At War

I mentioned in the announcements that we learn something from the Feast every year. Every year, we hear wonderful sermons that are encouraging and that are inspiring that point us toward the Kingdom of God, and we should be coming back from the Feast with a renewed energy to be there when Jesus Christ returns, to be part of that Kingdom. If we don't have that vision of the Feast when we come back, then we've missed something. We've missed something, and we've gone to the Feast maybe for the wrong reason. We should always be going to the Feast and always coming back with a greater desire to be there when Jesus Christ returns, to be part of that Kingdom, to be part of the eternity that He has called us to. This year, we had all that. There are many lessons from the sermons that we will all learn. I'm sure we all heard something that we can take with us, that we can apply into our lives and be diligent in putting those into our lives. But this year was different than every other Feast, even different than last year. As we looked around, and as we saw ourselves, and as we looked at each other and saw what happened in the Feast, there are lessons we could each personally learn from what we did. It is good and it is beneficial, and it is right for us to take the time to look and see what was our attitude toward the Feast this year. What did we go there for? What did we learn from it? Did we keep it the way God intended to keep it? If we didn't, why not? What does it say about us? What does it say about our commitment to God? What does it say about our loyalty to Him and our desire to follow Him? There is something we can each learn, and the value of the Feast, one of the values of the Feast, is to do that examination now, and then the purpose in our hearts that we will go forward, we will learn the lessons from this Feast, and we will put corrective practices into our lives, build on the strength that's there, but also look at the things that maybe we could have improved on, and things that where we fell short a little bit for one reason or another, whatever it is, whatever the reason is. You know, some couldn't go to the Feast. Last year, if we had said, you know, we would have XX who would come down from COVID or another disease and not be able to go to the Feast, we would have said, oh no, that doesn't happen. But this year, you know, we saw that a number in this congregation just could not go to the Feast. They were sick. Others didn't go for other reasons. Others didn't go to the whole Feast for other reasons. That's between you and God, but there are things that we can learn because everything that God has us go through, everything we experience in life, He tells us, is for our own good. He's getting our attention, and He is preparing us for what He wants us to do. So don't, you know, everything that we go through, let's determine that we will learn from it and that we will make the changes in our lives because what God's interest is, is that you are there for eternity, that I'm there for eternity, that everyone He calls is there for eternity. But none of us are ready for it yet because we all have things to work on.

Every year as I go to the Feast, I won't say if I try, I just don't listen to the news. I like to kind of shut the world around us out when I go to the Feast because there's a peace and there's a calm at the Feast when you just leave the world behind. And there's a reason that God has us leave our homes, go to the Feast, be away for eight days, nine days if you're there for the opening night. You leave all that behind and you can feel the peace and you can feel the reason that we're there. We can get a feeling of what the world will be like when the world is being, when the world has Jesus Christ as its perfect King. We can't experience that in lives and I know when I do turn the news on and hear something during the Feast, it kind of brings me back into the world and the upset and the consternation and the agitation that you feel because we live in a world that is full of agitation. We live in a world that's full of confusion and chaos. It's a world that's totally different than any of us have lived in before. Well, that's through the Feast and it always is nice to be able to come home and have that peace and calm that you have experienced in the Feast. But then I come home and I listen to the news and this year was no different and every year I think look how much the world has changed in just the week or week and a half that we were away.

This year when I turned on the news on, I guess it was Thursday night when we got back, I hear things about mandates. I hear things about people losing their jobs and if they don't have, if they don't let, if they don't take whatever medicine or whatever you want to call it, and I'll stay away from word and word here, but if you don't take it then you're going to lose your job. I hear politicians saying, you know, if you want these benefits you have to do this and you have to do that. I hear about 80,000, 80,000 hospital workers who will be laid off. I hear about the number of teachers who are going to be laid off simply because they won't do what they're being told. They won't allow the government to force them into something that they don't want to do medicinally. And I have to stop and I think what kind of a world is it that we live in. I see what COVID has done to the world in the last two years. I see what COVID did to the feast and the church this year. You know, we had people catch it while we're at the feast at every single feast site. We have had people who couldn't go because of COVID. Over the last year and a half we have been dominated by a disease, by a virus that has been thrust upon the nation, thrust upon the world, thrust upon the church, thrust upon God's people in a way that nothing else before has done. It is an outright attack on the world around us. Make me no mistake, COVID and everything that has emanated from it, everything that has gone on as a result of COVID entering our lifetimes and entering our space has been negative in every way, shape, and form. You see the progress in society and you see a government and a world we live in and things that we hear that we never thought we could hear in America. Never thought you could hear about, you know, if you don't do this, you'll lose your job. If you don't do this, you can't go here. If you don't do this, you can't be there. You can't never thought you'd be ostracized, not in a land that's free, not in a land that has personal choice as part of what what this guarantees are, and yet that has happened. Never thought we'd live in a world that is so divided that people literally hate each other because one wants to do this but the other doesn't. The other one believes in this and the other one doesn't. And so you have the vision and you have hate and you have people that are willing to even eliminate. I mean cancel culture is one thing, but as you look at the world around us we see where it is headed. The world of Revelation 13, a world of autocracy, a world of you do it my way or you pay, a world of of well a world of, I want to say genocide because that world is will put to death anyone who doesn't agree with them. And all of a sudden in 2021 we see the rudiments of a world that is all emanated from a virus that is totally different than anything that has been foisted on humankind in our lifetime and the results of it have not been anything except satanic. Simply put, that's what it is. And so we live in a world where you and I have entered a time where we're simply we are at war.

We are at war and in a time that God prophesied would come that we all knew would come. And as we look at this time that we are post-Feast of Tabernacles 2021, I always wonder what should I be the first sermon when we get back from the feast to keep us moving forward, to keep us focused.

And sometimes it's like we need we need to prepare. We need to prepare our hearts. We need to build the fire. We need to rekindle the fire. We need all the energy. We need all those things that we always talk about. This year we need to look at where we are, who we are, what God has called us to, and what weapons He has given us to be able to traverse the land ahead of us, to traverse the time ahead of us, and to be prepared for what is surely coming.

Turn with me, if you will, over to Revelation 12. Revelation 12. Of course, this is the chapter where it talks about Satan going up to heaven, that there is a war in heaven because Satan is a being of war. He is not about peace. He is not about unity. He is not about good things. He is anti-God. He is anti-God's people. He is anti the human race because the human race is part of God's plan, and Satan is against everything, everything that is part of God's plan.

And so it tells us, as you read down, you know the verses in 9, 10, and 11, there was a war in heaven, and Satan is cast down, it tells us, in verse 9. Down to verse 12, as that time draws near, it means the return of Jesus Christ is near, and so the heavens and the heavenly beings rejoice because that is the ultimate, the return of Jesus Christ, where at which time a world of peace and harmony and abundance for everyone will be in place.

In verse 12, it says, therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time. He is going to go to war with the world. He is going to go to war with God's people. He is going to go to war with God's church. He will attack in any way he can, with his entire mission being, how can he separate me from God? How can he separate you from God? How can he disrupt God's plan for mankind? That's his sole mission. Our mission is just the opposite.

How do we stay close to God? How do we draw close to God so that we can walk through this time under God's guidance with his Holy Spirit and be there when Jesus Christ returns, so that we are part of the eternity that God has promised us? You know, Satan, there are so many verses about him. Every single one shows he is anti-humans. He is anti-everyone. The Bible tells us this world is under his sway. We know that. We know that when Adam and Eve chose to follow Satan rather than God, God gave them what they asked for.

We'll follow our own way. We'll follow the lead of Satan. And so we're still under that. But we know that Satan, 1 Peter 5, 8, says he goes about his roaring lion. What he's seeking to do is conquer you. What he's seeking to do is conquer me. Actually devour us. That's what he is looking to do.

How do we fight against that? We know that you and I are powerless against Satan. You and I are powerless about what's going on in this world. The only hope we have and the only way we can conquer the world and conquer what is going on in us. The only way we can become who God wants us to be is if we yield to him.

And you know, God never leaves us unprepared. He never leaves us unprepared. He knows there's a battle ahead. He knows that he has called us into a time that is going to be trying. He knows that he has called us to be soldiers, as we're going to see, in a moment. That we have to be prepared for the battle, and he never leaves us unprepared. We always have the opportunity to build what he wants us to build and become who he wants us to become.

As we look at Revelation 12, and we might ask, how can you overcome an enemy as powerful as Satan, who has the power of the air, who has the influence over our lives in a world that we live in, where we see it and we're part of it every day? In verse 11, God gives us some of the things that we do. How do you overcome Satan? They, that's you and me, they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. Well, Jesus Christ lived.

He died that our sins could be forgiven. He overcame Satan with the Holy Spirit that God had given him, with the Word of God that he used to combat Satan in that very first battle between Jesus Christ and Satan and the Great Temptation. You and I can claim that blood of the Lamb. When we do claim that blood of the Lamb, we have to be doing something about it.

We can't believe the way the world believes and just say, I believe Jesus Christ is Messiah. We talked about that at the feast. There's that three-pronged approach of the word, the Greek word, pistoio, that's translated, believe. Virtually everywhere you see the word, believe in the New Testament. You have to be strongly convicted of what you, that Jesus Christ is him, and that conviction that you have, that he is the Messiah, has to result in conduct inspired by that conviction and that acknowledgement that he is true.

You have to live the way he lives. If you don't live the way that Jesus Christ lives, then you simply aren't believing in him the way the Bible says to believe him. And if we don't believe in him, with all our gusto, and if that belief doesn't inspire a change in us, then we simply don't believe. We simply are playing a game. It has to inspire, as it has, I believe, for all of us in this room who have been called, who have been repented, who have been baptized and received God's Holy Spirit.

So they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. Without Jesus Christ, we cannot do it. We are all sitting ducks and we are all hopeless. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. Here's people who simply stood up for God in the face of whatever was thrown their way. You'll lose your job if you don't do it. No, I'm going to do it the way God said. I'm going to cut your head off if you don't bow down to me. As we have several examples in the Bible, no, I'll cut my head off.

I am going to stand for God. The strength that comes from being able to stand for what you believe and say it comes from God. It comes from a belief in God and comes from the Spirit of God that is in us. And it's a strength that we have to develop in our lives. It's not going to come automatically. It's something that we have to build. That when the time comes, if we're faced with something, we would say, no.

You can do with me what you want. You can put me through whatever you want. I stand by God. I will not deny God. I will not compromise with the world. I will not choose you or the world or any part of it.

I will choose God, and whatever that may cost me physically or personally at this time.

Knowing that God is faithful, knowing that God is true, and that there is eternal life on the other side of that. They did it by the word of their testimony, and sometime in our life, the word of our testimony will be, yes, we believe God. Yes, we do keep the Sabbath day. No, we will not bow down to any other God. No, we will not bow down or worship on any other day. No, we will keep doing what God said to do. We will follow Him.

And as we're going on in verse 11, they didn't love their lives to the death.

They didn't love their lives to the death. There's three things right off the bat he tells us that we need to do. You know, it's very easy for us. I read those words, and I think like everyone in the room, I would say, yes, I would die for Jesus Christ. If someone came in now and said, either, you know, renounce Jesus Christ or you die, I would hope. And I believe I would say, I will not renounce Jesus Christ no matter what the cost. But it's very easy to say those words when it's theory, when it's reality, when you can see the writing on the wall, when you can project into the future and see a time coming, that those things that we are going to be faced with, those situations where today we can't imagine it. Someone saying, I, you know, I would just as soon see you dead, as know that you're even in my neighborhood or in my place of employment. If you keep that Sabbath day, if you believe in the Bible, if you believe this or that, I just as soon see you dead, and you're faced with that, that takes some thought, doesn't it? When it's a reality.

Time is now for us to be thinking about those things and letting God prepare us so that when that time comes, we can stand and the word of our testimony will be, I stand with God. I stand with God and no one else. And if we would not live our lives, love our lives to the death because we would be fully convicted that after this physical life, there is eternal life that God has promised.

Well, the Bible speaks in many places, many places about warfare.

Warfare. Let's go back and turn with me back to 2 Timothy. There's many roles that you and I have in life, many hats that we wear.

We're husbands, we're fathers, we're mothers, we're wives, we're children, we're disciples of Christ. We're in training, we're servants. Many, many hats that we wear.

God gives us another one that you and I each wear. Find that in another hat that we wear in 2 Timothy 2 and verse 3.

He says to Timothy, a young minister, you therefore, Timothy, and you can put your name in that too because the Bible speaks to each of us individually as well as collectively, you therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. A good soldier. You ever think of yourself as a soldier? Maybe some of you have been in the armed services or in the military, the army, and you have been a soldier. You would know what it means to be a soldier. The rest of us have seen pictures. We know what a soldier is as well. But every single one of us in this room have been called to be a soldier of Jesus Christ.

Whatever you think of soldiers, we could probably go down to list here and talk about the things that soldiers do. They are first and foremost loyal to the nation that they are serving. They are loyal and they have to be completely submitted to their commander and trust in him. And there's a number of other responsibilities they have as well. Let me read to you something about the responsibilities of a soldier that comes out of the U.S. Army and National Guard soldiers' creed. It says, the responsibilities, in addition to those other things, include placing the mission first. Whatever you're called to do, that's the most important thing in life. Family waits, other things wait, mission first.

Never giving up. Good soldiers never give up. They fight to the death and they fight to the end. Good soldiers maintain fitness and expertise and discipline. They're aware of their bodies and how they need to be used. And they take care of those things. You've heard of the rigorous exercises that people go through. Discipline. They make themselves do what they need to do. It's a character trait that all of us need to have and every soldier needs to have.

They have to take care of self and they have to maintain their equipment. Maintain their equipment. Now, maintaining equipment is what we'll focus on more today. All these other things, yes, we could talk about each one of those in a sermon or two over the time. All those things are important and you and I have those responsibilities as well. But what about maintaining our equipment? God does not leave us unarmed in our role as a soldier. God does not leave us unarmed in the warfare that we face. God does not leave us unarmed when we feel an attack from COVID or whatever the next generation of COVID is.

Because I believe we're in a time where there will be wave after wave, disaster after disaster, like it says in Ezekiel. Whatever the attack is, God does not leave us unarmed and he does not leave us unprepared. What are we doing? What are we doing about the weapons that God gives us to be able to endure hardship, as it says here in 2 Timothy 2? We have to endure it. We can't give up and just say it's too hard.

I'll abandon the cause. We have to endure it. What do we do? Let's... I didn't read verse 4. Let's read verse 4. We get another thing here that kind of goes along with the National Soldier's Creed here. It says, no one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life. Isn't that interesting? That's mission first, right? Now that doesn't mean that we don't go to work anymore, we don't go to school anymore, we don't interact with people anymore, we don't interact in society.

But it means missions first. Mission first. We would not look to the world for the answers to our problems. We wouldn't look to the enemy to give us the answers, right? I mean, if we're a soldier in the United States armies, we don't go to China and say, hey, what do you think about this? Well, how do you want us to handle this? We can go to Russia or any other enemy to do that. So we wouldn't entangle ourselves with the Satan's world, which is the enemy, or Satan being the enemy of God, to look to him what the answers would be.

We would look to God for what the answers would be. He is the general. He is the commander. He has the answers. He has the game plan. He is the leader. He has been the forerunner. He will lead us to victory. We have to do it his way. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. Well, that's God. He called you and me. He enlisted you and me as a soldier. He said, you joined the fight.

I want you part of my team. I want you part of the army. I want you to be part of the citizenry of that kingdom. I want you to be there. He enlisted us. Would we dare abandon him? Would we even consider going AWOL from what God has called us to? I would hope not. I would hope not.

Let's go back one chapter, actually one chapter, one book. I mean, one to 1 Timothy.

1 Timothy 1.

And we will look at verse 18.

Again, Paul writing to Timothy, it's also written to you and me, this charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare. How do you wage the good warfare? Well, we've seen a few of the things, a few of the traits, a few of the attributes that God says a good soldier has to have. Here's a few more in verse 19. That you may wage the good warfare, warfare, having faith. No, without faith, it's impossible to please God, right? Hebrews 11.6 tells us that.

Without faith, we fall.

And the faith that the Bible speaks of is a derivative of the same word, pistoio, that I talked about, believe. It's a completely thorough belief in faith in God, not the faith that the world has, or that the world espouses, but a deep faith in Him. The kind of faith that Jesus Christ displayed when He was on earth, the kind of faith that Paul and Peter and the apostles displayed when they were on earth, they had to learn that faith. We have to learn that faith. We have to take the opportunities that God gives us to build that faith. It's one of the reasons Jesus Christ said when He returns to earth, will He find faith on earth? I think all of us would say we have faith. I think He intends for us to develop it more and to look for the opportunities to build that faith, that He will certainly give us having faith and a good conscience. How do we develop a good conscience? We do God's will. Through His Holy Spirit in us, it changes the way we think, changes the way we act. We have to start doing what God said.

His Holy Spirit will give us the ability, will give us the desire, will give us the strength to do it. But if we don't make the changes to do it, then we're leaving the most valuable tool we could ever have just laying on the table and not doing anything with it. We have to make choices. We have to do. We have to deny self. We have to say, no more of me, no more of my idea. If this is the way you say, do it, that's the way I'm going to do it. Forget me. Bury the old self, like we said in baptism, but let the new creation that God is building direct us and become us.

You know, while we're there, let me just go back up to verse 5 here in 1 Timothy.

What Paul says is, the purpose of the commandment is love. We know that. God is love. I mean, if we love God, we keep His commandments. The purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart. Not a double-minded heart, not a double-minded person, but a single-minded man who is completely devoted to God. The purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk. That's a verse to contemplate and think about. Let's go back to verse 18 or 19.

So we have faith. We must have a good conscience. So God says, you know, don't sin. Don't go against your conscience. If you've developed a good conscience and your conscience says, don't do it, don't do it. Don't sear your conscience. Paul says in the same book of Timothy, don't sear it. Follow what God has led you to be, to be, and to think, and to realize.

Having faith and a good conscience, and some have suffered shipwreck. And then Paul mentions a few people that he had to put out of the church just so that they would get their bearings back. So they would get their bearings back and realize what they have been called to.

Let's go back to Luke 14. Jesus Christ talks even at the beginning of our calling about the warfare that we are being called to. Up to this time, it has been a battle. It has been a battle of the minds, been a battle of the spirit. We have to battle ourselves. We have to battle our own wills.

Going forward will be that.

And a little more intense as the time goes on. In Luke 14, a very familiar set of scriptures, when we counsel for baptism, we always talk about these scriptures, it's about counting the cost. Before you say you're going to follow God, understand the commitment that you're making to Him. Don't take it lightly. Don't take it lightly, and don't disappoint Him. Don't disappoint Him.

I always tell people, make sure you know what you're doing. Take your time. Count the cost. Understand what God has called us to. It isn't a life of ease. It isn't the life of roses and petals. It's going to be a difficult life, and more difficult as the time of Jesus Christ returns. You have to be committed, and you don't want to take it and then let go of it.

Understanding what the Bible says and what God is looking to us to do. Let's look at verse 26. He says, if anyone comes to me and doesn't hate his father and mother, hate doesn't mean hate. It means love them less. If God says, do it, and mother and father say something else, you obey God first. If kids say, let's do this, but God says this, you choose God. It doesn't mean you hate, but it means you choose God first.

He is the priority no matter what father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters might say. God first. Sometimes that hurts. Sometimes people get offended. That's okay. The word of their testimony is, it's God first. I trust Him. I believe Him. I follow Him. And He finishes verse 6 with saying, yes, in His own life also. Yes, I would forfeit my life. Yes, I'll give my life. But I will do what God's will is. I won't save self. I would sacrifice self just as Paul says in Romans 12, 1, and 2. I'll sacrifice self because that's what I've been called to understanding the promises of God's calling. If you aren't willing to do all this, in verse 26, He says you can't be my disciple. I mean, there's the job description. We talked about that not too long ago. Verse 27, whoever does not bear his cross and come after me can't be my disciple. There are some of the job description. Then in verse 28 and 29 and 30, He talks about building the tower, counting the cost. Let's go down to verse 31.

For what king, he says, going to make war against another king, doesn't sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet who comes against him with twenty thousand. From a physical standpoint, it can look pretty daunting what we'll be up against.

It can be pretty daunting when swarves of people come and say, we don't want you living here. We don't want you working here. We don't like what you believe. You're a danger to us because you won't do what this person says or that person says or whatever. We don't want you here. That can be pretty overwhelming. All of us want to be liked. All of us want to be part. What king, going toward doesn't look at it and say, I only have ten thousand. What happens if twenty thousand are coming at me? What will I do? That takes faith. That takes counting the cost. That takes looking at God and looking ahead and saying, Father, when that comes, prepare me, get me ready, that I will look at it and say, I could care. Well, I always care, right? I don't care. I will simply follow you. I will not yield to pressure. I will not yield to numbers. I will not yield to the world around me. I will follow your way. Or else, verse 32, while the other is still a great way off, he sends the delegation and asks conditions of peace. We don't compromise with the world.

Okay, I didn't really count on that. How about if we do this? How about if I justify this and I think, okay, that kind of looks like it's keeping God's law. If I do this, isn't that okay? If I do that, isn't that okay? Some even do that a little bit today. We all practice justification. We talked about that not too long ago. We have to get away from justification and look and get the pure words of God. Are we doing what he says or not? Stripping away all the self-interest, sifting away all the self-will, getting away with the justification. If God says, do it, do it. And if he says, don't do it, don't do it. It's all about submission. It's all about trust. It's all about faith. It's all about obedience. It's all about surrender to God. It's all about believing, pistoio believing, and pistis, P-I-S-T-I-S, faith, that God is developing in us. Jesus Christ overcame the world. He gave us the same tools that he has. We have God's Holy Spirit. We can do it. We have to exercise it. We have to use it. Remember, it says in Hebrews 6, by exercise of use, using the Spirit, if it just lays there dormant, it means nothing. We have to use it and build it.

And he gives us the Word of the Bible, the same words that Jesus Christ used when he combated the devil in the battle, the battle of Satan and Jesus Christ, to use the words of the Bible.

You and I know the words of the Bible. He gives that to us. We have to study it. We have to inculcate it into our minds. We have to become part of our very being. We have to live it, breathe it, and live by it. 1 Corinthians 16.

Throughout the Old Testament, throughout the New Testament, there are words that God tells you and me as his servants, as his children, as his disciples. Over and over in the Old Testament, be brave, be courageous, be strong. Those are words because he knows that we're going to need those character traits in order to enter his kingdom. Don't fear, don't wave, or don't doubt.

You know, just as a feast, you heard if you were listening closely to Daytona, the man who gave a sermon said, here's the four enemies of faith. What are they? Fear. What motivates us when we make choices? Fear? Oh, I'm afraid this will happen if I do that. Oh, I'm afraid that'll happen. What is the real motivation? We can ask God, what is the real motivation? What is the real reason we make the choices we make, especially when we make a choice that's contradictory to what he says to do? Is it fear? Is it doubt? When we ask God something, do we doubt secretly that he will do it? Well, we'll go through the practice and we'll doubt it. You know, we don't say we doubt, but do we doubt? Do we show God that we doubt because we do all these other things? Or do we simply trust Him? Do we simply look to Him and know He can do anything, anytime, anywhere? There is nothing that's not in His power. Not an easy thing to do, something we have to grow in, something the apostles had. They had to learn it just like you and I learned it. They made mistakes along the way. You and I make mistakes, but we repent. We ask God for strength and we move forward. We don't regress. We don't quit. We keep trying to overcome. What do we say? Fear, doubt, worry. How many times does worry sidetrack? Oh, I can't do that because what if this happens? What if that happens? What does this mean? When that happened in my life, any of us have probably spent nights worrying about this and that, and we wake up in the morning, nothing was the matter. What does Jesus Christ say? Cast your worry and care on me. I'll take care of it. And, of course, human reasoning. That's the best. We think we know more. Oh, no. Obviously, God doesn't want me to do that because of this. Don't use human logic. Use God's Word. Use his Holy Spirit. That's what he gives it, therefore. It takes practice. It takes time. Don't deny and don't neglect the opportunity to practice God's way of life. Where am I at? 1 Corinthians 16, 13. Here Paul, in one little verse here, he gives us those words, those fighting words, right? Warfare. Watch. Watch what's going on. Don't bury your head in the sand. Some people just don't want to hear what's going on, or they just want to hear one side of the story. They want to hear smooth things. Oh, this is okay because of this. Understand what's going on. Listen to both sides of the story, as the Proverbs say. Do a little bit of research. Do a little bit of thinking. Understand what is going on around us. Watch. Stand fast in the faith. Stand fast in the faith. We've talked about that. Be brave. Be strong. Let all that you do be done with love.

2 Corinthians 10. Here in this chapter, Paul talks about warfare. You know, our warfare is not about nuclear bombs, and it's not about hand grenades, and it's not about pistols and rifles and whatever. That's not the battle that we're waging. We're waging a battle of the mind. We're waging a battle of the soul. We're waging a battle of the spirit. That's how we will overcome Satan. That's how we will overcome the world. Not with the munitions and ammunitions of man, but with the weapons that God gives us. Here in 2 Corinthians 10, he begins to show us some of those things. In verse 3, he says, though we walk in the flesh, we don't war according to the flesh.

No nuclear bomb is going to overcome Satan. No hand grenade. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. I dare say all of us have a stronghold somewhere in our life. Part of our job is to pull down. You know what a stronghold is? It's something that we just almost have a mental block on. Someone, you know, you can say something, and sometimes I can look around and see that eyes are not even, it's like, you know, I'm, I got a stronghold on that one. I'm not even letting, I'm not even letting that penetrate my mind what is being said right now. We probably say that at home sometimes. Maybe the boss does something like, you know, I'm not even going to do that, right? Stronghold. Something that we, that is just a block that you can't penetrate through. God has to break down those strongholds. We have to let God direct our minds. We have to, we have to get way, rid of the human reasonings on our own hang ups, on our own beliefs, the things that we don't want to let go that are so strong in us. It is a complete submission to God. It's a complete surrender to God. And we probably all have them and we can ask God, where are they? Or maybe we can just stop sometimes and think about what we're doing. Think about what we're reading. Think about what someone is telling us. And when do our minds shut off? Like, nope, not going there, not going there. That's a stronghold.

Have to overcome it. Have to let God knock down that stronghold. It can be done. But with God's Holy Spirit, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. No nuclear bomb is going to change it. No hand grenade is going to change it. No Black Hawk helicopter is going to drop anything to change that stronghold. It is going to be God's Holy Spirit is using a weapon, a spiritual weapon, that He has given us. The weapons of our warfare aren't carnal. They're mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. They're mighty in God for casting down arguments. How many arguments are in the world today? Argument after argument. Right? We can watch, turn on the news, and all we see are people arguing. This side says this. This side says that. Another side says something else. They all have their little ammunition there. Here's a study that says this. Here's a study that says that. Confusion, chaos, it's nothing but arguing. Two sides don't see each other. We have two parties in America. They are so diametrically opposed. There is no hope humanly that they can never come back together again. Never a time like this in the American, I don't even think it's a civil war, the animosities have ran as high as they do now. Arguments everywhere. We can be people that argue. You might have one opinion on one thing. I might have, but we never would let that happen. You know, we're a sermon of the feast on oneness. We have to be one with one another. We might have differences of opinions, but we yield to what God's will is. He will show us what that will is. He will lead us to what it is. We have to follow. We have to stay and remain with one another and work with one another and always seek God's will. Casting down arguments in every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. You know, that can even be us. Oh, I think I know better. I think this is what God means when he said that. Now I get my situation and God understands, so in this situation, it's okay with God. Isn't that exalting ourself above God? Isn't that saying, I know better than God? Therefore, this is my script. This is my will, and I've justified in my mind that this is what God wants for me. The Bible doesn't have. It has all our names on it, right? But it's the same for every single person. God said the same law for the native-born Israelite, the same law for the stranger, the same law, the same way of life for everyone.

What we read in the Bible is what we do. And of course, we live in a world where, you know, the governments of the world are going to tell us, this is the way, this is the way, follow it, we have all the answers, do what I say, and if you don't do what I say, you know, whatever the consequences are. Every high thing that exalts itself against God. And then, of course, the last part there, verse 5, you know, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. That's a tough one. That takes, that takes life. That takes a lifetime to do. That's why God calls us. That's why we repent. That's why He gives us a lifetime to live this way of life so that we do commit ourselves, submit ourselves, surrender ourselves to God, that we do bring every thought into obedience of Christ. It takes a while to do that. But there comes a time in life where you look at yourself and you say, you know what, God, I don't want anything of me anymore. I don't care about me. I don't care about my ideas. I don't care about any of this. I just want what you want. Just show me what's wrong with me. Just show me what needs to be changed, and you know what? It's done. I'll repent and I'll give it to you because you learn to trust Him and give your life completely to Him, knowing that everything He does is for our good. Everything He does is for our good and with the future in mind. Well, I'm going to go to a place now where I'm sure you've all been waiting for me to go, and that's Ephesians 6.

We haven't talked about Ephesians 6 here for a while, but here's what we're talking about, and here's where we're on the first Sabbath after the Feast of Tabernacles, a time when we are looking and setting the course and setting the standard for us going forward, building on what we've learned at the Feast, recognizing the things that we need to do among ourselves and individually as well as collectively, looking to what God is doing, and looking honestly and realistically at the world ahead of us. Let's look at these weapons, this armor that God has given us, and I'm not going to take a lot of time. I'm not going to take a lot of time in Ephesians 6, but I'm going to throw it on you. I'm going to talk about it a little bit, but I want you to go back, and I want you to look at Ephesians 6 and the armor that God has given us. A good soldier maintains his equipment. A good soldier makes sure that he knows how to use his equipment, that it is in working order. When the time for the battle to come, it is in first-rate shape. No failures, no malfunctions. He knows what it's about, and that's your job. That's my job, and God tells us what that armor is here. We'll talk just a little bit about it, but you and me, we both need to take some time in this and make sure that every single one of the things that God mentions here we're working on and we're under his guidance, making better and making sure that it's ready for the battle. Ephesians 6, verse 10. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.

Be strong in him. Don't be strong in the world. Don't be strong with your own ideas and your own plans. Be strong in the Lord. With him, all things are possible. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Not our might, not our ingenuity, not our logic, not our reasoning abilities, in the power of his might, doing things his way. Verse 11. Put on the whole armor of God.

You know, whenever God uses an adjective like this, we should probably pay attention to it.

He could have simply said, put on the armor of God, but he highlights for us, put on the whole armor of God. Not two or three of the pieces, not four or five of the pieces. Put on all of it. We need all of it. Just like we talk about in Deuteronomy, as you read through there, and I maybe you think too often remind us about the adverbs that God uses when we talk about obeying his commands. That we earnestly keep it, we diligently keep it, we do carefully keep it, we do everything he said. When he uses adverbs, when he uses adjectives, he's getting our attention and telling it, do this. Pay attention to all of it. Put on the whole armor of God. Why? That you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. We know what his wiles are. His entire mission is to disrupt you and me. His entire mission is to take us out of the church. His entire mission is whatever tool he can use, whether it's pride, whether it's fear, whether it's worry, whether it's threats, whether it's distraction, whatever it is, he will take us away from God. That's the wiles of the devil. Paul said, don't be ignorant of that. Look and see, and don't be wise to it, and put on the whole armor that you can stand against his wiles. First of all, for we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but we wrestle against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age. Not yet do I think any of us have been called to account before any of the rulers of this age. In the years ahead, as we look down the road, we may be held to account. Some may be held to account by employers in the very near future.

Correct? Some have already been faced with. What do I do? How do I handle this? There's a choice that has to be made that I didn't, that I knew I would make one day, but now the time is here to make a choice. What do I choose to do? That's an employer. When we look at Revelation 13, someone much more powerful than an employer, of course, God is more powerful than all of them.

We don't wrestle against these things. We wrestle against the rulers of the darkness of this age.

We wrestle against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. None of us stand a chance against Satan. Without the armor of God, we all fall. We may as well give up now. If we're not dedicated to putting on the whole armor of God, as he says in these verses, doing it with our heart, doing it with our mind, committing to Him, yielding to Him to do it, then I'm not encouraging anyone to give up. I'm encouraging you. Let's all work and make sure we're focused on putting on the armor of God and being ready. Verse 13, he uses the word whole again, therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand, that you may be able to stand in the evil day. Would anyone look at the world around us today and say, we don't? We don't? That this couldn't be called an evil day? When we see the things going on around, when we hear the words that are being said, when we watch the very fabric of what we've grown up in, in this nation, disappearing before our eyes, and people fighting or making sounds that sound very different than anything that we have ever heard before, all in the name of a virus that has been thrust upon, all in the name of a virus that has been thrust upon the world, and certainly this nation, in a way unseen in our lifetimes before, would this be an evil day? You know, Paul talks about an evil day here. If you look one page back in your Bible, one chapter in Ephesians 5.

He talks about an evil day there, too. In verse 14 of Ephesians 5, he says, therefore God says, awake, watch, talked about what Jesus Christ's words are, awake, you who sleep, awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, not as people don't know the truth, because we do know the truth.

The people outside have not yet had God give them the knowledge of the truth that you and I have.

But we are supposed to have the wisdom of God. We have His Holy Spirit. We are living by His way of life. A good understanding have they who live that life and live by that time. See that you walk circumspectly, not like the rest of the world does, but as wise people, people of God. Redeem the time. Make use of the time. Don't let it just slip by these days. This time is valuable.

Redeeming the time because the days are evil. They are. They are. Satan's way, Satan's world, Satan's mission is evil. It isn't for any of our good. Everything that God does for us is for our good. Back to chapter 6. Verse 14. He starts this next sentence the way He ended the sentence before. Having done all to stand, stand therefore. Be upright. Be ready. Be strong. Be there when God is. Don't be shrinking away, hiding in the recesses of whatever you're hiding into. Stand with Him. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth.

I don't need to turn to 2nd Thessalonians 2. You know the verses. We've heard them not too long ago here in services here. What happens to those who perish? Why do people perish in the last days? They didn't receive the love of the truth. And because they didn't receive the love of the truth, they believe the lie. They believe what Satan's world would have them believe. But we must have a love of the truth. That's the very first thing God says. That's that weapon. Have and ask God to help us if we don't have a love of the truth. Love His Word. Love what He has called us to. Believe Him and love Him. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth.

Having put on the breastplate of righteousness. What does a breastplate do? If we're a person that's putting on armor, it's going to cover our heart. So whatever darts, whatever arrows, whatever bullets come our way, we protect our heart because it's the essence of life. If our heart goes, our life goes. He says, breastplate of righteousness. What is righteousness?

Let's go back and look at Deuteronomy 6, verses 24 and 25.

Deuteronomy 6, 24. The Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the eternal our God.

Remember why God says, we must keep the fear of God. Keeping the fear of God before our eyes will keep us from sin. To fear the Lord our God, underline, for our good always. For our good always.

That He might preserve us alive as it is this day. Then it will be righteousness for us.

If we are careful, careful to observe all these commandments before the eternal our God, as He has commanded us.

Righteousness is doing what God said. It's not just doing that, just us doing it. Doing it certainly is an important part, but it has to become part of our heart. It has to be what's here. It has to be what's here. It has to be something we do because we love God. Jesus Christ said, if you love me, keep my commandments. Not easy words, sometimes more difficult to do.

That that, let's go to Romans 1. Romans 1, verse 17. Romans 1, verse 17.

Let me read verse 16, too. Paul writing, he says, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. How many times did Paul get beaten for what he believed and go through so much? I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it's the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. There's that word, bestoio, again, for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek, for in it, in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall live by faith. Live by the Bible. Love God with all your heart, mind, and soul. Let him permeate your mind, your actions, your ways. Let him cast out the fear. What does it say in 1st John 4, 18? It says, perfect love of God casts out fear. When you look at the words of the Bible, when you see some of the things it says will befall us, they could be fearful. And if we're looking to ourselves, they are fearful, but when we have the love of God and we know and have committed to him, that perfect love will cast out fear. Okay, back to Ephesians 6.

Ephesians 6. We are in verse 14, verse 15. Having shied your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. You're standing. You are ready to go. You have your shoes on, and when God says go, you go. You are ready to preach the gospel. You are ready to stand in front of anyone who God would have you stand in front of. You are ready to go and be a witness to him if that's what he asks, wherever he says, because you've been prepared by the gospel of peace. You have done that through your work, in studying, in making the word of God part of your mind, part of your heart, part of your being, by living every single word of it. You've done that by committing to it. You've done that by denying self and committing to do God's will, making yourself do God's will if needs to be, asking God for the strength to do that, and every time you find yourself wanting to do your will rather than God's will, stopping and asking God at that point, help me. I don't want to do my will anymore. I want to do what you want, and I guarantee you he will take that thought away from you.

If you approach him and you ask him to do that, he will lead you to where you need to do. He will give you the strength and take that away. But you have to remember to do it. God gives us the tools. We have to use them. Having shied your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, verse 16, taking the shield of faith. How many times? Faith. You can't please God without faith. Taking the shield of faith, believing in him above all. Taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to clinch all the fiery darts of the wicked one. When those darts come, when those accusations come, when those threats come, when those awful letters come, when those summonses come, when those edicts come, whenever is thrown at our way, you will be able to stand if you are putting on the whole armor of God. If you have faith in him, if you believe in him, and if that is part of your very soul, whatever Satan throws at you, whatever society throws at you, whatever the government throws at you, whatever your employer throws at you, you will be able to stand whatever fiery dart comes your way. Verse 17, and take the helmet of salvation. Protect your head. Remember that God, salvation comes only through God. Salvation comes through no other name except Jesus Christ. We have to believe in him. We have to commit it to him. We have to do it his way, 100% his way. Not 90% his way and 10% our way. His way needs to become our way. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Well, let's do take the time to turn back to Hebrews 4. Yeah, Hebrews 4. Turn forward to Hebrews 4.

Hebrews 4 and verse 12.

Speaking of the word of God, the sword of the Spirit, here's what the author of Hebrews had to say. He says, the word of God, it's living, it's powerful, it's sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit. You want to know what your motives are, you want to know what the intents of your heart are, you want to know if your motives are in line with God. You can look into the word of God. You can read those words, get rid of some of those blinders you have on, and honestly look at yourself and ask God, am I doing it your way?

Am I really doing what you're saying, or have I clouded the issue and confused my will with your will? It will pierce even to the division of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow.

It's the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

God will show you if you're interested, God will show you if you ask, God will show you if you show him that, yes, I am interested in being a good soldier of Christ, yes, I understand I'm engaged in warfare without you, and without your guidance and leadership, I cannot possibly win this battle that I'm in, that we're all in. Go back to Ephesians 6.

Verse 17, take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, and pray always with all prayer and supplication of the spirit. Without prayer, there's no relationship with God. You can mark down in your notes there, 1 Peter 3, 12. There's a few other verses I should have given you, but you can look some of those up as you study this as well.

God hears the prayer of the righteous. He wants to give us what we ask for. What we ask for has to be in accordance with His will, and it will be in accordance with His will when we are yielding and being led by His Spirit. You know, one thing we can pray for is unity. Unity. And I didn't mention when we were talking a little bit before, but you know it is important. It is important for us to be one. It is important to be part of the assembly that God has called us and part of the body that He has put us in here in Orlando. Not when we're sick, not when we're contagious, not when we have things. That's why we have Zoom and why we have things. We can be together now, but there will be a time when we can be back together again, and we should never forsake that. There's a reason that God commanded holy convocations. There's a time in the future when you and I will see how important we are to each other. We're seeing it even as we pray for each other in this time of when people are sick, and sometimes they can't pray for themselves. We can do it for them, and God hears. He hears the love. He hears the bonds between us, and we will need each other in the days ahead. So don't forsake that. Don't forsake that, and don't think it's okay to take a day off and do this, or whatever the reason we might have. It's a reason. It better be a good reason, because God is watching. God is watching what we do. He's looking at the decisions that we make, the choices that we make. He wants us to make the choices that draw us closer to Him, and that show that we really want what He has to offer. Okay, praying, verse 18, praying always with all prayer and supplication of the Spirit, being watchful to this end, with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. That's what I just talked about.

Persevering to the end, enduring to the end, and supplication for all the saints, that we pray for each other, that we're bound together before God as the people that He has called His soldiers.

Our commander, our commander in chief, who provides the weapons and who will give us everything we need, all the training we need. We just have to look for it. We just have to take the time to do it.

And when we do, we will fulfill a verse that we read during the feast. Let me turn over to Ezekiel 22. Ezekiel 22. Dr. Ward read this scripture. I always associate this scripture with Dr. Ward back 25 years ago. I heard him say it the first time, and it was an inspiration then and an inspiration now to read this. Verse 29 of Ezekiel 22 says, the people of the land have used oppressions, they've committed robbery, they've mistreated the poor and needy, they wrongfully oppressed the stranger. So God says, I looked for a man among them who would make a wall, who would stand in the gap before me on behalf of the Lamb, that I should not destroy it. But I found no one. He found no one. Let us commit that God will find you and me ready to stand in the gap. As time goes on, as the return of Jesus Christ goes forward, let's commit that we will take care, that we will maintain, that we will sharpen the weapons that God has given us, that we will stand in the gap and we will stand for Him. And going forward when Jesus Christ returns and we live the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles in the last great day, we will be there.