Are You Resisting the Right Enemy? Discover the Secrets of Spiritual Warfare

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Happy Lord's Day to you.
I hope you are enjoying wakingup every day in this new America
as much as I am.
It is hard to not.
It's hard to not reach for thephone to check the good news in
the morning before I pray and toget out of bed.
So that's a good thing, youknow, but I try to make it a

(00:24):
habit before I do anything topray and thank God for giving me
another day and for protectingmy family and farm and country
before I do anything else.
But, boy, I race to that newsapp to scroll to see how much
you know.
Good is winning for once in theworld, and I'm not disappointed

(00:47):
.
You can tell that America ismoving in the right direction
because all the demonic forcesare freaking out.
Everyone who pretends to beunicorn, butterflies and 152
genders and everything else islosing their mind and for the
first time ever, one side of theissue is upset that they've

(01:15):
been robbed of their money andwe've been giving it away to
corruption and enrichingpoliticians and everything else.
So normally that's somethingthat we can all rally around,
but I guess when you'recompletely turned over to a
demonic ideology, you don't evencare that you're stolen from
anymore, as long as you know,you get to mutilate children and

(01:41):
kill babies and do everythingelse that you want to do.
So that's the world we live in.
We are.
You know.
I thank God every day forDonald Trump, who's a very
flawed man.
Okay, he's not our savior,jesus is our savior.
He is a flawed man who's beingused by our Lord and Savior,
jesus Christ, to do good thingsin America today Because a lot
of people prayed.

(02:02):
You know, if you remember Sodomand Gomorrah, abraham, pleading
with God, started with a hugenumber and whittled it down to
10.
He found 10 righteous people inall of the.
You know, sodom and Gomorrah,that he wouldn't destroy it and

(02:23):
he couldn't find him, couldn'tfind a one.
Well, we have more righteouspeople than ten in America.
You know there's a remnant andthe path is narrow and it is
small, but it is enough to whereGod gave us a chance to come
back from the abyss where,before you'd even be able to say

(02:46):
hello to someone, you'd have tolook at all their pins and the
color of their hair and figureit out to say whether good
morning sir or good morningma'am.
That is all gone now.
Now in Tennessee, we don'treally have that.
So that's why we moved here.
Okay, but for all you people inMassachusetts who happen to

(03:06):
live in modern day Sodom andGomorrah, or those in California
and everything in between, wedon't have that down here.
Right?
You know we, we, we say y'all.
You know which is the mosteffective word in history?
You know it's, it's the most.
It's just so useful to be ableto say y'all instead of use guys

(03:26):
and all this and y'all.
Just never in a million years,when I was a snobby northerner
thought I would say y'all, butboy do I like that word now.
So the other thing we don't seea lot here in the South is
masks.
The more I travel around thiscountry doing active shooter, I
didn't realize that there arestill insane people at mass

(03:48):
wearing masks and I'm not atlike Catholic mask, although
there's probably a bunch ofpeople that are doing that too
but like out in public 2025,people wearing masks and not
even like surgical, you know,n95s or whatever the heck
they're called, still wearingthe face diaper.
That's how sick people reallyare with their virtue signaling

(04:16):
and how deep they are in thethroes of this demonic movement
that's out there.
So again, praise the Lord,thank you.
God Protect Donald Trump.
And I got to give you fullconfession.
I wanted DeSantis to be mypresident.
I thought he was the bettermoral character.

(04:37):
I thought he was Trump withoutthe baggage.
But here's what he is not.
He could not do what Donaldaldtrump is doing right now.
He could not.
He doesn't have the billionsthat where he wouldn't be
beholden to someone.
He needed money to get elected.
Donald trump needed nothing andthat allows him to take a

(04:58):
hammer to the system because hehas no special interest and, um,
I am.
You know, before Trump was shot, I said a lot of unkind things
to him about dodging the draft,deferring a lot of things,
because I doubted his courage.
But I don't think anyone candoubt his courage after you saw
the man get shot, get up and getright back at it and say fight,

(05:20):
fight, fight.
So again I was wrong, fight,fight.
So again I was wrong.
God was right.
God's always right and I'mthankful for it, and I'm
thankful every day for what Isee, and I've never been so
happy to be wrong in my life.
So there's that All right.
So let's get to church businessnow.
Just the current events andthings.

(05:46):
I just thought it'd be good tolighten the mood.
Welcome to Christian WarriorMission, a church home, church
community ministry and farm thatforges Christian Warriors for
today's challenges.
Okay, some announcements.
Christian Warrior Talk is goingto be on Wednesdays.
We didn't have it lastWednesday, I didn't have enough
time to turn it around.
All right, but starting thisWednesday at 9 pm, we're going
to be doing our fellowship show,which is a Bible study, right?

(06:09):
So we're going to be doing aBible study.
That is not going to be likewe're in the New Testament,
we're in James right now.
We're going to keep progressingthrough the Bible that way.
This is probably going to beOld Testament Proverbs and all
that stuff on Wednesdays.
It's very informal.
Old Testament Proverbs and allthat stuff on Wednesdays is very
informal.
It's me sitting at a desk, it'snot me doing this, and we
actually have a good time withit and spend time in fellowship.

(06:32):
So that is going to be a moreformal Bible study.
But we will also talk allthings Christian life, prepping,
homesteading tactics, as wellas current events that we are
all dealing with.
The problem with so much of thechurch is it doesn't tell most
churches in a cowardly attemptto avoid being political and
offending some of their donorbase, don't tell you how to

(06:54):
apply it to the news.
Don't tell you how to deal withmodern day things because, if
they're honest, it's confrontinga lot of their church members,
particularly on one side of theaisle.
So we don't do that here, allright.
So some other news.
Karen, our Black Angus cow,gave birth.

(07:19):
She's an awesome mom and shedid it without our help.
We woke up in the morning andthere was a baby cow there.
That's the way you like it, notpoor Lauren pulling a cow out
in the middle of the freezingrain out there.
That stuck.
No, we showed up and boom,everything worked great.
So that's why we keep Karen,because she's a great mom and

(07:39):
she does deliveries like that,where it's like no drama, and
she's super nurturing, superloving and amazing.
Now we have a baby girl.
We didn't get the bull wewanted.
We got a baby girl named Ruth,after Ruth Chris Steakhouse.
So that tells you she mightreplace Karen, depending on how

(08:01):
things go, you know, becauseKaren is getting older.
But we're going to keep Karen.
Until Karen doesn't really doanything anymore, we replace her
.
So we're going to I'm sayingthis now, but Lauren is probably
going to her pie charts and allthese things that she has on
doing the herd and all thisstuff.
But I'm telling you, I'm layingthe law down Right now.

(08:22):
Lauren, I know you're watchingon this side as well.
We are keeping baby Ruth.
See what I did there, baby Ruth, all right, so, anyways, all
right.
Another announcement, this isanother good one.
Our first men's fellowship firewill be on Friday, march 21st,
at 7 pm up at Warrior WarriorsRest Fire Pit.

(08:45):
Please RSVP on Facebook, on ourevent page, so we can plan
accordingly with refreshmentsand food.
Alright, that's all.
I got nice and easy and quicktoday, so let's go to prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, lord, wethank you.
We thank you for this day andwe thank you for the blessing of
being born in America.
We hit the lottery, lord.

(09:05):
We are here in the mostpowerful nation with the most
responsibility, lord, we are ina full-scale war right now, a
spiritual war for this country,and the demonic forces have been
winning.
But the tide is turning, lord,and there will be more battles
and there will be setbacks, butwe know and we believe that you
win in the end.

(09:26):
Lord, help us now while we havethe wind at our backs, while we
have the government not workingagainst us, to take ground for
your kingdom, to help make ourcountry, our states, our cities
and our communities more godly.
Help us to hold our familiesaccountable and help us to win

(09:51):
the war that wages within usthat we'll talk about today from
your holy text in James 4.
Lord, may we proclaim you withevery word of our lungs, breath
of our lungs, and serve you withevery beat of our hearts.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen,all right.

(10:12):
So for those of you who don'tknow how to pray, there is a
manual in the book if you'rewondering.
If you're new to Christianityand God has called you home.
None of us get here of our own,no matter what you think.
Something sent you here.
One of the great debates thatI've had with some of my
spiritual father even, is thathe thinks that people are saved

(10:36):
by good preaching.
Good preaching helps them alongthat's part of the bread trail
being leading you home butyou're saved by God calling you
home.
The moment, whatever it was,that God used to turn you around
, from walking away from him towalking towards him, that is the

(10:56):
moment that God called you home.
Now, it could have been anear-death experience.
It could have been the death ofa loved one.
It could have been a sunrise, aChristian song, a movie.
It could have been anything.
God can use anything to startyou on your journey back to him.

(11:18):
So if you're new and you want toknow how to pray, get one of
these things called the Bible.
We've got about 1,000 of themover here Exaggerating it's not
1,000, but we've got a lot ofthem, and I've got a box behind
there of even more.
Turn to Matthew 6, 9 through 13, where Jesus' followers asked
him how to pray, and here's hisexample.
Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

(11:41):
Thy kingdom, come thy will bedone on earth as it is in heaven
.
Give us this day, our daily Now.
That's way better than mine,okay, and it's right there, and

(12:02):
you can pray that anytime youwant.
But also remember the rise wordsof Paul Washer.
Paul Washer, who's one of themost repentant and touch humbled
Christians you'll ever see, andbecause of that he can get away
with a prayer like this.
God, you know, you know, youknow, you know, and because you

(12:26):
know, because you're in controlof all things, I can go to sleep
or I can leave it in your hands.
In Jesus' name, I pray amen.
Now, I hope I didn't destroyhis prayer too much, but that is
as close as I can get toparaphrasing it.
And it's amazing.
And of course he was talkingabout struggling with some
really big issues orphans inAfghanistan that were facing

(12:48):
certain death and all kinds ofother persecution in China,
people going to prison and it'sall in his lap.
And if he can pray that, well,if your heart's aligned with God
and you are humble, you can too.
All right, let's get into thetext.
We're going to be in James 4today, james 4.
So at home you can open yourbooks.
I'm going to read it and thenwe're going to break it down.

(13:10):
I'm going to read it in itsentirety and then I'm going to
break it down.
I'm reading out of the LSB.
Most of the times I do the ESVand LSB.
I just happen to be pullingfrom the LSB lately.
Some of the words might beslightly different, but you guys
will be right there.
So while you guys are gettingthere, I want to talk about this

(13:31):
.
The battle that begins in theheart facing the enemy within
the epistle of James is oftencategorized as wisdom literature
in the New Testament.
James, the half-brother ofJesus writes to Jewish
Christians scattered abroadJames 1.1.
We covered that four weeks ago.

(13:52):
He addresses practicalgodliness and eternal
consistency.
Genuine faith results inactions and transformed conduct.
As Christian warriors, thefirst battlefield that we have
is in our heart.
Okay, it's in our heart.
James 4 will point us to theinternal conflicts that lead us

(14:16):
to external quarrels, showing wemust overcome the desires
within to walk faithfullywithout Now not all Christians'
first battle is in the heart.
If you have a non-Christianwarrior household where you have
not been properly discipled,where you have not been provided

(14:37):
with a safe environment, whereyou are not exposed to the Bible
, there is going to be countlessbattles, one of them being
safety.
But if you are in a godlyhousehold, being shepherded by
godly men and women, then ittruly is the heart.
And the closest example of thisI can give is something God set
for us.

(14:58):
This morning my dear daughterBea Brenna, who is coming up on
6th in May, comes up to me andtears in her eyes, repentant
about bad smiles.
Like what is bad smiles?
You know she's confessing, likeshe's overly confessing right

(15:21):
now.
Right, because she is in thatspiritual point where she is now
aware of her sin For the firsttime in her life she realizes
she's on the clock.
At five and a half she's awarethat she's on the clock and she
doesn't know what to do withthis.
She's got tears in her eyes.
She's like I am smiling becausemy sister is in trouble in her

(15:47):
eyes.
She's like I am smiling becausemy sister is in trouble.
I'm smiling because my sisteris doing bad things and it's
making me smile.
And that is a bad smile, right?
So this was a drop everythingmoment in our house.
Forget about preparing forSunday service and go all in on
my daughter.
It was Lauren, was doing amillion things and it was get
over here, let's sit at thetable.
We need to pour into ourdaughter.
This is a maximum teachingmoment of her first step, truly

(16:14):
as a Christian, feeling sin andrepentance, understanding that
she doesn't want these feelings.
She doesn't want to feel goodabout her sister being in
trouble.
And here she is fixating on itand then, like the enemy, now,
it's constantly all she thinksabout why am I thinking about

(16:36):
this?
So it's there.
So we had to pray for her.
We had to give her tools todeal with this.
Right, and I just taught her asimple song to sing to Jesus.
A simple prayer, right and thencorrective action, told her I
was proud of her.
She's not in trouble for havingthese thoughts and these

(16:59):
feelings that we all battle withthem.
Do you want to know how I knowthat?
Just look at your social mediafeeds and what you say and do on
there.
When you see something'shappening, the joy that I take
in good winning.
But I better not be happy thatevil is suffering, because we're

(17:24):
all evil and we all deserve tosuffer.
I can be happy that evil issuffering because we're all evil
and we all deserve to suffer.
I can be happy that God iswinning and that justice is
being done.
But do I truly want justice?
Because if I truly want justice, I'm doomed, and so are all of
you.
Jesus Christ came and paid forour sins so we wouldn't have to
deal with God's justice.

(17:45):
That was a gift, okay.
So here is my five almostsix-year-old daughter
experiencing spiritual warfarefor the first time and she's
coming up and it's manifestingin different ways.
So I prayed for her.
I could tell that that didn'tseem like it was enough for her.

(18:05):
So I went and I's manifestingin different ways.
So I prayed for her.
I could tell that that didn'tseem like it was enough for her.
So I went and I got someanointing oil and I put
anointing oil on her head andover her heart and that seemed
to give her some strength.
And you know, I prayed a JohnEldredge prayer.
I'm not a charismatic castingout demons and devils and all

(18:26):
that stuff, I'm not that guy.
But I do believe that we canpray and put coverings over
someone.
So we prayed.
I prayed over by the power andauthority of Jesus Christ.
I bring the body and the bloodand the works of Jesus Christ
over my daughter, of which, whomI have authority over.
I cast out any fell spirits anddemonic attacks against her.

(18:51):
I call down angels to protecther.
I call down the Holy Spirit toput a guard on her mouth so she
doesn't smile at wicked thingsand doesn't say evil things.
And I called again for the HolySpirit to keep working on her
because she started hersanctification today and that is

(19:14):
so important.
I'm so proud of her.
I'm so proud of her.
It's such a complex thing for anadult to handle, never mind a
five-and-a-half or almostsix-year-old.
So the battle starts in theheart with her today.
So the battle starts in theheart with her.

(19:35):
Today, she's got a strong heartand a good heart, as good as a
human can be.
But, as we know, in the Gardenof Eden, when we acquired the
knowledge of good and evil, wedidn't have the wisdom to deal
with the evil.
Before we ate from the tree ofknowledge, we only knew good.
We didn't know nakedness, wedidn't know shame.
We didn't have the wisdom todeal with the evil.
Before we ate from the tree ofknowledge, we only knew good.
We didn't know nakedness, wedidn't know shame, we didn't

(19:56):
know guilt, we didn't know anyof these other things.
And once we acquired that, wewere not equipped to handle it,
which is why we all fall, why weall sin, why we all struggle.
So again, I am proud of mydaughter and now, as her

(20:16):
disciplers, our game just got.
We have to elevate our gameeven more now, like she's
understanding complex things.
She is on the clock.
We are here to go all in tomake sure that she understands.
It's no longer just modeling,now, it's nurturing, instructing

(20:42):
, discipling.
So again, the first battle isfor our hearts, and James 4 will
point us to our internalconflicts, like Bema's
experiencing, that lead toexternal quarrels.
So the Bible reminds us inProverbs 16, 18, that pride goes
before destruction and ahaughty spirit before stumbling.

(21:05):
So here we go, james 4, againout of the LSB Legacy Standard
Bible.
You guys can be reading out ofthe ESV or wherever else.
What is the source?
So, again, james, I'll bring itdown, I'll read it to you and
then I'll bring it down.
What is the source of thequarrels and conflicts among you
?
It's not the source of yourpleasures that wage war in your

(21:25):
members, in your own body, rightright within you.
The source of your pleasure isnot the source of your pleasures
the war that wages in your, thewar that wage war in your
members.
You lust and do not have, soyou commit murder.
You are envious and cannotobtain, so you fight and quarrel
.

(21:46):
You do not have because you donot ask.
You ask and do not receive,because you ask with wrong
motives.
How many of us have done thatso that you may spend it on your
pleasures?
You adulterous or youadulteresses?
Do you not know that friendshipwith the world is hostility

(22:07):
toward God?
Therefore, whoever wishes to bea friend of the world sets
himself as an enemy of God.
Or do you think that thescripture speaks to no purpose
when it says he jealouslydesires a spare which he has
made to dwell in us, but hegives a greater grace.

(22:30):
Therefore, it says God isopposed to the proud but gives
grace to the humble.
That's why we spend so muchtime in the Bible study,
starting to get a humble,grateful heart.
Humility is the first step tohaving a good relationship with
God.
Submit, therefore, to God.

(22:52):
Resist the devil and he willflee from you.
Draw near to God and he willdraw near to you.
Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your heart.
You double-minded.
Okay, we're talking about thesepeople now.
We're talking about sinners anddouble-minded people.
Be miserable and mourn and weep.
Why?
Because they're sinners andthey're double-minded.

(23:12):
Let your laughter be turnedinto mourning and enjoy the
gloom.
Why, becoming humble instead ofarrogant and boastful, enjoying
their sin.
Humble yourselves in thepresence of the Lord and he will
exalt you.
Do not slander one another,brothers.
He who slanders a brother orjudges his brother slanders the

(23:34):
law and judges the law.
But if you judge the law, youare not a doer of the law, but a
judge of it.
There is only one law giver andjudge, the one who is able to
save and to destroy.
But who are you to judge yourneighbor?
Come now.
You say today or tomorrow.
You to judge your neighbor?

(23:55):
Come now.
You say today or tomorrow wewill go into such and such a
city and spend a year there andengage in business and make a
profit.
This is pretty confusing to some, and we're going to spend some
serious time unpacking this.
Yet you do not know what yourlife will be like tomorrow.
You are a vapor that appearsfor a little while and then
vanishes away.
Instead, you ought to say thatthe Lord wills, we will live and
also do this or that, but as itis, you boast in your arrogance

(24:17):
.
All such boasting is evil.
Therefore, to one who knows todo right, to do the right thing,
and does not do it, to him andhis sin.
So that James 4 can be veryconfusing.
If you're reading this,particularly in the more
accurate language, which is theLSB and the ESB, you can go into
like the messenger and allthese other things, and they try

(24:39):
to make this make a lot ofsense in ways when they can
change the meanings when they dothat.
So it's better to read it trueto its original nature and then,
with help, unpack it throughBible study and exegesis, which
is what we're doing now.
So let's break down the textinto five major sections,
examining the Greek vocabulary,which I put some time in people.

(25:01):
I put some time in to try topronounce these Greek words
right.
So I barely speak English right, which I don't.
So I don't even speak English100% grammatically correct.
So God help me with Greek.
But this is so.
You know that I'm not justmaking this up.
And often, when we know the truemeaning of the word, like you

(25:23):
know, there might be a certainspecific definition instead of
definitions that have three,like when I say judge.
Well, that's a job.
A judge there's to judgesomething safe or unsafe Do I
cross the street or do I notcross the street?
And then there's judge whenyou're passing judgment, sending

(25:43):
someone to prison or someone tohell.
Right, judge is the same word.
Which one am I talking about?
That's why we need to know theoriginal language to be able to
go back and say this is what thetone and the text and the
context, all right.
So the source of our conflictsthe first four verses what is

(26:05):
the source of the quarrels andconflicts among you?
Is it not the source of yourpleasures that wage war on your
members.
So let's look at the wordquarrels.
Okay, polemos I even had towrite each syllable in here to
get it right and conflicts,maque Polemos implies broader

(26:30):
warfare or prolonged conflict.
Okay, so quarrels is actuallydeep, long warfare.
Okay, not me and my momquarreling over something.
Okay, well, my case suggestsindividual fights and skirmishes
.
Okay, so James wraps them bothin to that one statement.

(26:54):
Right?
What is the source of thequarrels and conflicts among you
?
Okay, james is framing theirdisputes as military-like
engagements, showing a communityunder spiritual siege from
within.
Okay, so, remember, the contextthat we're talking about here
is they are dispersed, they areunder persecution.

(27:18):
And what happens when life turnsup?
The heat on a group of peopleEnd fighting.
Right, there's disagreements onleadership, there's
disagreements on a ton ofdifferent things.
So let's turn on each other.
And when that happens, you'redestroyed, right.
So pleasures now, when we get,when that happens, you're
destroyed, right.
So pleasures Now, when we gethere in this, you know, is not

(27:41):
the source of your pleasures?
The weight of that wage war onyour members.
What are we talking about here?
Pleasures?
Well, we're talking abouthedone, the root term for
hedonism, indicatingself-indulgent desires.
Medone, the root term forhedonism, indicating
self-indulgent desires.
These passions place personalpleasure over God's will and
over the will of others.
Members, what are we talkingabout?
Members, it's such a weird wordto say there, right, and some

(28:03):
other translations try to makeit simple for you, but it's mele
, okay.
Mele refers to parts of thebody, literal or figurative.
So James is depicting a civilwar happening in your own being,
in your own body, which is whatBea was talking about.
Why does she like when hersister's in trouble?

(28:28):
Because she likes her praise,the praise that she gets for
being good Pride in afive-year-old Okay.
So cultural and theologicalinsights that we have to
remember here.
These believers are facingexternal persecution, like I
said, and internal strife is agreater threat, and internal

(28:50):
strife is a greater threat.
The concept of uncontrolleddesires aligns with both Jewish
wisdom and Greco-Roman moralphilosophy, like Stoicism, which
sees its passions as root vices, which they are.
What is our warrior applicationin this?
Internal desires are the realenemy.
As Christian warriors, not allbattles are external.

(29:13):
Friendly fire, which we talkedabout last week, arises when
personal pleasure supersedescollective good, when you put
your own personal pleasure overthe collective good, and we see
these with the knifing wordsthat we talked about last week,
that feel so good to say but dodamage to our relationships.

(29:34):
We can even pray with the wrongmotives.
How many times we prayed toescape consequences when we were
Christian-like, or even maybeeven now?
Praying for wealth doesn't workthat way.
God didn't start blessing mefinancially until I started
praying.
Help me deal with my sin ofindebtedness.
That is where miracles happen.

(29:58):
Making it rain, not so muchright.
Even our prayers can becomeself-serving if not alive with
God's glory.
Are we bringing God's kingdomhere with the prayers that we're
saying?
One more sinner.
Getting out of debt, that is agood thing.
That's a form of slavery.
Getting a bigger house on thehill, not so much.

(30:25):
To quote the wise John Calvin,our hearts are idle factories,
forever forging new demands wemake of God and man.
What do we do in our lives withthis?
Ask yourself what motivated metoday Selfish gratitude or God's
glory?
Surrender any motives thatexalt self rather than Christ.

(30:53):
The next part, verses 4 through6, james is talking about
friendship with the world versusloyalty to God.
So, verse 4, you, adulteresses,you do not know that friendship
with the world is hostilitytowards God.
The word adulteresses that hechose here is mocha, leides,
feminine plural, referring tospiritual unfaithfulness, the

(31:18):
greatest form of betrayal youcan do.
This echoes the Old Testamentimagery from Hosea, where Israel
, the state of Israel, isunfaithful to Yahweh as his
bride bride.

(31:40):
So do you not know thatfriendship in the world is
hostility toward God?
Friendship is philia, okay,implies intimate loyalty.
So you're intimately loyal tothe world.
So you're intimately loyal tothe world.
Cosmos, okay, why do they usethe word cosmos?
It's not god's creation.
This refers to the fallen worldsystem under satan's influence.
Now, if you didn't know any ofthose words, you'd just be like

(32:05):
you're friends with the world.
What's the problem with beingfriends with mother nature?
And blah, blah, blah and allthe garbage paganism out there,
which is bad in itself.
The fallen world system underSatan's influence you're
intimately loyal to that.
That is problematic.
Some might say that's a certainparty that begins with a D,

(32:29):
which is quite obvious.
So then we get into one of themore challenging verses, verse 5
.
He jealously desires the spiritwhich he has made to dwell on
us.
Okay, jealously, you know,we're always taught that jealous
is such a bad word.
But here God is jealous overour spirits.

(32:50):
So can jealousy be good,absolutely, absolutely.
God is a jealous lover yearningfor our undivided devotion.
He will not tolerate beingsecond in any part of your life,

(33:11):
just like your spouse shouldnot be tolerant of being second
in any part of your life.
Second only to God, god, spouse, children, everything else.
If you're out of that order,you're in big trouble.

(33:33):
So again, what's the context?
Early Jewish Christians lived ina pluralistic Greco-Roman
environment and faced pressuresto compromise constantly.
Orgies were everywhere.
Everything you could ever wantwas legal Slavery.
Everything was there you couldsatisfy.
You didn't have money, anythingyou ever wanted, just walking
out the door, prostitutes rightoutside your door.

(34:02):
James, echoing the Old Testamentprophets, condemns divided
allegiance.
It is spiritual adultery.
So what is our application aswarriors?
Divided allegiance is treason.
You can't be in a war againstChina and be torn between your
allegiance to America and China.

(34:23):
You are a traitor to both inthat circumstances, but most
particularly to your true nation, which would be America.
As warriors, we can't serve twomasters Worldly pride versus
godly commands.
God opposes the proud.
The Greek antitaso and again Imight be messing that up

(34:51):
suggests God lines up thatbattle.
The word anti-tasso means itsuggests that God lines up in
battle against the proud, so notthat he doesn't like them.
He battles against proud people, sends out his legions, his
armies, against proud people.
And the quote the wise MartinLuther where Christ is truly

(35:15):
known, he is also truly loved,and where love is, there is no
friendship with the world.
So what do we do with this?
We do an allegiance check.
Identify one worldly habitcraving status, envy-producing

(35:35):
media, social media and breakthat tie, declaring loyalties to
Christ alone.
Are you scrolling on thereenvying other people's lives?
Are we on there saying, oh, andthen what do we do?
Must be nice, not knowing howthey got there Maybe they worked

(35:57):
their butt off right.
Must be nice?
I've said that I see somebodywhose ministry is doing better
than mine.
Must be nice?
God gave them what God gavethem and God gave me what I gave
them.
I need to focus on me and notthem and then turn the other

(36:19):
cheek.
As my wife has said, socialmedia is the ultimate crucible
for that.
Can you scroll by withoutposting that post where you own
that person, where you get yourjab in your knives?
Come in as you're from youranonymous place online on
Twitter.
For those who do anonymous, Idon't, everyone knows who I am,

(36:41):
it's easy to see, or even afamily.
So let's go to part three now.
Resist the devil, draw near toGod, 7 through 10.
Resist the devil.
Draw near to God.
Seven through ten.
Resist the devil and he willflee from you.
Draw near to God and he willdraw near to you.
Humble yourselves in thepresence of the Lord and he will
exalt you.
Submit who put a guitar?

(37:05):
Who put a guitar?
A military term, imagine thatMeaning to rank under and obey.
The Christian soldier must obeyGod's command.
So again, it's so funny to methat the church, you know the
infestation and the infiltrationof the heresy of pacifism, when

(37:28):
the language is a lot of thelanguage in the Bible, is pure
military language for a reason,because we are at war.
Resist, okay, and again, resistthe devil.
Anti, so anti, sorry, anti,anthistomy.

(37:49):
Anthistomy which is the basefor what?
Antihistamine, your body'sreaction to fighting right, also
used in battle context,standing firm or opposing an
attacking force, which is whatyour body does when it releases
antihistamines.
He will flee from you.
He will flee from you, fuxitai,under God's authority, the

(38:16):
devil retreats when met withfirm resistance, not
lackadaisical resistance, notkind of resistance, firm
resistance through God.
So what's the cultural, logicaland theological insight into

(38:36):
this?
Inish traditions, satan is theaccuser in job one to two, the
tempter in zechariah, three,james, four, seven parallels
first peter, five, six throughnine, linking humility and
spiritual victory, drawn near togod, suggests temple imagery.
Right, they had their temple,that you had to go to be with
God, approaching God withcleansed hands, being clean.

(38:58):
You couldn't go in to see Godif you weren't made clean.
So what's our warriorapplication of this?
We must understand our chain ofcommand.
We can't fight Sataneffectively if we're AWOL from
God's authority.
We must have active repentance.
In verse 9.
Mourning over our sin?
Now, culture tells you mourningover your sin is bad, but it is

(39:22):
necessary for victory.
My daughter coming to me atfive, almost six, mourning over
her sin, smiling at things thatshe shouldn't be smiling at, is
a prime example of this.
Some would stop her fromfeeling that pain.
Absolutely not.
That is the holy spirit workingin your heart to convict you,

(39:45):
lean into that.
Feel that, because that's theonly thing that's going to help
you turn from it.
To quote the wise AW Tozer, thedevil's greatest weapon is
man's pride in his own ability.
True power comes only in theyielded heart to Christ.

(40:05):
I added to Christ.
But yielded heart is what hewas talking about.
Prithical step, and I broughtthis up by every sermon that
I've done recently.
Kneel and pray discipline.
Incorporate physical kneelingin your daily devotion,
symbolizing your submission toGod, to the universe, to the

(40:26):
universe.
There is no one who sees youpraying on your knees, who
doesn't see that you'resubmitting to God.
It's not easy to do.
As you get older it gets harder, it doesn't feel good,
particularly when you get a newknee.
So you get yourself a nicepurple pillow that's got some
shock absorbers on there and doit.

(40:46):
But my mind does not wander whenI'm in that position.
Anytime I try to pray in acomfortable position.
I start off and next thing youknow I'm thinking about anything
but what I'm there for.
In that position it's almostlike you know, a globe of
invulnerability goes around me.

(41:07):
Nothing can get through.
I'm focused on God because I amin obedience to him A hundred
percent.
Not.
My mind and heart are there,but my body isn't, because I'm
laying on my bed, I'm sitting ina chair, I'm standing there,
I'm doing whatever.
Watch your life change whenthat happens.

(41:28):
Part four Do not slander orjudge one another.
He who slanders a brother orjudges his brother slanders the
law.
There's only one lawgiver andjudge.
Who are you to judge yourneighbor?
Let's paraphrase Slander, katalaleo, speaking down to someone,

(41:55):
damaging unity.
Judge krino can meandiscernment or condemnation.
Here it's about condemnatoryjudging that usurps God's
authority.
When I talked about judge theposition, judge a situation and
then casting judgment, this iscasting judgment, casting

(42:15):
judgment that they're going tohell.
You don't get to decide that.
Only God does.
This echoes Leviticus 19, 16through 18.
You shall not go about as aslanderer.
You shall love your neighbor asyourself.

(42:36):
James wields Mosaic law.
To show true faith manifests inloving speech.
That's our application aswarriors.
Gossip and slander injurefellow soldiers.
It's blue on blue.
We're hurting our own Loyaltydemands.
We cover each other.
One lawgiver.

(43:00):
We must defer final judgment toGod.
Our role is restorative, notcondemning.
Does this mean that you can'tconfront somebody in their sin?
Absolutely not.
You can condemn someone intheir sin.
You can expose them to thetruth.
You are not called to becomplicit in lie.
This thou shall not judge hasbeen heavily abused.
We're called to judge, discernright, wrong, godly, ungodly,

(43:23):
everything, or else you won'tknow what's right or what's
wrong.
So we are called to judgeeverything, but we are not the
judge of everything.
I'm going to begin to quote thewise John Chrysostom.

(43:46):
No matter how this crushed me,no matter how just your words
may be, you ruin everything whenyou speak with anger.
No matter how right you are, ifyou speak to them in anger, you
ruin everything.
And Augustine, he who scornshis brother scorns the God who

(44:08):
made him.
So what can we do?
What's a practical step we cando?
Do 24-hour no negative speech.
Try a vow of verbal triggerdiscipline for one day, as we
talked about last week, or aweek.
Before speaking ask will thisbuild up or tear down?
Let's get to E now, the lastpart of this 13 through 17.

(44:33):
Fifth point the arrogance ofself-sufficiency, which I
struggle as a type A Navy SEALdoor kicker doer struggle with.
Come now those of you who saytoday or tomorrow you know and
make a profit.
You are a vapor.
To one who knows to do theright thing and does not do it

(44:55):
to him, it is sin.
What is that whole part thatwe're talking about?
13 through 17.
We have to understand thecultural aspects of this,
because otherwise we're justgoing to get lost in it.
In the Roman Empire, diasporaJews, dispersed Jews commonly
travel for trade.
James confronts merchantspresuming on future success

(45:18):
without acknowledging God,saying it's all going to be,
them doing it.
They're saying they're going tobe rich, they're going to do
things, they're going to besuccessful.
Make a killing and withoutsaying that God decides that you
are a vapor.
Vapor At meese suggesttransience.

(45:41):
A human life is brief anduncertain.
This contrasts humanpresumption with divine
providence.
This contrasts humanpresumption with divine
providence.
If the Lord wills is not a merephrase but a posture of
reliance on God.
Warrior application Battleplans versus God strategy.

(46:01):
A soldier must consultheadquarters, overconfidence is
a liability.
And then sins of omission.
Not doing the right we know isstill a sin.
Remember that verse from lastweek the people you could have
fed and helped are all murdersthat you've done.
I'm going to quote CharlesSpurgeon here hold everything

(46:23):
earthly with a loose hand, butgrasp eternal things with a
death-like grip.
Now, this Lord willing thing.
I've seen people treat thatlike a magic phrase.
They say everything, lordwilling, and it becomes
cumbersome, and I think it'sridiculous.
What they're talking aboutthere is when you're planning,
when you're in the planningphase.
You're setting up yourstructure.

(46:43):
It's Lord willing.
Okay, you don't have to use itlike something.
I'm going to the store, lordwilling.
No, that's ridiculous.
Okay, it's, you know me.
I am going to the ACCSconference to, lord willing, get

(47:04):
business, save lives, do allthese things and all that stuff,
and if the Lord blesses it,we'll do great.
It's not on me, it's on him.
Okay, versus, I'm going to rakethe yard today, lord willing
Just gets completely cumbersome,a mess and takes it totally out
of the way it was intended.
And the planning phase bringGod into your planning phase is

(47:26):
the message behind this.
As a Calvinist, I believe inGod's sovereignty.
So everything is Lord willingalready.
So incorporate the Lord willsin everyday planning.
Post a reminder on your desk orphone.
So when you're planningvacations, business deals,

(47:48):
trying to figure out if you'regoing to pursue a friendship,
bring God into the center of it.
Okay, now, rallying Christianwarriors.
Examine your heart daily.
All right, here's a tool youcan use a conflict journal to
diagnose.
If selfish desires causequarrels, okay, renounce worldly

(48:10):
alliances.
Identify a worldly habit tobreak.
Declare loyalty to Christ alone.
Submit and resist.
Practice kneeling in prayer.
Memorize James 4.7.
Guard your tongue A 24-hour ora week vow of verbal trigger
discipline Plan.
Humbly Say, lord willing andplanning.
Write it in a visible place.

(48:31):
Remember God's sovereignty.
All right, let's go ahead.
And I got one last quote.
We'll go into some prayer here.
No man is truly strong who hasnot mastered himself, and no man
masters himself until he kneelsbefore God, aw Tozer.
So let's pray.

(48:54):
Heavenly Commander, we stand inawe of your authority.
Train our hands for war againstthe sin within.
Expose the pride, envy andselfish desires hiding in our
hearts.
Help us daily submit to yourcommand, resist the enemy, love
one another in truth and savethe Lord's wills.

(49:17):
As we plan, may we be vigilantwarriors drawing near to you,
bearing fruit of humility andunity.
In Jesus' mighty name, we pray,amen.
All right, let's go ahead andpass out those things the
communion, the bread and thewine.
This is for baptized believer.
Here's some things that you guysmight want to ask yourself this
week.
Some questions which desireswage war in your heart this week

(49:41):
.
How does viewing God as ajealous lover affect your
outlook on flirting with worldlyvalues?
Why must we submit to Godbefore resisting the devil?
In what ways do we judge orslander our brothers without
realizing it and how can wepractice, if the Lord wills, in
practical decisions.
So the Lord's Supper.

(50:07):
This is for baptized believers,and I'm going to explain why
right now.
Go to the Lord in the Bible, 1Corinthians 11, 27-32.
Whoever, therefore, eats thebread or drinks of the cup of
the Lord in an unworthy mannerwill be guilty concerning the
body and the blood of the Lord.
Let a person examine himself,then, and so eat of the bread

(50:29):
and drink of the cup, for anyonewho eats and drinks without
discerning the body eats anddrinks judgment on himself.
That is why many of you areweak and ill and some have died.
But if we judged ourselvestruly, we would not be judged.
But when we are judged by theLord, we are disciplined so that
we may not be condemned alongwith the world.
So go ahead and close your eyes.

(51:09):
I want you now to take a momentto go to the Lord with any sin
that you've had since last week,or any unrepentant sin that
you've had.
Examine yourself, find it Now.
Let's get laser focused.
What battles within are youbattling?
Is it pride?
Is it jealousy?

(51:29):
Whatever it is, lay it down andrepent of it now.
Turn away from it.
Now is a victory celebration ofour God's victory over sin and
death.
Remember Jesus going to thecross, paying for your sin,

(51:53):
bearing the wrath of God, goingto the grave, rising three days
later and ascending to God'sright hand to judge the world.
Now, as they were eating, jesustook bread and, after blessing
it, broke it and gave it to thedisciples and said Take, eat,
this is my body.
Go ahead and eat.
And he took a cup and when hehad given thanks, he gave it to

(52:23):
them, saying Drink of it.
All of you, this is my blood ofthe covenant, which is poured
out for many, for theforgiveness of sins.
Go ahead and drink.
Heavenly Father, lord, we thankyou.
We thank you for all yourblessings.
We thank you for the Bible,lord, that we may know you, that

(52:46):
you gave us this amazing holytext to guide us home to you.
Lord, help us to spend moretime in your word.
Help us to prioritize our livesin a way that puts you first
and second to nothing.
Help us model that behavior toour wives and children that God

(53:11):
is first, that mom is second,that children are third and then
every other thing is after that.
God, help us, strengthen ourfortifications, fill us with the

(53:32):
Holy Spirit and help usstrengthen our fortifications.
Fill us with the Holy Spiritand help us to ward off the
battles within ourselves.
Strengthen our hearts to beable to resist the corruption
that's there.
Help us kill the parts of usand to die to the parts of us
that are not of you, so that ourheart of stone can be made a

(53:56):
heart of flesh and that we canbecome more like you every day.
So, lord, I pray a prayer ofprotection over this fellowship
and congregation, over thepersecuted church, over our
troops overseas, our firstresponders at home and our
veterans of yesteryear.
Lord, I pray for the world thatwe don't go into World War III.

(54:19):
I pray for leadership in DonaldTrump and our righteous leaders
in our country who are fightingagainst the deep state,
fighting against the enemies ofour country within, the traitors
within.
Lastly, Lord, I pray for mybeloved America.
I pray that she would humbleherself, turn from her sin, hit

(54:43):
her knees and seek your face andthat you would see her and heal
her so we could once again beone nation under God.
Indivisible liberty and justicefor all.
Lastly, I call this fellowshipto attention to put on the full
armor of God, strap on theshield of faith, pick up the
sword of the Spirit and toboldly walk forward, to join the
shield wall of other believers,locking our shields to the left

(55:07):
and right, as we march forwardas your legions to take ground
for your kingdom, for your gloryforever.
In Jesus' name, we pray Amen.
Go ahead and rise for thebenediction.
May the Lord bless you and keepyou.
May the Lord make his faceshine upon you and be gracious

(55:27):
to you.
May the Lord lift up hiscountenance upon you and give
you peace.
God bless.

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