to stay. Let me read that again. Deliverance is not fighting demons, it is agreeing with the cross of Jesus Christ until darkness has nowhere legal to stay. It can't attach to me because my focus is on Jesus. One more scripture before I'm done. Turn with the book with me to the book of Ephesians. You're in Colossians, just back up a little bit. Go left. Ephesians 6. That word you love to hear when preachers are preaching. Finally. Finally be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the devil's schemes. Joseph said stand, didn't say fight. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, it's not people, 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. He's talking about the devil and his angels. 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, stand firm then. Are we getting it yet? With the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet filled with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, get some word in you, 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 saints. We get all dressed up in our battle rattle. If you've been in the army, you know that term. You put on all your battle rattle. You do it in the sheriff's department, too. You got all this battle rattle you put on. It hurts your back. Yeah. You get all your battle rattle put on. You're all ready to go to war. What's the scripture say? Stand. Why does it say stand? It says it four times, doesn't it? Like, duh, are you getting this yet? Stand. We don't have to fight if we let God fight for us. Hmm. Hmm. Put on your battle round and then stand on the promises of God, and He will fight for you. There's a story I tell in my book. It's about a girl that showed up one time at Christ Fellowship Church. I helped plant a church in Whiteland called Christ Fellowship. And one Sunday a girl showed up and she was all dressed in black. She had black lipstick. She had black fingernail polish. And the goth thing was really big back in that day, so I figured she was just a goth kid. But I met her at the door and I'd introduced myself. She said she was her name was Tanya. So I looked her over and I said, Are you goth? And she said, No, I'm a witch. Well, we got a lot of weird people at Christ Fellowship, so I welcomed her in, figured she'd fit in. But also in the back of my mind, I thought, yeah, she's gonna learn something today. So uh at the end of the sermon, we always had this ministry time where we invited people to come up so we could pray for them and minister to them. And Tanya came up and she walked right up to me and she began to tell her story. She said that previous to that week, she didn't even believe in God. She only believed in the devil. And she was on the bank of Sugar Creek in Johnson County Park, and she was worshiping the devil when God revealed himself to her. That's amazing, Grace, isn't it? She said, That's why I came to church today. I want to know more about God. And then she said, and I believe in Jesus now too. I said, Tanya, why do you believe in Jesus? She said, He revealed himself to me as we worship this morning. Isn't that amazing? I spent about a year ministering to that girl. Um, there were some other people who helped me, and uh, we burned her witch's uh outfit and her books of incantations. We burned her witchy Ouija boars. Ouija boars are hard to burn, by the way. It's like every time she gave up that stuff and we burned it up, she got a little freer. I prayed with her to receive Jesus as her savior, baptized her in Sugar Creek at the place where she first experienced God. I look back at that story and I think, did that really happen? Because it just seems so out there. Yeah, it did really happen. You know how I know? I was there. But it was just phenomenal. And the thing that blew me away about the whole thing was just God's love, God's grace, God's mercy for somebody who didn't even believe in him, worshiped the devil, and yet he reveals himself to her while she's worshiping the devil. That's amazing, grace, is it not? Let's pray. It's a prayer I pray a lot of mornings when I wake up, and you can pray along with me if you want to. It goes like this Father, I believe with all my heart that Jesus is the Christ and He is your Son. I acknowledge Him today as my Lord and my Savior. Come, Holy Spirit, in the name of Jesus, fill me. Make me more like Jesus. I need all you have for me today. Amen. If you prayed that prayer and you never prayed prayer like that before in your life and you meant it, talk to that guy, okay? And thank you for listening to me.