You must equip yourself with the full armor of God to stand firm against the devil's schemes rather than fighting against people. Embrace the peace of the gospel and lock your shield of faith with the body of Christ to extinguish every flaming arrow. Trust in your salvation and rest in the truth that Jesus has already won the battle.
Welcome to The Real Church Podcast. Our mission is for you to know the love of Jesus and live out your God given purpose. Now join us and listen in to the latest message from pastor David John Phillips.
Let's get started. The title of this message is When It's Time for War. I was planning I was planning on preaching a different message. I was planning on preaching about *God* still speaks. Right?
And we might start that next week learning to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. But today, God or this past week, God kinda shifted the message in line with what everything's everything that's going on. And the message is when it's time for war. Sometimes it's time to say "enough is enough" and realize that we are in a war. So when it's time for war, we don't back down.
We get ready for battle. And when it's time for war, we must understand some key things. There's 4 things that we must understand in order to be able to fight the war well. Number 1, we have to understand who is against us. We have to understand who's against us.
Number 2, we have to understand what our weapons are. Number 3, we have to understand what our strategy is. And number 4, we have to understand what our defense is. So let's start with the beginning. Who is against us?
Militaries are constantly seeking out stealth technology. Wanting to get the best stealth technology so that enemies cannot see them coming. They don't see the ships when they're when they're on the horizon. They don't see the the the planes. They don't see the boats.
They don't see the missiles that are coming. The best stealth technology, the drones. Why? Because the plane so so other people or the enemy won't be able to see them on radar or visibly until it's too late. And the attack then that is meant to this to destroy them is already in progress.
I was a submariner. I was on a ballistic missile submarine, USS Rhode Island Gold. We were a strategic we are a strategic deterrent and our mission was stealth. Basically, all we did was do circles in the Atlantic making sure that no 1, no country, no nation, no enemy understood where we were because at any moment in time if the enemy was was to mess up we could touch a button and it was done. It was over with.
We would send out a missile. They wouldn't know where it came from. They wouldn't know who it came from. All they would have is a guess. In the same way the enemy operates in stealth and he wants you to blame everything and everyone on who you guess it's from and not on him.
Amen? Alright. So Ephesians-6:10-12. Thank you Jesus. It's it's it's really kinda funny actually that the coronavirus and everything it that's serious.
But in the midst of the coronavirus and everything going on, my wife before we're 1 of the only churches doing service on Thursday night gets sick. Friday morning, we we she goes to the doctor and she has a combination of the flu and strep throat. Not the coronavirus, but she has a combination of the flu and strep throat together. To me, it's not a coincidence. Right?
It was kind of a little bit crazy at our house. My wife wished that she could be here but at the same time it was an attack. Somebody needs to hear this message today. *Ephesians-6:10* it says, finally be strong in the Lord. We're not strong in our self we're strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
It says put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. The devil is scheming against you. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly realms. So we're supposed to put on our full armor. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood.
I don't wanna scare you and I want you to know that the struggle, the trials, the hardships in the world, the coronavirus, the sicknesses, the diseases, the anger, the strife, the lies, the pain, and the suffering. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood. Satan is real. Now a lot of people would say, wait a second. Hold on.
Don't talk about Satan. He might get mad at you. He's already mad at you. He doesn't like the fact that you believe in Jesus. He doesn't like the fact that you've given your life to him or at the very least, he doesn't like the fact that you're at church today seeking after God because you you you have a deep desire to know him.
He is angry and that's okay. The devil's scheme. What is the devil's scheme? John-10:10. It says, the thief or the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy.
But I have come, Jesus, I have come that you may have life and "life more abundantly". Therefore, if it's stealing, if it's killing, and if it's destroying, it's not from Jesus. Amen. It's from the enemy. Jesus has come that you have life and life more abundantly.
So when it's time for war, we have to realize who is against us. The devil is against us and let me show you just how deep this goes. Just to prove it. Jesus is on the cross. Right?
He's on the cross and it while he's on the cross, there are people that are screaming at him. They're cheering for the fact that he's on the cross. They've just ripped his beard out. They've just with a cat of 9 tails beat him and they're excited. Some of them are probably some of the ones who followed him.
Probably some of the ones who have saw the miracles. Maybe even some of the ones who were healed but yet they're screaming at him ultimate betrayal. *Jesus on the cross he's looking out at this. Now he has all authority in heaven on an earth and on earth. Jesus the son of God*, God in the flesh at any moment in time he could have said no.
I'm done with this. You're not worth dying for. I'm choosing to come down off of this cross. I'm done with all of you. But instead, he knew that his battle was not against them.
The battle is not against against flesh and blood. So he looked past what they were saying and what they were doing and he said these words, father forgive them for they don't know what they're doing. They had believed a lie. His battle wasn't against them, it was against the 1 who fed them the lie. What would it be like if as wives or as husbands when our spouse is railing against us seems to have betrayed us or whatever the circumstance may be?
What it would would it be like if we looked at them through the eyes of *Jesus* and understood that our battle wasn't against them. Our battle's not against flesh and blood. Our battle's against the 1 who fed them to lie that's causing them to act in the flesh. What if we said when our boss railed at this with this and that and the other or we were attacked in this way or attacked in that way. What if we looked at the circumstance and we looked at the situation and we said, you know what?
Father forgive them. We were able to love the person because we realized that they are just eating and breathing in and believing a lie. And we're able to love them because we see who's behind them. Our battle is not against people. It's against the 1 who's feeding them the lie.
Satan, the father of lies. We talked about in the series a couple of weeks ago, how to deal, how to deal with Satan. Right? If you missed it, I'm not gonna go into it today, but if you missed it, go back and check out the podcast. It will encourage you.
So we know who is against us, Satan. And when it's time for war, you have to know your enemy and not assume that someone who's not your enemy is your enemy. People are not your enemy. We are to love people with the love that Jesus has for them, forgive them with the same way that we've been forgiven, and and and at the same time, know that they're acting a certain way just because they believe the lie. Be mad at the enemy.
Don't be mad at people. Yeah? So know who is against us. Know who our enemy is. But number 2, when it's time for war, you also have to know what your weapons are.
When you know your enemy, now you need to know your weapons. *2 Corinthians-10:2*. Paul says, I beg you that when I come, I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be towards some people who think that we live by the standard of this world. We do not live by the standard of this world. Period.
For we for though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power. Everybody say divine power. Divine power.
To demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of god and we take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ. So, we demolish our weapons of our warfare. They're not carnal, King James version says, or they're not of this world, but they have divine power to to pull down strongholds. Right?
And they demolish arguments in every pretension. What is a pretension? I didn't know what a pretension was, so I looked it up. It's an allegation of doubtful value. Another version says, we demolish arguments in every opinion.
And so arguments, pretensions, opinions that set itself up against the knowledge of God. They're lies. Every thought, every person's opinion, every whatever opinion it is that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, it's a lie. And it all lies originate with our *enemy* because he is the father of Okay. So in other words then, if our weapons demolish lies, then we're the war that we're in is a war about knowledge.
The war that we're in is an "information warfare", spiritual warfare. I want you to catch this because this is huge. Spiritual warfare is an information warfare. *Hosea-4:6* says this, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. The world says, what you don't know won't hurt you.
His word says, what you don't know will destroy you. Amen? **knowledge is power**. So what does the bible say our weapon is then? Let's go to Ephesians-6.
In verse 17, it says this, take the helmet of salvation. A helmet is not a weapon. A helmet is armor. Right? It's defense.
So take the helmet of salvation and the sword. Now is the sword a weapon? Okay. The sword of the spirit. What is the sword of the spirit?
Which it says, the sword of the spirit which is the word of Sword of the spirit is the what? *God. The sword of the spirit is the word of God*. In Revelation multiple times, talks about and it's very use all of this this language that is, you know, picturesque language. It talks about the sword coming out of the mouth of Jesus, and by it, he defeated all of his enemies.
It's talking about the spoken word of God. It's the spoken word of God that defeats the enemies. When you believe it so much that you speak it to the lies that are attacking your mind and are attacking your life. *2 Corinthians-4:13* says this, it is written, I believed, therefore, I have spoken. When you believe it, you speak it.
Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore we speak. *Luke-6:45* says, for the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. Another version says, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. The mouth speaks what the heart is full of. See that bible that you have?
Or that app that you have on your phone that's a bible app? It doesn't do you any good if it's just sitting by your bedpost collecting dust or sitting on a shelf. It doesn't do any good if it's the least used app in your phone. Because, yes, all of these words are powerful and amazing and wonderful. But until you know them and they fill your heart so much that they overflow out of your mouth, it doesn't mean anything for your life.
Did you catch that? You have knowing remember we we preached a message just a few weeks ago. You shall know the truth and the truth will "set you free". Right? Some of you, what I just said just kinda you're like, wait.
Wait. Did you just say that? Yes. I did. You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.
Net word for knowing is the Greek word. Means a personal experiential revelatory knowledge of it. It means you've remained in the truth so much that it's filled your heart and you can't help but speak it in the midst of lies. You believe it? You follow me?
So we have to read the word, believe the word, and let it take root in our heart. So that when the lies come, the information warfare starts, when some opinions start to attack your mind that are opposed to the truth or opinions that other people are saying that are opposed to the truth, we can let what we've stored in our heart flow from our mouth, the sword of truth. We can say, no, this diagnosis will not stand. By his stripes, I am healed. We could say, no.
*Jesus* is my healer. No. Jesus is my provider. No. Jesus is my help in time of need.
No. I'm not defeated. I am more than a conqueror according to his word. He is my peace, so this anxiety has to go. The bible says there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, therefore fear you must leave.
I'm not a quitter. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me and I can go on and on and on because his word is in my heart. So whenever my mind starts to think things that are opposed to his word or whenever I hear things that are coming in that are opposed to his word, I go back to his word and I speak his word because his word trumps everything. Amen? See, knowledge is power.
So in this war, this is information warfare, spiritual warfare is information warfare. And I want you to catch this because this right here is gonna set you free. I'm gonna give you some knowledge that'll set you free. This is that, you know, this is that stuff that spies go behind the enemy lines. Right?
That that gives them the keys to actually win the war. Are you ready? Alright. Here we go. Romans-6:5.
The bible says, if we are united with him in a death like his, then we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. Now let me break that down for you. The word united there is the same it's a it's a Greek word and it's the same word that's used for Siamese twins. The word united there. It's like 1 body and 2 heads.
It's it's a word that means, man, it's it's like 2 entities that have the exact same nature. It's like they're completely and totally 1. Think Siamese twins. So if we're united with him in a death like his, what does that mean? Wait a second.
Hold on. Jesus was became our sin and then was crucified as our sin and died to our sin. So then when God looks at us, he sees you us united in with him in a death like his. So he sees us as dead to sin as Jesus was. After Jesus died on the cross, where did he go?
He went. He descended down. Right? He went. He overcame the devil.
He he took back the keys of death, hell, and the grave. The Bible says in Colossians-2, he **disarmed the enemy**. He literally disarmed him and made a public spectacle of him. Me meaning meaning, he has nothing left. Jesus won the war really 2000 years ago.
That's huge. But then not only that it says, after that he rose from the grave and the bible says that we have been risen with him. So united with him. So when God looks the father looks at us, he sees the same resurrection life of Jesus Christ. We're united with him, the same victory of Jesus Christ.
That's why in John-16:33, it says, you can take heart. I have overcome the world. *Jesus has overcome the world, and we're united* with him. So we have overcome the world because Jesus is with us and in us. Not only that, it keeps going.
The bible says Jesus is seated at the right hand of God, Ephesians-1, of in heavenly places and he's far above every principality and authority. So every principality and authority is under him. But then it also goes on to say in Ephesians-2 that we are seated with him in heavenly places. See, our problem is that we're fighting a war with the worldly point of view when we're seated with Christ in heavenly places and we're supposed to have a heavenly point of view. We're supposed to understand that the war is already over.
*Jesus* has already won. It is done. So we're trying to huff and puff and blow the devil's house down, but he's already been defeated and that knowledge will change your life. See, when the enemy shows up, I don't have to yell and shout and lose control. When the enemy shows up, like Paul said, having done all, I stand.
So stand therefore and know that the devil is under your foot. The enemy that's behind everything is under your foot. So it might be just really good just to put your foot down, just stomp it real quick and realize go ahead, stomp your foot. Because if you're really united with Christ, he's under it. Yeah?
That is knowledge. And let me let me give you a little example. I heard a story about I heard a story about a bully. This big bad bully on the playground. Right?
You know about big bad bullies on the playground. Okay? And and he had this big yellow legal pad and he had a pencil. And this little kid walked up to this big bad bully and he said, hey, what's what are you writing on that on that legal pad? He said, I'm writing a list.
You're writing a list? What is what is the list of? This is a list of all of the names of the people on the playground that I can whip. Oh, really? And the little kid looked at the list and he saw his name on the list.
As soon as he saw his name on the list, he jumped back. He said, wait. You can't whip me. Let's go right now. Bully looked at him, looked at the list, took his pencil, turned it over, erased the kid's name off the list.
Knowledge is power. It's like we're walking down the road and we see this just man eating dog coming at us. This Doberman Pinscher or this Rottweiler. I mean, he's running at us. He's barking.
He's growling. It looks like we're on his territory and he is mad. You see the slobber just drooling down. And at first, you wanna be scared, but the bible says to turn and face your enemy. Right?
So you turn and you're just you're just full of faith. Alright. Alright. You turn and face your enemy and you look down. And as soon as that dog gets close enough, you begin to look.
And wait, that dog has no teeth. Not only does he not have no teeth, all of his claws have been ripped out of his hands. He has nothing that can be formed against you. He's been completely and totally disarmed. So you look at him and say, silly dog.
Yes. Silly dog. What were we so afraid of? See, when Christ when you get Christ in your life, you and Christ are 1, and the devil devil doesn't want you to believe it. Because when you do, you understand that the devil isn't just dealing with you anymore.
He's dealing with Christ in you. Telling you knowledge and knowing is the whole deal. Knowing and believing so that you can begin to speak it and remain in it. Our weapon is the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, which is knowledge, and our weapon is knowledge. So know his word and speak his word until you see his word come to pass in your life.
Now, let's leave some questions. I know them well. We're gonna get to them. So when it's wartime, number 1, we must know who is against us. We answered that.
Satan is against us. Number 2, when it's wartime, we must know what our weapons are. And our weapon is knowledge. It's the sword of the spirit. It's the word of God.
It's the knowledge of his word. And number 3, we must know our strategy. We don't wage war until we know our strategy. Right? I'm just gonna go through these really quick.
*Ephesians-6:11*. It says, in in 6 verse 11, I have them all on the on the app so you guys can can see the the language there, but it says, stand firm against the schemes of the devil. Ephesians-6:13 says, after you have done all, stand. *1 Corinthians-16:13* says this, stand firm. *Galatians-5:1* says, stand firm.
*1 Peter-5:9* says, resist and stand firm in the faith. Our strategy in this war, in this battle is to stand in his word. That's our strategy. We don't have to fight because the battle, the war has already been won. What we have to do is to stand.
Why? Like I said, God has already won. Remember like he told Jehoshaphat, I'm gonna fight your battle for you. You go and face your enemy and you stand and watch and see what I do? Yeah?
We just preached on that. Part of standing firm is James-5:7. Says this, submit to God, resist the devil, and he might flee from you. Submit to god, resist the devil, and he Will. Will flee from you.
You say, wait. Wait. Hold on. I've been resisting for a long time. I've been resisting for minutes.
I've been resisting for hours, for days, for weeks, for years. For decades, I've been resisting, and it seems like the devil has taken a nap on his way out. It just feels like I'm just getting attack after attack after attack. What's going? He ain't going anywhere.
What's going on? I am believing that when we resist, we submit to God. Well, 1, when we submit to God, we are resisting. We submit to his word but I'm believing that it's gonna it's gonna happen instantly. Instantly, he will flee but I am prepared to outlast the devil, standing on the word of god because I have a promise that he will flee.
Did you catch that? I'm I'm prepared to outlast him standing on his word no matter how long it lasts because his word says he will flee. So in the end, regardless, the mountain will bow to his word. In the end, whatever his word says will happen. Our job is to stand in his word regardless of what we see.
Knowing that he will flee. The battle has already been won. If we really know it and we really believe it, we stick to the battle plan. Amen? So, when it's time for war, number 1, we have to know who we're up against.
We're up against Satan. Number 2, what was number 2? We have to know our weapons, knowledge, the knowledge of his word, believing it so much that we speak his word, sword of truth. Number 3, we must know our strategy and our strategy is to stand. And then number 4, as the worship team comes back up, We have to know what is our defense.
What is our defense? *Ephesians-6*. Armor is our defense. In Ephesians-6, it says in verse 13, therefore, put on the full armor of *God* so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to "stand your ground". Without his armor, we're not able to stand.
You see that? So we need to put on the full armor of God. And after you have done everything, after you've done everything that you know to do, to just stand. So what is the full armor of God? Number 14.
Alright. Verse 14. It says, stand firm then with the belt of truth. Everybody say belt of truth? Belt of truth.
Stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist. What does a belt do? A belt holds everything in place, holds everything up, holds everything in the in the right spot. We have to have the belt of truth buckled around our waist. I am pursuing the truth of of who Jesus is truth.
I'm pursuing Jesus. By pursuing him, I'm pursuing truth with everything I have, trying to know him more, to know more and more truth so I can walk in that truth, and it can hold every aspect of his armor in place in my life. And I know you wanna do that too. Pursue truth with everything that you have. Because as soon as we believe a lie, then everything else gets out of whack, and we leave ourself vulnerable to the enemy.
Remember, spiritual warfare is information warfare. It's knowledge warfare. We live by truth. Amen? You're you're okay, buddy.
Yeah. He's he's saying amen. Okay. Verse 14, stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist with the breastplate of *righteousness* in place. The **breastplate of righteousness**.
Now this is so key. What does a breastplate guard? It guards your heart. And what is righteousness? Righteousness is right standing with God.
See, *Jesus, 2 Corinthians-5:21, he who knew no sin, Jesus, became sin, died as your sin so that in him, we might become the righteousness of God*. We're united with him as Siamese twins. Right? United completely together. So when God looks at us, he sees the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
100% in right standing with God, not based on what you have done or based on what you haven't done, based on your failures or your lack of doing, but based on what Jesus did for you. When God looks at you, he sees the goodness of Jesus *united with him, the breastplate of righteousness, and that guards our heart*. *1 John-3*. I think some of us have let the breastplate of righteousness fall down a little bit. *1 John-3:19 says, this is how we know that we belong to the truth* and how we "set our hearts at rest" in his presence.
If our hearts condemn us, some of us have hearts that are condemning us for what we haven't done or what we have done. Well, it's about to tell you how to set your hearts at rest, how to put that breastplate of righteousness back into place. Says if our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts and he knows everything. That's key. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.
Now let's go back in verse 20. It says, if our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts and he knows everything. Meaning, our hearts condemn us, but God knows everything. He Jesus himself knew that you were gonna commit that sin that you're being condemned for by your own heart, and yet he chose to spill his blood for you anyway. And his blood washes away every sin.
Right? Every single 1. So then we can go back to the word, trust his word, stand in the truth of his word, and let the breastplate of righteousness shift back because our hearts are at rest in his presence because we know he loves us. Letting that belt of truth come back together. Some of us need to just receive the fact that, hey.
Wait. I'm forgiven. Why don't we just do this? Why don't you just just while you're sitting down, why you just raise your hands like this? Just raise your hands, and let's con confess that.
*Confess* means to agree. Say thank you, Jesus Thank you, Jesus. That I'm in right standing with you That I'm in right standing of you. Of you. I receive that.
I receive In Jesus' name. In Jesus' name. Amen. It's awesome. Just putting that armor back into place.
Let's go to Ephesians-6. Gotta get through the rest of the armor. Breastplate of righteousness in place and your feet fitted with readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. The gospel means "good news". It's not bad news.
The gospel is good news. And what is that good news? That we have peace. **Peace with God**. Jesus paid the price so that mankind could have peace with God.
That's amazing. *2 Corinthians-5*, it says, not counting men's sins against them anymore. Man, if people only knew that God didn't wanna count their sins against them, he's saying, run to me. I will give you rest. But yet they reject him, run from him, and end up dying, separated from him for eternity.
The good news is we have peace with God because of Jesus. Receive it, believe it, and experience relationship. It's amazing. Next. In addition to all this, take up the shield of *faith* with which you can extinguish all.
Everybody say all. All. All the flaming arrows of the evil 1. Now, in Roman times, and this is probably what Paul is thinking about when he's writing this because they've been taken over by Rome. Right?
When he's thinking about a shield, he's probably thinking about a Roman shield. And it's in large part due to the Roman shield that they took over the whole world. It was an amazing piece of technology. It wasn't this rinky dink little thing that covered just a little part like Captain America. Okay.
And Marvel fans, Captain America has a good shield. Okay? But it's not this. The Roman shield, think about this door. It's like 8 foot tall and it's huge and it covers everything.
The shield of faith taking out extinguishing all the flaming darts of the evil 1. But not just that, they fought in battalions of 16. And when they each had a shield, the shields would lock together. And so when they're about to take a city, they'd come together 16 strong, shields locked together, and they could they could cover a whole they could, defend a whole half acre with that. They would go up to a city, and they'd raise their shields up.
It was like a big "turtle shell" covering them. So when the the enemy is standing on top of the city, on the gates, and they're shooting arrows at them, their shield is literally taking in all of the arrows, and they're not being touched because they're behind their shield. It would be very dumb for those Roman soldiers to stick their head out from behind the shield. The opposite of faith is fear. To live in fear is to live vulnerable to the enemy, allowing the darts to attack you.
Stop it. There's no fear in love. Let's keep our heads behind the shield. Let's stay with the shield of faith and extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil 1. Coronavirus is just a flaming dart of the evil 1.
It can be extinguished by faith. Yeah? Not just that, but they locked together to be separated by yourself is to leave yourself more vulnerable, but to be together with your the "body of Christ" is to be with the bigger shield that keeps you protected. And then last but not least, take the helmet of salvation. The helmet of salvation.
The enemy will send opinions at you and and doubts and try to make you doubt your salvation, to make you not believe that you're saved, to make you just doubt what really happened. No. No. We keep the helmet of salvation knowing that as Christ is, so am I in this world. I am saved.
I am born again. I am set free. And we extinguish every dark by the shield of faith. And if it happens to get through, we say no because the head of salvation, a helmet of salvation. I know that I'm born again.
Thank you, Jesus. And we go back to that. Because as soon as we let doubt sneak in too much, the enemy's just trying to decapitate your faith. That's it. No.
We always go back to wait. I'm born again. I'm brand new. Thank you, Jesus, for what you've done. Amen?
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