February 4, 2025 • 37 mins
Join Chris Schlotterbeck as he discusses the armor of God.
To get connected or to give online, you can go to connect.hcv.church or give.hcv.church. If at anytime during this message you feel called to make a change in your life, text "change me" to 970-00.
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Episode Transcript
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Welcome to Hub City Vineyard.
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To get connected or to give online go to connect.hcv.church or give.hcv.church.
If at any point during this message you feel called to make a change in your life, text
change me to 970-00.
Thank you and enjoy the message.
Hey, good morning everyone.
Welcome to the HCV Circus.
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You know as you bounce around to those tunes, it's kind of like a circus environment, a
circus atmosphere.
I just want to share with all of you, I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm just full
of anticipation and full of excitement to share this talk with you.
Actually it's been building since Monday.
I was ready to just rip it off Monday, but it's built and I've prayed over the last
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several days and I'm just basically ready to explode.
If you're joining us from home or HHC, thank you for welcoming us into your space.
We love you and are so thankful for you.
Just one real quick announcement.
Today after the third gathering, everyone say third.
We are going to transform this building and make it prom night.
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This Friday, if you don't know, is Tim Tebow's night to shine for the mentally handicapped
in our area and we're going to have hundreds of people in our auditorium where they are
going to have a prom that they'll remember forever.
So here's the trick though.
We need some of you to come back and help us decorate and make this space exciting for
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a giant party.
Now listen, there's no more football.
Football is over for those of us that support teams in our local area and we all know who's
going to win the Super Bowl because it's all rigged anyway and we all know, we all know
that the refs are going to make sure the chiefs win another champion gym, right?
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So we know it.
So we're not going to watch the game anyway.
We don't care about football.
So come back and decorate.
Sound good?
And you don't have to worry about the late game.
Come and do some roller skating for family skate night.
So we just, we don't need football.
We don't need football.
We just need a lot of Jesus.
Okay, a lot of Jesus.
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All right.
So I want to start off our new series with a question.
When you think of spiritual warfare, what do you think of?
When you think of spiritual warfare, what comes to mind?
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Cause see, here's one reality that I can tell you that if you're in a relationship with
Jesus, you are facing assaults from an unseen demonic spirit.
Assaults that come in the form of deception, temptation, doubt, accusations, condemnation
and the list goes on and on and on, which is why we need to put on the armor of God.
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So for the month of February, we're going to be discussing the armor of God in our new
series Under Armor.
And this suit of armor will be joining me on stage throughout the series.
Now I want you to take notice and if you need to walk up later and get a little closer,
you can.
This suit of armor has been sitting in a barn for years.
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It hasn't seen daylight for 20, 30, 40 years.
Who knows how long.
And if you get up here and look at it, you can tell it's moldy, it's musty, it's dusty,
it stinks.
But unfortunately for many followers of Jesus, this is what your armor looks like.
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This is your armor because you don't know how to use it and you didn't even know we
needed it.
Why?
Because we get busy with our schedules and our pursuits and when a struggle or a crisis
sneaks up on us, we try to fight it in our own strength.
We aren't wearing our armor, which is simply our connection to Jesus.
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And suddenly we find ourselves overcome by temptation.
We lie instead of speaking truth, we harbor bitterness instead of forgiving.
We gossip and slander instead of pursuing peace.
We justify sin instead of repenting of it.
We indulge in lusts instead of loving God.
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In church we grieve the spirit when we do those things and then our joy is gone and
we're no longer living in the abundance that Jesus promised.
Listen, we have to understand the struggle is spiritual.
The struggle is spiritual.
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And I really believe that many of you are gathered here today, this morning, or watching
online, and you're going to be transformed because you've been fighting the wrong battle.
You've been focused on the physical and today you will be victorious in your life as you
realize the struggle is spiritual.
So let's open in prayer and ask God to transform us.
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Holy Spirit come.
God we're just thankful for each and every person gathered here watching online.
Just invade our lives today in Jesus' name.
Change us.
Make us more like you as we become aware of this battle.
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And we give this time to you.
God use my words, may they be yours not mine.
In Jesus' name and together we said, Amen.
Our first thought this morning, the struggle is real.
Everyone nod, we know that.
The struggle is real every single day, but it's not physical.
It's not physical.
The book of Ephesians was written by Paul to followers of Jesus gathered in the city
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of Ephesus.
This was a growing and thriving community of faith, very similar to HCV.
And Paul in chapter six of his letter, he addresses the topic of spiritual warfare.
And Paul is presenting to the church the case that there's more going on behind the scenes
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of their lives than they realize, than we realize.
That there's an enemy in this world that desires to steal, kill, and destroy our lives as followers
of Jesus.
And we have to come to the conclusion that the struggle is spiritual.
And we can't beat or overcome our struggles when we try to fight them in the natural.
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And today I'm gonna talk to some parents or some married couples or maybe a person that's
single, a person without a job or a purpose, a person struggling with addiction, a purpose,
a person struggling with grief.
That you think the battle is all in your physical or your flesh and it's not.
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The struggle is more spiritual than you think.
And you need to overcome it, not in the natural, but first in the spiritual in order to see
any victory in your life.
Let's read what Paul wrote in Ephesians six, 10 to 12.
A final word, be strong in the Lord and his mighty power.
Put on all of God's armor that you will be able to stand firm against the strategies
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of the devil.
For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies.
And let me just pause there for a second.
For we are not fighting against our bosses.
We are not fighting against our coworkers.
We're not fighting against our landlord.
He or she is not the issue.
We are not fighting against our spouses.
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They aren't the problem.
We are not fighting against our kids.
They're not causing the stress.
For some of you, your ex is not your issue.
Can we get real here?
The Republicans are not the problem.
The Democrats are not the issue.
It's not Trump's fault and it's not Biden's fault.
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The struggle is way more spiritual than we think.
And listen, if the church is always gathering and focused on the physical, then we're gonna
lose and we're gonna be defeated because we're in a battle, in a fight that's spiritual.
Paul continues, we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies but against evil rulers
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and authorities of the unseen world against mighty powers in this dark world and against
the evil spirits in the heavenly places.
And then not only is it those that we're fighting against but we have to identify who this enemy
is.
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 10, 3 through 4, we are human but we don't wage war as humans
do.
We use God's mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning
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and destroy false arguments.
We don't wage war as humans do and many of us, we immediately go to gun and ammo.
That's what we think, that that's a fight, that that's a war, that that's the posture
of war but that's not the posture of human warring right now.
You know what the posture of human warring is right now?
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It's a thumb war.
That's how they war.
They war with their thumbs behind screens.
Man, wait till I share this post.
This is gonna put them in their place.
But we're not called to wage war as our society does.
We can't fight a battle on social media.
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We can't defeat an enemy by ghosting a person.
We have to wage war with our spiritual weapons.
If your marriage is currently weak and on the rocks, if you find yourself in debt or
struggling to pay the bills, if you're praying for your kids to come back to Jesus, if you're
overwhelmed with your emotions and your grief, stop trying to change it in the natural.
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Don't try to do it the way the world wants you to.
Start doing it the way God says to do it.
We have to start using God's mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to what?
Knock down strongholds.
It doesn't matter what you're facing today.
If you start with the spiritual, I promise everything will change.
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Your marriage will improve.
Your finances will change.
Your addictions will be broken.
Your relationships will strengthen.
Your anxiety goes away.
How do I know that?
I received this testimony just on Thursday.
Maybe you were personally praying for this Post-It Note.
As a result of the 21 days of prayer and fasting, I'm off both my anxiety meds that I needed
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to be on to get through this difficult season of life.
One was for my nerves and the other was for my sleep.
I am healed.
I flushed them down the toilet.
The battle, the battle is spiritual.
Now when are you guys going to catch on?
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I'm trying to give you an opportunity to respond.
You're all just sitting there like hmm.
The battle, the battle is, oh wow.
Okay, let's all go back to kindergarten, okay?
The battle is spiritual.
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Well this leads us to our next thought.
You see spiritual attacks must be expected.
Ephesians 6, 12, for we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies but against evil rulers
and authorities in the ill-entity world against mighty powers in this dark world and against
evil spirits in the heavenly places.
If you're doing anything for God right now, if you're making a difference for his kingdom,
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we have to expect the enemy to come in and try to take us out.
A few weeks ago we baptized 63 people on a Sunday morning and each one of them that were
baptized, now listen, each one of them that were baptized were told this is going to be
the most difficult week of your life.
And it wasn't to scare them, it wasn't to intimidate them, it was to make them aware
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that when you declare Jesus boldly in public before everyone attacks, they're coming your
way.
In two weeks we'll be learning about our shield, Ephesians 6, 16, in addition to all these,
hold up the shield of faith to stop the notice, fiery arrows of the devil.
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We have to stop the fiery arrows.
So for those of you here this morning, it's not a coincidence that when you started giving
to the church you lost your job or experienced financial hardship.
For those of you here this morning, it's not a coincidence that when you went all in with
Jesus, both feet in the kingdom of God, pursuing him with all your heart, that you and your
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spouse fought all week over absolutely nothing.
It's not coincidence that you are here this morning and you're struggling with grief and
pain and you're not able to overcome it because the enemy wants to tear you down.
Now, if you're sitting here this morning or you're watching online and you don't believe
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any of this is true, because you're living a comfortable life with no problems, no temptations,
or no struggles.
Maybe that's because you're not doing anything for Jesus.
That could possibly be because you're not serving.
You're not choosing to give her tithe.
You're easily distracted with binge watching or social media.
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You're not inviting and including others who experience the life changing realities of
Jesus.
C.S. Lewis wrote these words in screw tape letters.
And please understand this book was about demonic influence in spiritual warfare.
And these words were coming from a demon that was a part of a spiritual war to take down
the Christian that they were focused on.
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And these words say, a moderated religion is as good for us as no religion at all.
And it's much more amusing.
In other words, for those of you that are comfortable in your relationship with Jesus,
the demons are laughing at you because they don't have to do anything to bring you down.
Could that be why your life is so boring and unnerving?
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I mean, after all, 2 Corinthians 2, 11 says, I wrote to you as I did to test you and see
if you would fully comply with my instructions.
When you forgive this man, I forgive him too.
And when I forgive whatever needs to be forgiven, I do so with Christ's authority for your benefit.
And I want you to hear these words.
So that Satan will not outsmart us.
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For we are familiar with his evil schemes.
See church, we have to be aware of the enemy's evil schemes.
And when we're experiencing struggles in our marriage, with our kids, in our serving, with
our giving, these struggles quite often are coming from the enemy to slow us down and
get us off course.
We have to realize that quite often the greatest spiritual attacks are right before our greatest
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spiritual breakthrough.
Our greatest spiritual attacks are right before our greatest spiritual breakthrough.
How do you know this, Chris?
Well, Jesus, he was tempted and battled with Satan in the wilderness for 40 days.
Right before he went on to have the greatest three years of ministry we've ever seen.
So today, if you're feeling overwhelmed and frustrated, here's my advice to you.
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Press in.
Get closer to Jesus because a breakthrough is coming.
The enemy doesn't care about your past.
He doesn't care about your mistakes or your choices.
You know what he's afraid of?
He's afraid of your future and what you can do to the kingdom of darkness.
And he's trying to knock you off course, which leads us to our next thought.
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Spiritual attacks must be exposed.
See, Jesus was telling the disciples that he was going to the cross.
He was going to the cross to die for the sins of the world.
And then we read this in Matthew 16.
But Peter, good old Peter, took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such
things.
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Now, can you imagine reprimanding Jesus?
Like who does that?
Heaven forbid, Lord, he said, this will never happen to you.
Jesus turned to Peter and said, get away from me, Satan.
You are a dangerous trap to me.
You're seeing things merely from a human, notice, human point of view, not from God's.
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Get behind me, Satan.
And please understand, only Jesus can use this tactic to challenge his disciples.
In other words, don't try it at home.
Your spouse is not going to respond like Peter.
Just a warning there.
And Jesus was simply teaching us a principle.
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Look, Peter was not Satan, but Satan was using someone in that moment.
Remember, this was one of Jesus' disciples.
Peter was a good guy.
He left everything to follow Jesus, but the enemy can use and influence good people to
slow us down, can use and influence good people to get us off course, to bring destruction
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into our lives.
And you know what we have to do?
If you're in a relationship with Jesus, you got to call it out, just like Jesus did.
Why?
Because we're fighting against evil rulers and authorities in the unseen world, mighty
powers in this dark place, evil spirits in the heavenly places.
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And you have to understand, this isn't like the devil in a red coat with a pitchfork.
This is demonic activity that's looking to destroy us, and we have to call them out as
the thieves, the liars, and the manipulators they are.
Some of you think, well, Chris, how do I know if I'm under spiritual attack?
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A few reasons I've experienced personally in my life, and the first one is extreme confusion.
Our God is a God of order, and He is not confused about your future and the promises that He
spoke over you.
But when we begin to question God, question His promises, question the church, when we
question our marriage friends, that's confusion, and you know where that's coming from?
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The enemy.
And we have to recognize it.
And it's not just confusion, the next one is a lack of peace.
Our God is a God of peace.
In fact, we know one of His titles is the Prince of Peace.
And when we're struggling with anxiety and worry, there's a really good chance that we're
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under attack, which leads us to number three, and that's the desire to quit.
You want to throw in the towel.
I'm tired.
I'm worn out.
I'm frustrated.
I'm frustrated with the church.
I mean, I've said this before with my own words.
I'm done.
I'm going back to teaching.
I'm going to go serve tables.
I'm done.
Why?
Because I'm frustrated.
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And some of you are frustrated with your marriage.
You're frustrated in your serving.
You want to quit.
And I want to look at all of you gathered here.
Don't quit.
Run the race.
If you're watching online, don't quit on your marriage.
Don't quit on your kids.
Another one is intense temptation.
Now, I'm not talking about the everyday temptation that happens to us.
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We all know what they are, but this one's different.
It's when the enemy hits us where it hurts.
For me personally, it's when he goes after my kids.
I almost swore, but I didn't.
I get upset when the enemy goes after my kids.
And it aggravates me, and it makes me angry.
But that's not God's best.
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And we must realize that everyone is tempted differently because our enemy knows our weaknesses.
And the final one is you're drawn to old lifestyles.
See, the enemy always wants to take us backwards, but God always wants us to move us forwards.
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If we ever get this idea in our mind to go backwards, to DM her, to visit that establishment,
that old lifestyle, you know what that enemy is doing?
He's trying to defeat you, and he's trying to tear you down.
And God desires his church, every single one of you, to walk in greatness every single
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day.
Because if the church was walking in the confidence and the greatness that he calls us to and
he speaks over us, we would change the world.
I get it, right?
I was preparing this talk, and I was like, man, this is so depressing.
These first three truths, I was like, man, this stinks.
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I was like, I gotta steer this ship in a different direction.
And I have that direction for you.
Because as we expose these lives, see, there's good news, which leads us to our final thought.
Spiritual victory can be experienced.
See, if you're feeling attacked, defeated, overwhelmed, stressed out, today is your day.
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Listen to this encouragement.
We are human, but we don't wage war as human do.
We use God's mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down those strongholds.
We have to learn to use our spiritual weapons so that we can walk in victory through times
of spiritual attack.
We can't fight spiritual warfare with physical weapons.
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We have to go on the offensive.
So let's learn our four spiritual weapons that we can use tomorrow when your day kicks
off and the first is this, the name of Jesus.
The name of Jesus.
Listen to Philippians 2.
Therefore, God elevated him to the highest honor, highest place of honor and gave him
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the name above all other names.
That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth.
There's not a name on this planet that's gonna cause more controversy, more anger, more
frustration, the name of Jesus.
How do I know that?
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Just start talking about him tomorrow at work.
Just do it.
I double dog dare you.
You know what's gonna happen, right?
People are gonna get angry, frustrated, and there's gonna be controversy because the name
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of Jesus is packed full of power and that's how we defeat the enemy in his attacks.
And we need to learn to pray with authority.
We need to walk in confidence.
We need to speak with power and that happens when we use the name of Jesus.
We need to start speaking the name of Jesus over our children every single day.
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We need to pray in Jesus' name before every meal.
I don't care where you are.
If you're out at the bar and you order a meal, pray boldly in Jesus' name.
Do it.
Why?
Because that's how we declare who we follow.
Be grateful for your job and your business in Jesus' name because I guarantee you, you
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start speaking Jesus' name over your business, it's gonna prosper.
We take authority over those addictions, over that grief in Jesus' name.
I mean look what happened, Mark 16, 17, just look.
These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe.
They will cast out demons in my name.
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John 16, at that time you won't need to ask me for anything.
I'll tell you the truth.
You will ask the Father directly and he will grant your request because you use my name.
You haven't done this before.
Ask using my name and you will receive and you will have abundant joy.
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Salvation is in no other name.
Healing is in no other name.
Hope is in no other name.
Friends is in no other name.
Demons flee at the name of Jesus.
In the name of Jesus, lives are changed because that name has power.
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Which leads us to our second one, the word of God.
The Bible is the weapon that attacks the enemy, Hebrews 412, for the word of God is alive
and powerful.
It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword.
And listen, I'm going to pause here for a second, I have no idea what the difference
is between a single-edged sword and a double-edged sword.
But if I was in a fight, I want a double-edged sword.
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How about you?
I want the double-edged.
And we quickly learn that the Bible changes things.
Let's continue.
Cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow, it exposes our innermost thoughts
and desires.
The Bible is the only offensive weapon we are given with the armor.
Ephesians 617, which we'll learn about in a few weeks.
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And take the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.
See when Jesus was in the desert for 40 days being tempted by the devil, he did not respond
to the devil with a great quote.
Sorry.
He did not respond to the devil by waving his banner.
He did not respond to the devil by blowing the ram's horn.
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What did he do?
He quoted the scriptures.
We have to use the Bible.
And why is that?
It's because the enemy is the master deceiver.
And he's going to try to trick you into thinking that God didn't say that.
I mean, he did it in the Garden of Eden with Eve.
Eve's sitting there desiring to eat the delicious apple.
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It looks so good to eat, but she knew, I'm not supposed to eat it.
But what does the enemy say to her?
Did God really say that?
Did God really say that?
See we may hear the enemy say, did God really say you're supposed to do relationships that
way because I can find some other verses that contradict it.
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Did God really say you should honor him with the tithe?
I don't know.
That's questionable.
Did God really say you shouldn't gather with other people together?
I'm not sure.
You could just watch online.
Did God really say, did God really say, see we have to realize the voice that is most
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consistent in our life is the voice we will follow.
So my question to you this morning is, are you following the Holy Spirit and the words
written in this Bible?
Are you following your inner voice that's telling you what to do because you're Lord
of your life?
We have to get into the Bible and begin to read it and understand it and apply it to
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our lives because that's what HCV stands on.
We stand on the Bible.
And this afternoon you'll get an email from Rudy or somebody.
It won't be me.
I'll be taking a nap because I need a nap, but that's another story.
You'll be getting an email with an invitation to an armor of God devotional that all of
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us can do together.
And you can jump into your Bible app.
I don't have that, Chris.
Download it.
It's free.
And start applying the Bible to your life, which leads us to our next weapon, agreement
in prayer.
We need each other.
When we're alone, we're easily defeated.
When we're alone, the devil whispers in our ears and messes with our minds and controls
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our emotions.
But there's something special that happens when we have someone else supporting us in
prayer, encouraging us with words.
Many of you know, if you don't know, there's four crosses in this room now.
They will be here the rest of the year.
We kicked off our 21 days by putting Post-its on these crosses.
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Last week, all the Post-its disappeared because you took them with you and we're praying for
those Post-its and you already heard a testimony of what God did.
But sometimes we need to take this a little further.
Sometimes we're struggling so mightily with an issue, a temptation, a struggle, a sin,
whatever it may be that we need someone to support us.
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So I want to encourage you.
It's okay to grab someone's hand and say, will you walk with me to that cross?
And allow them to see what you wrote down and put on that cross.
You know why?
Because they will partner with you and praying for that need and they don't need to take
the need and then you got someone else that will take the need and now you got two people
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praying for you.
The point is, when we agree in prayer, things change.
Matthew 18, I tell you this, if two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you
ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you.
For where two or three are gathered together as my followers, I'm there amongst them.
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See, quite often we don't see victory in our lives because we're so isolated.
We're so removed.
We need to get around other Jesus followers.
I'm gonna challenge you.
You want to grow in your faith?
Get around someone else that's more passionate about Jesus than you.
Get around them.
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Let them rub off on you.
Not me.
You don't want to be me.
But someone out there, let them rub off on you.
Because suddenly you're gonna realize, wow, there's so much more to this Jesus thing,
but I needed someone else to encourage me.
And they will agree with you in prayer.
They will agree that your children will go home and meet Jesus.
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They will agree and pray for that addiction to be broken.
See, we have to realize, we is always better than me.
That's what God's best is.
We is better than me.
And we have to stop fighting alone and begin to fight together and believe that God is
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gonna change lives, which leads us to our final step, our final weapon, and that's praise
and worship.
There's something special that happens when we worship God.
And this week, just this week, I was thinking about this question, why does the devil hate
praise and worship so much?
And listen, I've been pastoring this church for nearly 19 years.
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Just two weeks ago, I was struggling mightily with depression.
I was deep in a hole.
And I reached out to a friend, and he told me, he goes, you need to stop what you're
doing and worship.
I said, okay, gave them thumbs up, the heart, did it all the right way.
I received that encouragement, and then I didn't do it.
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I didn't play the song.
I didn't tune in to the channel because I was feeling defeated.
But every Sunday, I don't know if you know this or not, but I'm the crazy guy back there
in the back, bouncing around, worshiping, just allowing God to do whatever he wants.
And every Sunday that I'm in here, I see people like this, or like this, or to take it a little
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further like this.
Hey, honey, let me whisper some sweet nothings.
What's up?
What are we doing later?
And I'm thinking, we have one of the most dynamic worship experiences in the tri-state
area.
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Okay, now listen, no, no, no, don't clap.
No, no, no, no, no.
It's not about applause.
Because our worship experience is about pointing you to him.
It's not about the lights.
It's not about the voices.
It's about pointing you to him.
And the reality is, so many people don't experience freedom because they're not willing to worship.
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And I began to think, why is the devil hate, praise, and worship?
So I began to dig and read a little.
And before the devil fell from heaven, many scholars believe, I mean, they're divided,
but many scholars believe that he was the chief worship leader in all his beauty and
splendor, but he became arrogant and self-obsessed and fell.
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Ezekiel 28, 13, you were in Eden, the garden of God.
Every precious stone was your covering.
I mean, look how beautiful he was.
The topaz, the diamond, the jasper, the onyx, the turquoise, the emerald, the gold.
The workmanship of your timbrels and pikes was prepared for you on the day you were created.
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But see, when the enemy fell from heaven, God created people to worship him and to give
him glory.
And the enemy is working overtime to prevent us from worshiping because when we worship,
there's a breakthrough.
There's a change.
James 4, therefore submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
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So when we draw near to God, he will draw near to you, cleanse your hands, you sinners,
and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Worship should be extravagant.
It doesn't mean we're holy rollers.
It doesn't mean that.
It means that we are passionate and submitted to God.
You know what it means when we read there, submit to God, it means we worship.
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Same definition.
And when we worship, the enemy will flee.
So if you're here this morning and you're full of anxiety or worry or doubt or frustration
or guilt, if you're full of grief, it's time to worship.
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Because you have to realize if you're in a relationship with him, you're under attack
and you have two choices, church.
You can whine or you can worship.
And we all know the difference.
We can whine and complain and be frustrated, or we can what?
Worship.
So it's your choice.
Will you stand with me?
So here's what we're going to do.
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Okay?
Here's what we're going to do.
Now if you haven't learned yet, I'm super expecting for what God's going to do here.
Okay?
I haven't had too much coffee.
I've just had a lot of Jesus today, okay?
Because I've had to.
I've had a really long night last night.
I got about two and a half hours sleep, I was woken up and had to fight spiritual battle
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just to get here.
Okay?
I believe God wants to do something special.
He wants to impact and change your life.
So I'm not going to invite you to do it.
I'm going to tell you to do it.
Can you please put your hands out like this?
I said please.
That was nice.
See I'm a kind soul.
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I'm going to pray for the Holy Spirit to come.
Okay?
And then after I pray, you're going to take whatever it is, the doubt, the guilt, the frustration,
and you're going to give it to God.
Because you know what this means?
This means we're winning.
That's all it means.
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It doesn't mean you're a holy roller.
It means no, I'm winning.
I win when I gather together with the other believers.
Amen?
Alright, so here we go.
You guys ready?
Quick practice.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Woo, you got it.
They're ready.
Let's go.
Holy Spirit come.
Change us, God.
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Move in this place.
Set people free.
May this be the day.
In Jesus' name, let's go.
There's no impossible.
I believe that you are working now.
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Pour it out.
Oh, pour it out.
Welcome to Hub City Vineyard.
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To get connected or to give online go to connect.hcv.church or give.hcv.church.
If at any point during this message you feel called to make a change in your life, text
change me to 970-00.
Thank you and enjoy the message.
Hey, good morning everyone.
Welcome to the HCV Circus.
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You know as you bounce around to those tunes, it's kind of like a circus environment, a
circus atmosphere.
I just want to share with all of you, I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm just full
of anticipation and full of excitement to share this talk with you.
Actually it's been building since Monday.
I was ready to just rip it off Monday, but it's built and I've prayed over the last
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several days and I'm just basically ready to explode.
If you're joining us from home or HHC, thank you for welcoming us into your space.
We love you and are so thankful for you.
Just one real quick announcement.
Today after the third gathering, everyone say third.
We are going to transform this building and make it prom night.
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This Friday, if you don't know, is Tim Tebow's night to shine for the mentally handicapped
in our area and we're going to have hundreds of people in our auditorium where they are
going to have a prom that they'll remember forever.
So here's the trick though.
We need some of you to come back and help us decorate and make this space exciting for
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a giant party.
Now listen, there's no more football.
Football is over for those of us that support teams in our local area and we all know who's
going to win the Super Bowl because it's all rigged anyway and we all know, we all know
that the refs are going to make sure the chiefs win another champion gym, right?
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So we know it.
So we're not going to watch the game anyway.
We don't care about football.
So come back and decorate.
Sound good?
And you don't have to worry about the late game.
Come and do some roller skating for family skate night.
So we just, we don't need football.
We don't need football.
We just need a lot of Jesus.
Okay, a lot of Jesus.
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All right.
So I want to start off our new series with a question.
When you think of spiritual warfare, what do you think of?
When you think of spiritual warfare, what comes to mind?
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Cause see, here's one reality that I can tell you that if you're in a relationship with
Jesus, you are facing assaults from an unseen demonic spirit.
Assaults that come in the form of deception, temptation, doubt, accusations, condemnation
and the list goes on and on and on, which is why we need to put on the armor of God.
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So for the month of February, we're going to be discussing the armor of God in our new
series Under Armor.
And this suit of armor will be joining me on stage throughout the series.
Now I want you to take notice and if you need to walk up later and get a little closer,
you can.
This suit of armor has been sitting in a barn for years.
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It hasn't seen daylight for 20, 30, 40 years.
Who knows how long.
And if you get up here and look at it, you can tell it's moldy, it's musty, it's dusty,
it stinks.
But unfortunately for many followers of Jesus, this is what your armor looks like.
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This is your armor because you don't know how to use it and you didn't even know we
needed it.
Why?
Because we get busy with our schedules and our pursuits and when a struggle or a crisis
sneaks up on us, we try to fight it in our own strength.
We aren't wearing our armor, which is simply our connection to Jesus.
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And suddenly we find ourselves overcome by temptation.
We lie instead of speaking truth, we harbor bitterness instead of forgiving.
We gossip and slander instead of pursuing peace.
We justify sin instead of repenting of it.
We indulge in lusts instead of loving God.
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In church we grieve the spirit when we do those things and then our joy is gone and
we're no longer living in the abundance that Jesus promised.
Listen, we have to understand the struggle is spiritual.
The struggle is spiritual.
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And I really believe that many of you are gathered here today, this morning, or watching
online, and you're going to be transformed because you've been fighting the wrong battle.
You've been focused on the physical and today you will be victorious in your life as you
realize the struggle is spiritual.
So let's open in prayer and ask God to transform us.
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Holy Spirit come.
God we're just thankful for each and every person gathered here watching online.
Just invade our lives today in Jesus' name.
Change us.
Make us more like you as we become aware of this battle.
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And we give this time to you.
God use my words, may they be yours not mine.
In Jesus' name and together we said, Amen.
Our first thought this morning, the struggle is real.
Everyone nod, we know that.
The struggle is real every single day, but it's not physical.
It's not physical.
The book of Ephesians was written by Paul to followers of Jesus gathered in the city
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of Ephesus.
This was a growing and thriving community of faith, very similar to HCV.
And Paul in chapter six of his letter, he addresses the topic of spiritual warfare.
And Paul is presenting to the church the case that there's more going on behind the scenes
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of their lives than they realize, than we realize.
That there's an enemy in this world that desires to steal, kill, and destroy our lives as followers
of Jesus.
And we have to come to the conclusion that the struggle is spiritual.
And we can't beat or overcome our struggles when we try to fight them in the natural.
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And today I'm gonna talk to some parents or some married couples or maybe a person that's
single, a person without a job or a purpose, a person struggling with addiction, a purpose,
a person struggling with grief.
That you think the battle is all in your physical or your flesh and it's not.
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The struggle is more spiritual than you think.
And you need to overcome it, not in the natural, but first in the spiritual in order to see
any victory in your life.
Let's read what Paul wrote in Ephesians six, 10 to 12.
A final word, be strong in the Lord and his mighty power.
Put on all of God's armor that you will be able to stand firm against the strategies
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of the devil.
For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies.
And let me just pause there for a second.
For we are not fighting against our bosses.
We are not fighting against our coworkers.
We're not fighting against our landlord.
He or she is not the issue.
We are not fighting against our spouses.
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They aren't the problem.
We are not fighting against our kids.
They're not causing the stress.
For some of you, your ex is not your issue.
Can we get real here?
The Republicans are not the problem.
The Democrats are not the issue.
It's not Trump's fault and it's not Biden's fault.
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The struggle is way more spiritual than we think.
And listen, if the church is always gathering and focused on the physical, then we're gonna
lose and we're gonna be defeated because we're in a battle, in a fight that's spiritual.
Paul continues, we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies but against evil rulers
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and authorities of the unseen world against mighty powers in this dark world and against
the evil spirits in the heavenly places.
And then not only is it those that we're fighting against but we have to identify who this enemy
is.
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 10, 3 through 4, we are human but we don't wage war as humans
do.
We use God's mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning
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and destroy false arguments.
We don't wage war as humans do and many of us, we immediately go to gun and ammo.
That's what we think, that that's a fight, that that's a war, that that's the posture
of war but that's not the posture of human warring right now.
You know what the posture of human warring is right now?
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It's a thumb war.
That's how they war.
They war with their thumbs behind screens.
Man, wait till I share this post.
This is gonna put them in their place.
But we're not called to wage war as our society does.
We can't fight a battle on social media.
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We can't defeat an enemy by ghosting a person.
We have to wage war with our spiritual weapons.
If your marriage is currently weak and on the rocks, if you find yourself in debt or
struggling to pay the bills, if you're praying for your kids to come back to Jesus, if you're
overwhelmed with your emotions and your grief, stop trying to change it in the natural.
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Don't try to do it the way the world wants you to.
Start doing it the way God says to do it.
We have to start using God's mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to what?
Knock down strongholds.
It doesn't matter what you're facing today.
If you start with the spiritual, I promise everything will change.
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Your marriage will improve.
Your finances will change.
Your addictions will be broken.
Your relationships will strengthen.
Your anxiety goes away.
How do I know that?
I received this testimony just on Thursday.
Maybe you were personally praying for this Post-It Note.
As a result of the 21 days of prayer and fasting, I'm off both my anxiety meds that I needed
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to be on to get through this difficult season of life.
One was for my nerves and the other was for my sleep.
I am healed.
I flushed them down the toilet.
The battle, the battle is spiritual.
Now when are you guys going to catch on?
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I'm trying to give you an opportunity to respond.
You're all just sitting there like hmm.
The battle, the battle is, oh wow.
Okay, let's all go back to kindergarten, okay?
The battle is spiritual.
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Well this leads us to our next thought.
You see spiritual attacks must be expected.
Ephesians 6, 12, for we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies but against evil rulers
and authorities in the ill-entity world against mighty powers in this dark world and against
evil spirits in the heavenly places.
If you're doing anything for God right now, if you're making a difference for his kingdom,
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we have to expect the enemy to come in and try to take us out.
A few weeks ago we baptized 63 people on a Sunday morning and each one of them that were
baptized, now listen, each one of them that were baptized were told this is going to be
the most difficult week of your life.
And it wasn't to scare them, it wasn't to intimidate them, it was to make them aware
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that when you declare Jesus boldly in public before everyone attacks, they're coming your
way.
In two weeks we'll be learning about our shield, Ephesians 6, 16, in addition to all these,
hold up the shield of faith to stop the notice, fiery arrows of the devil.
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We have to stop the fiery arrows.
So for those of you here this morning, it's not a coincidence that when you started giving
to the church you lost your job or experienced financial hardship.
For those of you here this morning, it's not a coincidence that when you went all in with
Jesus, both feet in the kingdom of God, pursuing him with all your heart, that you and your
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spouse fought all week over absolutely nothing.
It's not coincidence that you are here this morning and you're struggling with grief and
pain and you're not able to overcome it because the enemy wants to tear you down.
Now, if you're sitting here this morning or you're watching online and you don't believe
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any of this is true, because you're living a comfortable life with no problems, no temptations,
or no struggles.
Maybe that's because you're not doing anything for Jesus.
That could possibly be because you're not serving.
You're not choosing to give her tithe.
You're easily distracted with binge watching or social media.
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You're not inviting and including others who experience the life changing realities of
Jesus.
C.S. Lewis wrote these words in screw tape letters.
And please understand this book was about demonic influence in spiritual warfare.
And these words were coming from a demon that was a part of a spiritual war to take down
the Christian that they were focused on.
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And these words say, a moderated religion is as good for us as no religion at all.
And it's much more amusing.
In other words, for those of you that are comfortable in your relationship with Jesus,
the demons are laughing at you because they don't have to do anything to bring you down.
Could that be why your life is so boring and unnerving?
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I mean, after all, 2 Corinthians 2, 11 says, I wrote to you as I did to test you and see
if you would fully comply with my instructions.
When you forgive this man, I forgive him too.
And when I forgive whatever needs to be forgiven, I do so with Christ's authority for your benefit.
And I want you to hear these words.
So that Satan will not outsmart us.
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For we are familiar with his evil schemes.
See church, we have to be aware of the enemy's evil schemes.
And when we're experiencing struggles in our marriage, with our kids, in our serving, with
our giving, these struggles quite often are coming from the enemy to slow us down and
get us off course.
We have to realize that quite often the greatest spiritual attacks are right before our greatest
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spiritual breakthrough.
Our greatest spiritual attacks are right before our greatest spiritual breakthrough.
How do you know this, Chris?
Well, Jesus, he was tempted and battled with Satan in the wilderness for 40 days.
Right before he went on to have the greatest three years of ministry we've ever seen.
So today, if you're feeling overwhelmed and frustrated, here's my advice to you.
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Press in.
Get closer to Jesus because a breakthrough is coming.
The enemy doesn't care about your past.
He doesn't care about your mistakes or your choices.
You know what he's afraid of?
He's afraid of your future and what you can do to the kingdom of darkness.
And he's trying to knock you off course, which leads us to our next thought.
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Spiritual attacks must be exposed.
See, Jesus was telling the disciples that he was going to the cross.
He was going to the cross to die for the sins of the world.
And then we read this in Matthew 16.
But Peter, good old Peter, took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such
things.
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Now, can you imagine reprimanding Jesus?
Like who does that?
Heaven forbid, Lord, he said, this will never happen to you.
Jesus turned to Peter and said, get away from me, Satan.
You are a dangerous trap to me.
You're seeing things merely from a human, notice, human point of view, not from God's.
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Get behind me, Satan.
And please understand, only Jesus can use this tactic to challenge his disciples.
In other words, don't try it at home.
Your spouse is not going to respond like Peter.
Just a warning there.
And Jesus was simply teaching us a principle.
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Look, Peter was not Satan, but Satan was using someone in that moment.
Remember, this was one of Jesus' disciples.
Peter was a good guy.
He left everything to follow Jesus, but the enemy can use and influence good people to
slow us down, can use and influence good people to get us off course, to bring destruction
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into our lives.
And you know what we have to do?
If you're in a relationship with Jesus, you got to call it out, just like Jesus did.
Why?
Because we're fighting against evil rulers and authorities in the unseen world, mighty
powers in this dark place, evil spirits in the heavenly places.
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And you have to understand, this isn't like the devil in a red coat with a pitchfork.
This is demonic activity that's looking to destroy us, and we have to call them out as
the thieves, the liars, and the manipulators they are.
Some of you think, well, Chris, how do I know if I'm under spiritual attack?
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A few reasons I've experienced personally in my life, and the first one is extreme confusion.
Our God is a God of order, and He is not confused about your future and the promises that He
spoke over you.
But when we begin to question God, question His promises, question the church, when we
question our marriage friends, that's confusion, and you know where that's coming from?
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The enemy.
And we have to recognize it.
And it's not just confusion, the next one is a lack of peace.
Our God is a God of peace.
In fact, we know one of His titles is the Prince of Peace.
And when we're struggling with anxiety and worry, there's a really good chance that we're
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under attack, which leads us to number three, and that's the desire to quit.
You want to throw in the towel.
I'm tired.
I'm worn out.
I'm frustrated.
I'm frustrated with the church.
I mean, I've said this before with my own words.
I'm done.
I'm going back to teaching.
I'm going to go serve tables.
I'm done.
Why?
Because I'm frustrated.
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And some of you are frustrated with your marriage.
You're frustrated in your serving.
You want to quit.
And I want to look at all of you gathered here.
Don't quit.
Run the race.
If you're watching online, don't quit on your marriage.
Don't quit on your kids.
Another one is intense temptation.
Now, I'm not talking about the everyday temptation that happens to us.
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We all know what they are, but this one's different.
It's when the enemy hits us where it hurts.
For me personally, it's when he goes after my kids.
I almost swore, but I didn't.
I get upset when the enemy goes after my kids.
And it aggravates me, and it makes me angry.
But that's not God's best.
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And we must realize that everyone is tempted differently because our enemy knows our weaknesses.
And the final one is you're drawn to old lifestyles.
See, the enemy always wants to take us backwards, but God always wants us to move us forwards.
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If we ever get this idea in our mind to go backwards, to DM her, to visit that establishment,
that old lifestyle, you know what that enemy is doing?
He's trying to defeat you, and he's trying to tear you down.
And God desires his church, every single one of you, to walk in greatness every single
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day.
Because if the church was walking in the confidence and the greatness that he calls us to and
he speaks over us, we would change the world.
I get it, right?
I was preparing this talk, and I was like, man, this is so depressing.
These first three truths, I was like, man, this stinks.
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I was like, I gotta steer this ship in a different direction.
And I have that direction for you.
Because as we expose these lives, see, there's good news, which leads us to our final thought.
Spiritual victory can be experienced.
See, if you're feeling attacked, defeated, overwhelmed, stressed out, today is your day.
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Listen to this encouragement.
We are human, but we don't wage war as human do.
We use God's mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down those strongholds.
We have to learn to use our spiritual weapons so that we can walk in victory through times
of spiritual attack.
We can't fight spiritual warfare with physical weapons.
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We have to go on the offensive.
So let's learn our four spiritual weapons that we can use tomorrow when your day kicks
off and the first is this, the name of Jesus.
The name of Jesus.
Listen to Philippians 2.
Therefore, God elevated him to the highest honor, highest place of honor and gave him
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the name above all other names.
That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth.
There's not a name on this planet that's gonna cause more controversy, more anger, more
frustration, the name of Jesus.
How do I know that?
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Just start talking about him tomorrow at work.
Just do it.
I double dog dare you.
You know what's gonna happen, right?
People are gonna get angry, frustrated, and there's gonna be controversy because the name
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of Jesus is packed full of power and that's how we defeat the enemy in his attacks.
And we need to learn to pray with authority.
We need to walk in confidence.
We need to speak with power and that happens when we use the name of Jesus.
We need to start speaking the name of Jesus over our children every single day.
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We need to pray in Jesus' name before every meal.
I don't care where you are.
If you're out at the bar and you order a meal, pray boldly in Jesus' name.
Do it.
Why?
Because that's how we declare who we follow.
Be grateful for your job and your business in Jesus' name because I guarantee you, you
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start speaking Jesus' name over your business, it's gonna prosper.
We take authority over those addictions, over that grief in Jesus' name.
I mean look what happened, Mark 16, 17, just look.
These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe.
They will cast out demons in my name.
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John 16, at that time you won't need to ask me for anything.
I'll tell you the truth.
You will ask the Father directly and he will grant your request because you use my name.
You haven't done this before.
Ask using my name and you will receive and you will have abundant joy.
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Salvation is in no other name.
Healing is in no other name.
Hope is in no other name.
Friends is in no other name.
Demons flee at the name of Jesus.
In the name of Jesus, lives are changed because that name has power.
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Which leads us to our second one, the word of God.
The Bible is the weapon that attacks the enemy, Hebrews 412, for the word of God is alive
and powerful.
It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword.
And listen, I'm going to pause here for a second, I have no idea what the difference
is between a single-edged sword and a double-edged sword.
But if I was in a fight, I want a double-edged sword.
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How about you?
I want the double-edged.
And we quickly learn that the Bible changes things.
Let's continue.
Cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow, it exposes our innermost thoughts
and desires.
The Bible is the only offensive weapon we are given with the armor.
Ephesians 617, which we'll learn about in a few weeks.
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And take the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.
See when Jesus was in the desert for 40 days being tempted by the devil, he did not respond
to the devil with a great quote.
Sorry.
He did not respond to the devil by waving his banner.
He did not respond to the devil by blowing the ram's horn.
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What did he do?
He quoted the scriptures.
We have to use the Bible.
And why is that?
It's because the enemy is the master deceiver.
And he's going to try to trick you into thinking that God didn't say that.
I mean, he did it in the Garden of Eden with Eve.
Eve's sitting there desiring to eat the delicious apple.
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It looks so good to eat, but she knew, I'm not supposed to eat it.
But what does the enemy say to her?
Did God really say that?
Did God really say that?
See we may hear the enemy say, did God really say you're supposed to do relationships that
way because I can find some other verses that contradict it.
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Did God really say you should honor him with the tithe?
I don't know.
That's questionable.
Did God really say you shouldn't gather with other people together?
I'm not sure.
You could just watch online.
Did God really say, did God really say, see we have to realize the voice that is most
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consistent in our life is the voice we will follow.
So my question to you this morning is, are you following the Holy Spirit and the words
written in this Bible?
Are you following your inner voice that's telling you what to do because you're Lord
of your life?
We have to get into the Bible and begin to read it and understand it and apply it to
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our lives because that's what HCV stands on.
We stand on the Bible.
And this afternoon you'll get an email from Rudy or somebody.
It won't be me.
I'll be taking a nap because I need a nap, but that's another story.
You'll be getting an email with an invitation to an armor of God devotional that all of
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us can do together.
And you can jump into your Bible app.
I don't have that, Chris.
Download it.
It's free.
And start applying the Bible to your life, which leads us to our next weapon, agreement
in prayer.
We need each other.
When we're alone, we're easily defeated.
When we're alone, the devil whispers in our ears and messes with our minds and controls
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our emotions.
But there's something special that happens when we have someone else supporting us in
prayer, encouraging us with words.
Many of you know, if you don't know, there's four crosses in this room now.
They will be here the rest of the year.
We kicked off our 21 days by putting Post-its on these crosses.
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Last week, all the Post-its disappeared because you took them with you and we're praying for
those Post-its and you already heard a testimony of what God did.
But sometimes we need to take this a little further.
Sometimes we're struggling so mightily with an issue, a temptation, a struggle, a sin,
whatever it may be that we need someone to support us.
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So I want to encourage you.
It's okay to grab someone's hand and say, will you walk with me to that cross?
And allow them to see what you wrote down and put on that cross.
You know why?
Because they will partner with you and praying for that need and they don't need to take
the need and then you got someone else that will take the need and now you got two people
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praying for you.
The point is, when we agree in prayer, things change.
Matthew 18, I tell you this, if two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you
ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you.
For where two or three are gathered together as my followers, I'm there amongst them.
(30:08):
See, quite often we don't see victory in our lives because we're so isolated.
We're so removed.
We need to get around other Jesus followers.
I'm gonna challenge you.
You want to grow in your faith?
Get around someone else that's more passionate about Jesus than you.
Get around them.
(30:28):
Let them rub off on you.
Not me.
You don't want to be me.
But someone out there, let them rub off on you.
Because suddenly you're gonna realize, wow, there's so much more to this Jesus thing,
but I needed someone else to encourage me.
And they will agree with you in prayer.
They will agree that your children will go home and meet Jesus.
(30:51):
They will agree and pray for that addiction to be broken.
See, we have to realize, we is always better than me.
That's what God's best is.
We is better than me.
And we have to stop fighting alone and begin to fight together and believe that God is
(31:11):
gonna change lives, which leads us to our final step, our final weapon, and that's praise
and worship.
There's something special that happens when we worship God.
And this week, just this week, I was thinking about this question, why does the devil hate
praise and worship so much?
And listen, I've been pastoring this church for nearly 19 years.
(31:32):
Just two weeks ago, I was struggling mightily with depression.
I was deep in a hole.
And I reached out to a friend, and he told me, he goes, you need to stop what you're
doing and worship.
I said, okay, gave them thumbs up, the heart, did it all the right way.
I received that encouragement, and then I didn't do it.
(31:54):
I didn't play the song.
I didn't tune in to the channel because I was feeling defeated.
But every Sunday, I don't know if you know this or not, but I'm the crazy guy back there
in the back, bouncing around, worshiping, just allowing God to do whatever he wants.
And every Sunday that I'm in here, I see people like this, or like this, or to take it a little
(32:25):
further like this.
Hey, honey, let me whisper some sweet nothings.
What's up?
What are we doing later?
And I'm thinking, we have one of the most dynamic worship experiences in the tri-state
area.
(32:46):
Okay, now listen, no, no, no, don't clap.
No, no, no, no, no.
It's not about applause.
Because our worship experience is about pointing you to him.
It's not about the lights.
It's not about the voices.
It's about pointing you to him.
And the reality is, so many people don't experience freedom because they're not willing to worship.
(33:15):
And I began to think, why is the devil hate, praise, and worship?
So I began to dig and read a little.
And before the devil fell from heaven, many scholars believe, I mean, they're divided,
but many scholars believe that he was the chief worship leader in all his beauty and
splendor, but he became arrogant and self-obsessed and fell.
(33:38):
Ezekiel 28, 13, you were in Eden, the garden of God.
Every precious stone was your covering.
I mean, look how beautiful he was.
The topaz, the diamond, the jasper, the onyx, the turquoise, the emerald, the gold.
The workmanship of your timbrels and pikes was prepared for you on the day you were created.
(33:59):
But see, when the enemy fell from heaven, God created people to worship him and to give
him glory.
And the enemy is working overtime to prevent us from worshiping because when we worship,
there's a breakthrough.
There's a change.
James 4, therefore submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
(34:24):
So when we draw near to God, he will draw near to you, cleanse your hands, you sinners,
and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Worship should be extravagant.
It doesn't mean we're holy rollers.
It doesn't mean that.
It means that we are passionate and submitted to God.
You know what it means when we read there, submit to God, it means we worship.
(34:48):
Same definition.
And when we worship, the enemy will flee.
So if you're here this morning and you're full of anxiety or worry or doubt or frustration
or guilt, if you're full of grief, it's time to worship.
(35:09):
Because you have to realize if you're in a relationship with him, you're under attack
and you have two choices, church.
You can whine or you can worship.
And we all know the difference.
We can whine and complain and be frustrated, or we can what?
Worship.
So it's your choice.
Will you stand with me?
So here's what we're going to do.
(35:30):
Okay?
Here's what we're going to do.
Now if you haven't learned yet, I'm super expecting for what God's going to do here.
Okay?
I haven't had too much coffee.
I've just had a lot of Jesus today, okay?
Because I've had to.
I've had a really long night last night.
I got about two and a half hours sleep, I was woken up and had to fight spiritual battle
(35:54):
just to get here.
Okay?
I believe God wants to do something special.
He wants to impact and change your life.
So I'm not going to invite you to do it.
I'm going to tell you to do it.
Can you please put your hands out like this?
I said please.
That was nice.
See I'm a kind soul.
(36:15):
I'm going to pray for the Holy Spirit to come.
Okay?
And then after I pray, you're going to take whatever it is, the doubt, the guilt, the frustration,
and you're going to give it to God.
Because you know what this means?
This means we're winning.
That's all it means.
(36:36):
It doesn't mean you're a holy roller.
It means no, I'm winning.
I win when I gather together with the other believers.
Amen?
Alright, so here we go.
You guys ready?
Quick practice.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Woo, you got it.
They're ready.
Let's go.
Holy Spirit come.
Change us, God.
(36:56):
Move in this place.
Set people free.
May this be the day.
In Jesus' name, let's go.
There's no impossible.
I believe that you are working now.
(37:16):
Pour it out.
Oh, pour it out.
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