Our Spiritual Battle

Wow. That was beautiful. Just beautiful.

So regarding my trip, for those of you who are on Facebook, I'm going to be posting some updates there. I know I gave you a lot of names and places and dates, and also plan to write a few notes as I go along. So I'll share that as we go along. In about three weeks, we're going to celebrate the Feast of Trumpets. It's hard to believe. Coming so soon. That'll be followed ten days later by the Day of Atonement, and finally, the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Eighth Day. We look forward to these days for what they picture about our future. Jesus Christ's return, the putting away of Satan, and the establishment of a government of peace on this earth, with justice finally, and liberty and healing for all peoples. Truly a beautiful time to celebrate. We heard a little bit about it in the sermonette. But that time has not yet arrived. Let me tell you, it's not going to come about without a fight. Because the people who are controlling this planet, and the forces that have controlled this planet for the last 6,000 years, are not going to give up easily when the time comes. They're not going to go quietly. There is going to be a great battle. Such that the world has never seen. Look over in Revelation 13 and in verse 7. You can see just a little hint of this. Revelation 13 and in verse 7. Revelation 13 and verse 7 describing these end time events that we will begin to picture here in the coming weeks. It says, The whole world and to make war with the saints. If you look at verse 4, look what it says. Who can dare challenge this system? Right now, nobody challenges the United States. They challenge, but it's asymmetrical. The last time somebody truly challenged the United States on the field of battle was Saddam Hussein in the first Gulf War. Nobody ever wants to repeat that again. It was a massacre. Tens of thousands of Iraqis lost their lives because they had the hubris to go against the greatest military power the world has ever seen, the United States of America. But what we're talking about is a military power even greater than what we see today. How could anybody dare challenge that power? Well, Jesus Christ is going to challenge that power. Look over in Revelation 19, verse 11. It says, And he who sat on him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. He's going to go to war with the beast and the power of this world. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and his head were many crowns. And he had a name written that no one knew except himself.

He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. Now out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should strike the nations, and he himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of the Almighty God. And he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. There is going to be incredible conflict such that this world has never known. The final battle for the control of the planet. The last great battle for the control of this planet occurred in June of 1944.

It was truly a battle for Western civilization. The forces of evil hit it against the forces against that evil. As I've shared a little bit about that battle and prior messages, the Battle of Normandy, or what was called Operation Overlord, allow me to just repeat a little bit about it. You know, I've stood on Omaha Beach. I've stood on Utah Beach.

I've heard descriptions. I've read descriptions in the autobiography of Omar Bradley, who was a key general who oversaw that battle. I've seen the movie Private Ryan, as perhaps many of you have seen the movie Private Ryan. And I've seen the longest day. And I've walked the cemeteries in France of thousands and thousands of German, French, and American soldiers. There were many French soldiers, but again, they were being liberated. But you know, my brain still can't get itself around what occurred on June 6, 1944. 150,000 men and 19,000 paratroopers and another 5,000 troops in gliders all had to assault a narrow strip of land in 24 hours.

More than 5,000 bombers, 5,000 fighter aircraft would provide support, with another 1,500 gliders and 900 troops being in those aircraft. Nearly 3,000 battleships, destroyers, minesweepers, cruisers, and large landing craft supported by an equal number of ships. 6,000 ships in all. If you've seen the longest day, there's a scene in there where he looks through this little viewing device, binoculars, and he sees 6,000 ships on the horizon. Leading up to the invasion, 20,000 men worked eight months to build an artificial harbor in England, which was towed across the channel and deployed such that they could offload 500,000 vehicles and 4,000,000 tons of supplies in the first 100 days, and 2,500,000 troops. 2,500,000 troops had to be transported across the English Channel, and all of that had to be supported with a petrol line that they actually laid across the channel to support that so that they could pump oil from England underneath the channel to that artificial harbor to provide the petroleum and necessary supplies to support that landing. It was a battle on a scale that has never been seen, either before or since.

And yet, that battle is going to pale in insignificance to the battle that we're talking about on the Feast of Trumpets, the day when Jesus Christ returns. And when I think about that battle in terms of all those numbers, you know, 2.5 million troops and artificial harbors and 150,000 men in 24 hours, you know, frankly, I get a little bit kind of cross-eyed. And maybe you do, too. It's just kind of hard to comprehend. Often, we can only think about these battles in terms of maybe just one or two people, maybe just in terms of us, just individually, kind of what it would mean for us if we were that guy looking out at 6,000 ships, right? Or we were that person, you know, who was stuck. And if you've seen Private Ryan, there's a very poignant scene where there's a little French girl that they're trying to get down off this roof that's been bombed and she's screaming and it's chaos all around. That we can begin to get our kind of brains around, of just the trauma, the difficulties of that time.

I want to read an excerpt from an introduction to an interview on Fresh Air in June 2013 by author Charles Glass that I think provides a glimpse into the incredible difficulties of what it means to survive a battle like that. Whether you're a soldier or a civilian, whether you've got 6,000 ships behind you, or whether you're on the other side trying to defend yourself from that onslaught.

Charles Glass wrote a book called World War II Desserters, Stories of Men Who Left the Front Lines.

And I quote, And there's particular reverence for those who defeated the Nazis in World War II.

Like any war, however, World War II was complicated and traumatic for those on the ground and not a few deserted the front lines.

In this new book, The Desserters, journalist Charles Glass tells the stories of three different men whose lives dramatize how the strain of war can push a shoulder to the breaking point.

And how the line between courage and cowardice is never simple.

These three lives stand in for tens of thousands of soldiers with similar stories.

Records show that 50,000 American soldiers deserted the European theater during World War II. 50,000 deserters.

While this does not seem unusual, Glass says the impression changes if you consider the context.

The author goes on to assert that desertion was not as uncommon as people might think.

Even just simple examples of front line soldiers wandering off in a daze, sleeping and hiding, and then coming back after their head was cleared.

In fact, what he talks about is that soldiers who saw other soldiers desert in this way rarely turned them in.

Because they knew what it was like to be on the front lines.

And when these soldiers would come back after two or three days, they'd just walk on the back end.

Because they knew that everybody had to deal with this situation in their own way.

As we consider the great battle ahead, as pictured by the Feast of Trumpets, which sets in motion the chain of events which we're going to celebrate, I think it's important to consider the great spiritual battles being fought and the lead up to these days.

These great spiritual battles that put us at risk of desertion, that put us at risk of going AWOL.

Whether we are new in the faith, mature in the faith, or trying to decide our faith, I think we can be informed and understand that there is a great spiritual battle taking place all around us today.

A battle beyond the scale of the Normandy Evasion, and that we ourselves are at risk if we are not aware.

The battle I'm talking about is the battle for our hearts and our minds.

We need to be reminded of the reality of this battle, who we are fighting, and how we should engage the enemy.

And those are the three points that I'd like to cover today in the message.

Let's begin with the first point, the reality of this battle.

Let's go over to Proverbs 4, verse 23.

Proverbs 4, verse 23.

Proverbs 4, verse 23 says, Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.

Keep your heart.

Some translations say, guard your heart, protect your heart.

Why does our heart need protection? Why would the Scripture say this?

Our heart needs protection because, as it says, out of it spring, out of it spring the issues of life.

The issues of life. What are the issues of life?

Well, our family, our faith, our love for God, our love for our neighbor, our love for our family, our love for God, our love for our neighbor, our love for our family, our love for our family, our love for our neighbor, how we conduct ourselves in terms of how we take care of our health.

See, these are the issues of life, and if we don't guard our heart, then these issues are not going to be dealt with in the right way.

And we're going to have a whole set of issues that we have to deal with.

Let's turn over to Romans 7, verse 21. Romans 7, verse 21. Let's see what the apostle Paul says about what he faced personally.

Here's a man who had been converted for many years by the time he wrote this.

In Romans 7, verse 21, he says, I find then a law that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.

For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man, but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members.

O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?

And he responds, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord, so then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. There is a war going on for our hearts and our minds.

And that is very common in battle. You hear this all the time. It's a war for hearts and minds. This is what we've looked at in Iraq. This is what the American military was attempting to do in Iraq. It's what they were attempting to do in Vietnam. It's what they were attempting to do over and over again. It's a battle for hearts and minds. And it's no different for us.

If we ignore this, we are taking our very lives in our hands.

Like real war, this war has soldiers. Go over to 2 Timothy 2, verse 3.

This analogy of battle and war, this is not something I'm making up. This is something that's rooted in Scripture. We can see from the Apostle Paul, 2 Timothy 2, verse 3. You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

We are soldiers of Jesus Christ. Not here to carry physical swords and go into battle, but to carry this word. Right? This word. Sword of the Spirit. Sword of truth.

As a soldier, we suffer emotional, mental, and spiritual wounds, and some will die in battle.

When I talk about wounds sustained in battle, what I'm really talking about are experiences that we've had in our lives that have caused us emotional pain, which leads to physical actions or certain behaviors that lead to sin.

And these are often experiences that we do not want to talk about. We do not want to repeat. We do not want to consider. Think about it again, because they have caused us great harm.

And these things cause a change in our behavior, and they shape our personalities and our character.

These wounds are issues that need to be cared for. Disinfected. Bandaged.

You know, you don't ignore a gunshot wound, right? Somebody gets shot? Oh, it's nothing.

I'll go to sleep. I'll feel better tomorrow. No. No. You go to the hospital. You get disinfected. You look for any sort of thing that might still be in your body, right? You make sure that the internal organs have not been damaged. And then you just don't put a band-aid on it, right? It has to be dressed and cared for for weeks. There's a healing process that has to go on.

This is no different than the spiritual wounds that we suffer. Still in Romans, go back to Romans 17. That's right, Romans 7. Let's just look at verse 15.

Romans 7, verse 15. He says, He says, I don't understand. I don't get it. I thought I was over this. Right? I thought I dealt with this. For what I will to do that, I do not practice. I don't want to do this. I don't want to do this. Or I do want to do this, but it's exactly the opposite, right? I want to get up and pray every morning. I want to get up and study my Bible. I want to serve others, but I don't do that. But what I hate, I do. That's an addict, right? That somebody addicted. That somebody is struggling. This is the Apostle Paul we're talking about. We have no shame here, right, in having these same problems. He had this difficulty. So we need to accept it and go and get help. We need to get help. If we don't, that's where the shame is. The shame is not getting help. The shame is not accepting it. Paul realized he had an issue. Verse 16, if then I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, nothing good dwells. For to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. This is the struggle what he's going through. Here we see Paul himself admits that he had habits that he wanted to break. He admits that there are things he wanted to do, but he didn't do them. A deeply converted and dedicated disciple of Jesus Christ. Admitting that he was not perfect. Unfortunately, sometimes these behaviors can be hurtful and even destructive. For those who do not see God in this direction, it can be especially difficult. Because in the church, we're just human, right? There's nothing special about us, but God has called us. We've seen suicide in our midst. We've seen strange ideas that divide us and separate us. And we've seen friends of many years disappear. Where'd they go? I thought we were friends. They never call. They never write. I call them. They don't call me back. Why is that? Because they've been taken out. They've been taken out by the adversary. They were victims of the battle. And if our hearts are not guarded, we can be victims, too. Sometimes we're more interested in being right than in loving our brother. You know, I've talked to a lot of people, and they are so right, but so wrong. Right? They have a good point. They have a valid point. But the way they're going about sharing that point is so wrong, so divisive, so destructive. We let our pride get in the way. We feel hurt. We feel accused. We feel misunderstood. And we are blinded to the forces arrayed against us. We can't see it because we have been hurt. We have been falsely accused. People don't see the truth of our point, which may indeed be true. I'm not saying it always is. Sometimes, you know, I have crazy ideas. And we see this played out over and over again. Instead of striving to find common ground with our brother, we divide. We take our marbles, and we go home. Nobody is going to play with us. Everybody is treating us very nicely, right? It's just like third grade sometimes. And I'm including myself. I'm not, you know, I get this, you know, I'm going to take my marbles, and I'm done.

It's time to wake up and realize that there is a battle being waged around us. And we are just pawns, right? We are just figures in this great battle. And unless we wake up and realize it's that spirit that's coming in, and our heart is not protected, we are going to fall victim.

So who are the parties to this conflict? Who are we fighting? What's going on? Let's go over to 1 Peter 5. 1 Peter 5, verse 5. A lot of times we start in verse 6, but I want to start in verse 5 here. 1 Peter 5, verse 5. Who are the parties to the battle?

Likewise, you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you, be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility. It's interesting. What are we talking about? What's the subject here? It's kind of like in the middle of the subject, but he's talking about submission. He's talking about humility. And then he says, God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. He's not talking about doctrinal integrity here. He's talking about pride and humility. As a key, key principle. That doesn't mean we don't ignore doctrine. We have to stand up for the truth. But he focuses here on humility.

And he says in verse 6, Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you. And now we get into verse 8 and we realize where he's going. He has something in mind with this preface. Be sober. Be vigilant. Because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. The analogy here is of a lion in a savannah. I gave you an analogy of Normandy and a great battle with weapons. Whatever it might be, the point of the humility, the point of putting away our pride, is so that we might be sober and vigilant against our adversary. Verse 9, Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace who called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. Wow! That is amazing! If we could live those four words. To him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. That's where Paul was going with the humility and resisting the proud and giving grace to the humble. That we might resist the devil. Now we don't need to fear spiritual forces, as many do in various countries around the world. I've been in countries where people literally say, you know, there was this demon and he was trying to kill me. I've had those conversations with people.

There are places in the world where voodoo, I'm going to one of them, Benin, it's a home of voodoo. Little dolls, we make fun of that, but they take this very seriously. Shaman walk through the village in Benin, dressed as sort of demons to scare people.

We don't have to be worried at that level. That's not what we're talking about here. We just need to realize that these forces do exist. Go over to Ephesians 6, please. Ephesians 6, verse 12. We don't need to talk about the spirit world in terms of fearing it, but just recognizing that there are spiritual forces at work.

And this is what Paul speaks about here to the Ephesians at the end of this book. Ephesians 6, verse 12. He says, For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. We're not taking up arms here, right? We're not carrying a sword at that time to defend or to battle physical forces, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. That is the battle that's raging. The parties of this battle are spiritual forces in heavenly places and principalities and rulers of darkness.

That is one side. And on the other side, we have God granting them authority and power for a time, and we are on the side of good. That's why we're here. I won't take the time here because we've just got a little bit too much to cover, but if you want to make these notes, Job 1, verse 12 through 19 is an example of this. Job 1, verses 12 to 19. This is where Satan went and said, you know, Job, yeah, he's not going to follow you. He's a good guy, but, you know, a little trouble. He's going to say, you're no good. And so God allowed Job's herds and children and everything to be killed at Satan's urging.

Luke 13, verse 16. Again, we won't turn there. Luke 13, verse 16 talks about a woman who was bent over for 18 years. God allowed Satan to have her bent over for 18 years. And in Acts 5, verse 3, again, we won't turn there, but Jesus and Sapphira are moved by Satan to hold back a portion of their proceeds and deceive the church. Again, for sake of time, I won't turn to Matthew 11, verse 12. But it says, the kingdom of God suffers violence, and the violent men take it by force.

Forceful men will take hold of it. So there is a force that must be exerted in this process. And we're working towards eternal life in God's kingdom, and if we're going to achieve it, we're going to have to do our part. And we just read a little bit about what that part was, which is to humble ourselves, to resist the proud, and to submit to one another.

We just read, that is our part in terms of resisting Satan's influence. Basically, what we have to do is get out of the way. We have to get out of the way of ourselves and let Jesus Christ and His Spirit that lives in us fight the battle on our behalf, defend us, protect us, cleanse our hearts and our minds, and our pride and our vanity, which stoke the fires of conflict.

Getting out of the way, as strange as it might sound, is not a passive activity. We tend to think that, right? I'm in the way, so I'm going to go step to the side and let somebody go through it. It's not a passive activity because everything in our psyche says, No! Everything in our psyche says, I've got to have control. That's what we want.

I want to have control. I've got to have control over this. I'm going to do this. I've got this. That's what we say. Everything says control, and Jesus Christ says, No! My yoke is easy and my burden is light. So let me take care of that.

I've got this. You don't have to worry about this. It's not a passive activity. We've got to get out of the way. The road towards God's kingdom is rigorous. I remember listening to Jeopardy, watching Jeopardy years ago. They asked the question, the way is broad. That leads to—and you all know the answer—destruction. And the Jeopardy contested? What did that person say? Heaven. Because people think, oh, the road is wide and broad to paradise.

No, the road is wide and broad to destruction. It's a narrow path, which means you've got to watch for it. If you've ever been hiking and the path gets a little difficult, you've got to pay attention. Otherwise, you're going to get off the path. When we talk about a battle for our hearts, we're not talking about blood and bone. We're talking about spiritual wounds and difficulties. The opening scene in Private Ryan is probably one of the most horrific movie sequences of all times.

It's 20 minutes of sustained battle, and the first time that I watched it, I literally had to stop it because I was exhausted. It's that kind of film. And the consequences of our battle are no less terrible.

A lot of times we might just say, I'd like to just get off this conveyor for just a little bit. And if we feel that way, we're probably working too hard. We're probably not taking that yoke and that burden and putting it on Jesus Christ. And it can leave us with fear, uncertainty, and doubt. That's what we hear a lot about fear, uncertainty, and doubt. And it leads to anger and frustration and hopelessness and depression and isolation. And if you ever want to isolate yourself, that's not God talking. That's not God talking. That's a lot of negative talk. Hopelessness, frustration. But unfortunately, sometimes we can't see that. And the wounds don't show physically.

People around us don't see them. They're not going to ask about them. And these wounds are very personal. Very, very personal. And they're not something we're going to talk about, as I already said. And again, because we don't talk about them and they don't show outwardly, we can deny they exist. And through the years, we carry them with us without really knowing. And like a soldier slowly dying of internal bleeding, we can succumb.

And many of these wounds were sustained when we were young, and growing up in a time when we were more vulnerable and trusting. And there's a lot of research around that. And when God calls us, He opens our minds to His Word and His laws and His way of life. And He helps us to begin to see things about ourselves. Not all at once, because we can't take it all at once. But He lets us know about these things as we are capable of understanding them. Let's go over to 2 Corinthians 13.

This is why I just think some of these things are just so amazing. Because now we live with all this psychology. It's one of the most popular majors in the United States. We have all these therapists and all these things. But there's just something so powerful to go back 2,000 years and read some of these verses.

2 Corinthians 13, verse 5.

Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Prove yourselves. Do you not know yourself that Jesus Christ is in you unless indeed you are disqualified? But I trust that you will know that we are not disqualified.

You see, we actually have to look at ourselves and examine ourselves. Which means we're examining those things that we don't want to examine. And we're seeking healing for those things. Through God's Spirit, through the relationship we have with Jesus Christ, our older brother and God, our father, and with our brothers and sisters in the church.

Look over to Psalm 19.

Psalm 19. Again, this is the parties to the battle because we know about the forces raised against us, but who are the forces that are with us? Well, Jesus Christ, as I said, God the Father and God's Spirit. Psalm 19, verse 12.

Who can understand His errors? Cleanse me from secret faults.

Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me.

Then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgressions.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.

Look over at Psalm 90.

Psalm 90, verse 8.

Such an encouraging passage.

Psalm 90, verse 8.

You have set our iniquities before you.

Our secret sins in the light of your countenance.

For all our days have passed away in your wrath. We have finished our years like a sigh.

But, verse 10, the days of our lives are seventy years, and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow, for it is soon cut off and we fly away. Who knows the power of your anger, for as the fear of you, so is your wrath. So teach us to number our days.

To number our days. What are we supposed to do? I just get a calendar. Oh, you know, one more closer to death. No, that's not what he's talking about. What he's talking about is using every day to draw closer to God and understand what we have to learn. You know, I had a tennis coach in college, and what he used to say is, every swing counts. Every single swing. Don't... Oh, this one doesn't matter. Oh, that one doesn't matter. Oh, this one matters. I better pay attention. No, every single one counts. Every single day counts. And sometimes there are bad days, and sometimes there are good days.

But if we are intentional about those days, that's what he's talking about. Once we see our faults, we can begin to fight back and begin to address the issue. We can see this here with the Apostle Peter. I want to go over to Luke 22. We can actually see this whole thing take place. This manual for our living right here has sort of like, okay, let's look at an example. Luke 22. Luke 22, verse 31.

Luke 22, verse 31. And the Lord said, And Simon, indeed Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. You know, imagine your name in here, right? You know, Tim Peberworth. He's after... This is kind of like, you know, it's kind of like gang warfare. You imagine, like somebody says to the boss, hey, let me waste him. I'm going to take him out and waste him. We don't need this guy around anymore. Okay? Let me just do it, huh? Let me just do it. Imagine, imagine your name is in there. That's what's going on here. Satan was looking to just take Peter out. Verse 32. But I have prayed for you that your faith should not fail. And when you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren. Wow, what a prophecy, right? Peter's like, probably didn't get it. When you return to me, what am I going to... Let's go down to verse 33. But he said to him, Lord, Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death. I think we'd all say that. I hope. I hope I'd say that. I hope I'm prepared to do that. I hope you're prepared to do that. Questions are you prepared? Maybe you want to, but maybe you're not prepared. Let's go over to Mark 14 and let's see the rest of the story played out. Mark 14, verse 53. Mark 14 and verse 53.

I'm in Luke here. Mark 14, verse 53. And they led Jesus away to the high priest. And then Peter followed right behind. No, maybe it just doesn't say that in my Bible. Maybe it says in your Bible. And with him were assembled all the chief priests and elders and the scribes.

And Peter followed him at a distance, at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he sat with the servants and warmed himself by the fire. He warmed himself by the fire. Now, a prior pastor here, Mr. Bill Bradford, had this insight. I think it's a pretty powerful insight. What does that mean? He warmed himself by the fire. Was he like, it's getting kind of cold out here.

I mean, your master just was taken away and you said you were going to go with him. And now you're sitting here just kind of keeping yourself warm because you wouldn't want to get cold out there. What was going on in Peter's mind? A great battle was going on. Christ was physically under attack. The disciples were spiritually and emotionally under attack. And Peter was sitting here by the fire, best case, best case, contemplating his next move. Okay, best case. But in actual fact, we know from the story that after this, he denied Christ, not just saying, Oh yeah, I never heard of the guy.

No, he was like, I don't blankety, blankety, blankety, blank, know that guy. Right? He swore, right? He became angry. He said, I have nothing. I don't even know why you think I had anything to do with that man. That's what's going to take place. Peter was AWOL. Okay, that's what he was.

He was AWOL. It was too much to take, even though he'd been told. Christ knew he wasn't ready to do the things he said he would do. So it's not enough to just want fruits of God's Spirit. It's not enough to just desire it, just like it wasn't enough for Peter to just say the words. We have to address the fundamental cause of our issues and begin the healing process to grow to a point where we are ready for the battle.

Satan is dedicating to wounding our hearts and leaving us in this uncertainty and fear. So how do we fight back? How do we fight back? Let's go over to Psalm 7. Psalm 7, verse 1. God is our shield. God is our shield. Psalm 7, verse 1. O Lord my God, and you I put my trust. Save me from those who persecute me and deliver me, lest they tear me like a lion, rending me in pieces, and while there is none to deliver.

And notice verse 10. God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day if he does not turn back. He will sharpen his sword, he bends his arrow and makes it ready. He also prepares for himself instruments of death and makes arrows into fiery shafts. Wow! That's what God is ready to do. He's ready to go into battle.

Again, we don't have time to turn there, but here's three references you can put down. 2 Chronicles 20 verse 15 says that the battle is not ours, but God's to age. Jeremiah 20 verse 11 and 12 says that the Lord is with us like a mighty warrior.

And Psalm 45 verse 3 to 5 says that God girds his sword upon his side as a mighty one to defend. We also know that James 4 verse 7 says that if we submit to God and resist the devil, the devil will flee from us. The point, again, is to get out of the way and let God do the fighting. But we can't run away from God. We have to run to God.

We have to run to God and ask for his help. Ask for his help. Let's go back to 2 Corinthians. This time chapter 10. 2 Corinthians 10. 2 Corinthians 10 verse 3. It says here in 2 Corinthians 10 and verse 3. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war against the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God.

Our weapons are in the Lord. They're in God. For pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments in every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. We have to just get rid of all that. That's our defense because once all that is out of the way, then God is able to defend us. Bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Every thought into obedience. And for the purpose of tearing down these strongholds. These strongholds. These are fortified places in our hearts.

That's what's being talked about. A stronghold is kind of perched up on a hill. It's hard to get to. Well, that's what we do. We shove all this stuff deep down inside. We never want to pull it out.

But our weapons in God are mighty as we examine ourselves. As God's Holy Spirit opens our eyes to see our own faults. And if we could just see our own faults, then maybe all the great things we'd like to do in our life, we can actually do. If we could just see ourselves the way God sees us. And that's where our weapons are. I want to read a quote here from the Exposited Bible Commentary on verse 5.

When it talks about casting every high thing. The NIV translates high thing as every pretension. Every pretension that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. This phrase, pan hypsoma, refers to any human act or attitude that forms an obstacle to the emancipating knowledge of God. Anything that separates us from God. By this, Paul probably means every human machination or foul design that temporarily frustrates his divine plan and so needs to be forcibly removed. The picture here seems to be that of a military operation in enemy territory that seeks to thwart every hostile plan of battle.

See, there's a plan of battle. This is what they're describing, so that there will be universal allegiance to Christ. This is how we free ourselves from Satan's deception and we begin to heal our wounds. We ask for God's Holy Spirit to help us see this and we bring every thought into captivity. For sake of time, we won't take the time to go through Ephesians 6. We read verse 12, but I encourage you this week to read Ephesians 6, 13-18. Read those verses and consider them. As we consider these things in our place, we begin to understand just how badly we need help.

Now, sometimes that help needs to be more than just prayer. Sometimes that help needs to be reaching out to a friend and saying, I don't know what to do. And it can just be a phone call. They don't need to see you weep. You don't need to hold back. You can just call. You can send an email. You can write a letter or card. Something says I need help. And sometimes the issues are so serious that it's not enough to just go to a brother. You need to go talk to an elder or pastor, minister, myself.

That's okay. That's what we're here for. And share that. And sometimes those problems are so deep that you need to go get professional help. And we've talked about that before. I won't go through some of those things before that we talked about. The fact is, I believe that God's Holy Spirit inspires us to understand that if we get professional help and that person is telling us something that's contrary to God's law, God's Holy Spirit will pop that up. Right? Say, yeah, this sounds weird. I don't know if I buy into this. And then we'll go talk to somebody else.

Maurice and I moved to the area here more than 20 years ago, and when we first did, we had a chance to meet a man named Mr. Selmer Hegvold. I think some of you might remember Mr. Hegvold. Longtime minister in God's church. He was 80 years old at the time. It's hard to believe he would be more than 100 years old now, right? How time goes by. He was 80 at the time. And a few years later, it was right after the Feast of Trumpets, kind of around this time of the year, that I was talking with him and he was sharing with me how much he had gotten out of the sermon. And that he was seeing things about himself that he needed to change. Now, if you know Mr. Hegvold, you're like, wow! Right? Because Mr. Hegvold was really a man of God, right? Just really an amazing, amazing man. But he was telling me he was seeing things that he had never seen before about himself, and he really was going to work on those things. That's the kind of attitude and repentance that we're talking about, kind of soul-searching. Now, many of you might know that Mr. Hegvold actually landed on Omaha Beach. He actually was a captain during World War II, and he fought his way all the way to the Battle of the Bulge. Probably some of the most horrific fighting any soldier could experience during World War II.

And I remember him saying many times that after the war he had so much anger inside, from just experiencing just that terrible ordeal, and that he had so much anger he had to overcome in his life from that experience.

Now, only God will know where Mr. Hegvold landed in terms of that, but I know that I've never met as gentle and loving man as Mr. Hegvold.

And again, many of you don't know him, some of you do, but really a remarkable example.

I think it shows a great example of someone who spent his entire life working to overcome change, grow, and examine himself to deal with his personal issues.

He died in 2002, and I think he fought the spiritual battle that we're talking about. And I think he shows us that it can be done.

We're in a spiritual battle. Our enemy wants to destroy us, but God is there to protect us if we will get out of the way.

If we need help, let's get it. Let's not be distracted. Let's focus on the strongholds in our lives that we can tear them down.

If God be for us, who can be against us?

As the Feast of Trumpets comes, let us consider what Jesus Christ is doing to prepare His Church, us, for that great day.

That we might be part of that story. Let's be part of that story when He comes to subdue the nations.