A Warning to the Church

Heard a report just this morning. something that only the Lord can do in his greatness. There's no other way to describe it. Our God is able. He's more than able. That's just a word that we use in our English language.

We really can't describe how able He is. And we're going to turn to him in his word today for his help. I want to say if you're a guest with us today, we are honored that you would come to join us in the house of the Lord. Thank you for coming to be here. So glad to have the Cisco with us. new regional directors to the continent of Africa, if I'm understanding right, and we honor them.

Thank you for this, the work that you're doing uh on the global mission field. And if you're a guest with us, you may have discovered by now that we are a church that believes that God can and will change your life. He will. He can. In fact, just this last Sunday, I was standing right in this area here, and I got to pray with a a little girl named Jolene who received the gift of the Holy Ghost. and we celebrate what God did in her life and and others.

And then that night, I went to the section two rally. There was a young uh lady named [name redacted]. She's nine years old. And they said, "Who wants to get the Holy Ghost?" And she raised her hand.

She was nearby me. So, we started to pray. And before long, she was speaking in a language that she'd never learned before. And God filled her with the gift of the Holy Ghost. And the next morning, I was thanking the Lord for all he did.

And it just occurred to me, I get to do this. I get to be a part of this. Oh, that leads me to say I am so honored. Thank you for letting me serve you. Thank you for letting me serve this great kingdom.

And thank the Lord, my wife and I, our kids, we are so honored. We love you with everything we've got. And we're so thankful that Apostolic Pentecostal Church is home. Again, if you're a guest, you found a wonderful church. You did.

We will never claim to be a perfect church. We're a hospital where broken people come to get healing. But we're people that love God and love one another. That's what we're all about to connect with God and others. And we love you.

Maybe we don't even know your name yet, but we love you. And we're so glad that you are here. and I'm honored to serve this church family as your pastor. That pastoral man uh mandate will obviously include this day in this message and I've felt to share with you every message is pastoral but this one in particular is a a warning from the wall so to speak and from the word of God. I know it's a festive day, a festive occasion and season, but I've also endeavored that I don't want to take this day off. I don't want to take any day off for the kingdom of God.

And I feel a distinctive shepherd mandate for this service and every life in it this morning. Just allow an alarm in my spirit that I need to echo for the people that I love and for any person who's here today. That's partly because we have an adversary who did not take this day off. He has not taken a day off that we know of since the beginning of time. And we also know he has his own mission and his own vision.

The Apostle Peter speaks from experience when he unmasks our adversary in 1 Peter 5. He says this chapter 5, "Be sober. Be vigilant because your adversary," everyone say, "my adversary." The devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Resist him steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

But may the God of all grace who has called you to his or called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus after you've suffered a while perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. And to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Today, I've come to do two things. I've come to warn you, and I've come to recruit you for the fight.

And I'm going to do that through this title, simple, a warning to the church. Would you help me pray for the Lord's help? Oh God, thank you for every precious vessel in this room today and all the lives that they touch and the families that are represented, the homes that are represented, the eternities and the and the callings and the kingdom pursuits and the potential and every life that they're going to reach. I thank you that it's all represented in the room today. And we need your help.

We do not limit you, but we look to you, Lord, for your help in the face of this battle and this affront and this enemy. We know that you are our help and our strength. And we know that you're going to perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle us today. We invite it in the name of Jesus. Amen.

You may be seated. Thank you. I met Allan in the fellowship hall of this church during my freshman year of Gateway College. I was in the youth group at the time. He came during a Wednesday night youth service.

He sat in a section nearby me. And when I met him, I started to learn his story. He he came here. He didn't even have a personal invitation. He didn't know anybody that was here.

He he came by himself that Wednesday. He later told me why he came. Where Allan was from. Every day was a struggle and a battle. Whether uh we like to admit it or not, we're in the same.

Every day is a struggle. Every day is a battle. and some days easier than others. But on one of the days before Allan came to APC, a man walked up to him on the street. Allan said he knew immediately what the man's intentions were. So they squared up and they began to fight and they began to uh throw punches at each other and Allan and his recollection said he was winning the fight until the man pulled on him and began to fire off at him eight point blank range shots.

Allan said, "The only reason I'm here, I know that God protected me. I shouldn't be here. That guy wasn't that bad of a shot." Uh, and he I was, you know, feet from him. We were close enough to grapple, so I should not be here.

So, he found us and he found me and I thank God that he did. We became friends quickly. started driving him to church and driving him home and we stop at McDonald's and we talk about the life that he was trying to live and I met his family and some of his brothers and I taught at my first Bible study in that overflow room right over there uh on a Wednesday night. Four days later after that Bible study we were sitting in these pews right here. I said, "Allan, do you want the Holy Ghost?" And he said, "I I do want the Holy Ghost."

He came around the front after I believe Bishop was preaching that day, lifted his hands and he began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave the utterance. I'm telling you, if you've never had that experience, you ought to have that experience here today. God can and will change your life. And Allan said, "It's time. I got to get baptized."

So, he went and got baptized in this tank right behind me. He continued to come. He continued to connect. God was working in his life and and bringing him into this church family until all of that was uh suddenly interrupted. He called me one day.

He said, "Brad, I I have to go into detention. I have to complete a sentence." And we got disconnected. He had a couple kids and a beautiful little girl. He called me a time or two after that.

I would encourage him to continue in his walk with God and we were trying to meet up and trying to get together, but we were never able to do it. And I I decided I was going to go find him. I was going to look him up in the last year or so just wondering, okay, where is he? How is he doing? It's been over a decade.

And obviously, you can Google or or chat GPT anybody these days. So, I was googling and went to Facebook, went online, I found his obituary. I got a hold of this this older sister. Got to talk to her. Find out what happened.

Investigation is is inconclusive on how it all happened, but likely an interaction and overdose of fentanyl. I hate fentanyl. I told her that had honor him. He was my friend and I will not forget his kindness. I will not forget our interactions in the Lord's work in his life.

But also will not overlook the darkness that he fought every day most of the days of his young life. Allan sat on our pews. He was baptized in that tank filled with the same spirit that I have and the one that you have. And we thank God for that. Even still, he faced an adversary bent on destroying his precious life. the adversary that I've come to unmask and expose today.

An adversary that has one aim and one goal in mind. And though you cannot discount our personal decisions and and our mistakes, brother Smith said it last week. We can't blame everything on the devil. Even still, I've come to remind us that we are facing a very real enemy with real devices, with truly insidious designs. for every person on the planet, including you and me and my friend Allan, who died too early with far too much kingdom potential to offer. And while I remember and I pay tribute to my friend and my brother and the Lord, I also share his story to remind us of the stakes today and of the darkness that is far too close for comfort on a consistent basis.

I've come to expose that roaring lion and his true aim and his devices. And I've come to remind us and warn us that he is still our adversary. His kingdom is not our ally. His motives are still bent on eternal destruction. And he's not to be coddled.

AND HE'S NOT TO be befriended. He's not to be let near you or your heart or your home OR YOUR FAMILY. HE'S NOT TO BE NEAR ANY OF US. I am sounding an alarm today as I grieve life after life and friend after friend and family after family and marriage after marriage that have fallen prey to a tameless predator and a malicious actor in our midst. And I'm issuing a warning for every ear and every heart to hear and to heed today.

In doing so, I just want to share with you what the biblical writers had to say to remind us who we're facing every day. whether you acknowledge it or not. I know we have the adage, well, we're not looking for a demon behind every bush. Great. Wonderful. Uh we some of us adhere to that.

But also, if we don't ever acknowledge him and we just act like ah it's it's all fine and he's not really real, he's not really out there, it's to our own detriment. Peter said he's a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, a word meaning to swallow up. He figuratively and even literally in the case of Job. When Peter walks about seeking whom he can swallow up, he's the one who snatched away Job's children. The moment God gave him the ability, notice who he went after.

He went straight for Job's kids and he destroyed them. And then he starts to go after his marriage and he goes after his faith, his trust in God, his friendships, and his health. He's the same one Jesus spoke directly to Peter about, likely alluding to Job's STORY WHEN HE SAID,"SIMON, SIMON, indeed Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat." Sounds like, "Oh, sift you as wheat." That doesn't sound no.

It's bad. But I prayed for you that your faith should not fail and when you've returned to me, strengthen your brethren. He didn't say, "I I told him no, you can never touch Peter." He said, "I prayed for you." So, he's coming.

What does it mean? It, as I said, it likely points back to what Satan did to Job himself. He wants to destroy you, Simon. And he's asked to try you. He wants to test you mercilessly.

HE HE WANTS TO HAVE YOU. This is the rendering. He wants to obtain you. One rendering says he he wants you for his own plans and his own destruction. This is who we're up against today.

Jesus is speaking to the persons that Satan had influenced in John 8. He says, "You're of your father, the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do." This is how he describes him. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there's no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources for he's a liar and he's the father of it.

Revelation 12 calls him the deceiver of the whole world. 2 Corinthians 11 says he disguises himself as an angel of light. 2 Corinthians 4 says he's blinded the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the GOSPEL OF THE GLORY OF Jesus Christ. 1 John 3 says, "He who sins is of the devil, for the devil is sin from the beginning. For this purpose the son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil."

Ephesians 2 talks about those works. You he made alive who were dead in the trespasses of your sins in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit, who now works in the sons of disobedience. He's the same one that tempted Adam and Eve in the garden. The same one that tempted David to take a census that resulted in 70,000 lives being lost. The same one who moved on Judas to betray Jesus.

He's the accuser of the brethren, the ancient serpent, the one whose name literally means the adversary or the slanderer, the accuser. His name Diablos refers to a personal spiritual being who's an active rebellion against God. The Lord himself called him the ruler of this world, the craftiest beast in the field. Colossians says he exercises a domain of darkness. Hebrews 2 says he has the power of death.

This is the one that I've come to carefully but emphatically expose today in the Holy Ghost. Not just for the death of my friend and and millions of others like him, but for the exploits and the maneuvers and attacks and devices he uses against this wonderful church and the church of God. And though I've taken some time to paint his image and the way the Bible portrays him, I've not come to arandise him. I've not come to la him. I've not come to adore him in any way, shape, or form.

I've come to take my place as the watchman on the wall and warn the people of God that this adversary, our enemy, is still alive and HE'S EVIL AND HE'S diabolical as ever and as his name suggests. Our elder brother WC Parky said this. THIS IS NOT A COUNTRY CLUB. People of God, this is a battleground. And our adversary is out on the field in force right now looking and seeking whom he may devour, including especially the people of God and their homes and their marriages and their relationships with one another, their children, their families.

In fact, I got a a letter recently speaks to this one. and I've decided it's too sobering and maybe personal and dark to share in its entirety. It's not from some far-off country or a believer who's never heard of or worshiped the name of Jesus. It's from a desperate man who had that name spoken over him in baptism at an apostolic church in our vicinity. I'm trying to tell you, he's not just after the ones down the road. He's after the ones in here.

You need to know this. Years later, he writes from one of the most deplorable places on earth. He's facing destruction. It seems all but assured. And he begs for prayer from any church who would listen.

And somehow he found ours. And he found our address. And I'm not going to share his name for his own protection. And quite frankly, for my own protection, but I I'll read one line to give you a picture of what our adversary is after. He he writes in his letter, HE SAYS, "I'M LOST."

He repeats the word lost. He said, 'I have absolutely ruined my life. I don't know how he found us. I got this letter in my office recently and I wept over this man and I prayed over him. In fact, I know you don't know his name, but I wonder if you just start to pray.

You don't even know where he is right now, but oh, would you begin to pray for this man with me? Jesus, you know, oh God, you know the condition of his heart. you know, the events that led into this day. In this moment, I pray, Lord, that you would reach down with your arms of grace and you'd push aside some darkness. YOU'D PUSH ASIDE, LORD, LET LIGHT SHINE IN THE DARKNESS. AND I PRAY THE darkness would not comprehend it as your word says it won't.

And I pray that you would reach down and touch him, heal him, oh God, and save him. Save him. Save him. I've got to remind you. It's my role and responsibility to remind you.

This is what the enemy wants. It's what he's after. To ruin your life and your eternity in the lives of everybody around you. This is why we're not here to play games. It's why every Sunday matters.

It's why every family devotion, every open Bible, every morning devotion, every Bible study matters. It's why these warnings and moments in the altar matter. Uh they're not just A PASSING EMOTIONAL MOMENT. THEY MATTER. IT'S WHY WE CANNOT WASTE TIME AND WE CANNOT waste opportunities and we can't be ignorant of his DEVICES LIKE DISTRACTIONS AND weights and and addiction and temptations.

Can't be ignorant of what the Bible calls the snares. None of us are exempt from snares of the devil. No person on the planet is in fact we see Paul reference snares in 1 Timothy 3 and 6 both in the context of people in the church believers teachers leaders a few times the word snare which means trap is used it's reference in reference to those in the church you and me second Timothy 2 is no different it reads in a servant the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all able to teach patient in humility correcting those who are in opposition God for I ever have to issue a word of correction or I ever have to confront something. If I do, I pray it's in this. And I pray you recognize it's in this.

If God perhaps will grant them repentance so they may know the truth and they'll come to their senses and they'll escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will. I want you to notice two things. Context of this charge for Timothy is for believers, people in the church. The second thing is that it's entirely possible that Satan can ensnare some of these same wonderful people to the point where it isn't just him doing his own will and his own bidding. Paul implies he intends to take the people of God captive to do his will, which means that we, you and I, could be ins snared to the point where we're doing his bidding for him.

He's not just content to take you. He wants everybody around you. See the same in 1 Peter 5 and Luke 22 where Satan is viewed as this cunning and evil personal being who has the ability and the propensity to attack and harm the people of God. And what we see in second Timothy 2 is he does two things. He numbs you.

THEY'RE NOT IN THEIR SENSES. THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING. HE NUMBS you and snares you. He takes you alive. He's in as insidious as it gets.

He's sinister. He'll use those traps, those devices. The word used in 2 Corinthians 11, that word means his schemes, his thoughts. This is all he has to do. These are his thoughts and plans.

We we've revealed some of those schemes and plans. But I need you to notice in 2 Corinthians 2, the scheme, the plan he uses is unforgiveness. says in verse 10, "Who now whom you forgive, anything I forgive, for indeed I forgiven anything, I I've forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, lest Satan should take advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices." The context suggests Satan would take advantage of unforgiveness, division, to pull apart the body of Christ. I told someone a while ago, I was out hunting. It's almost deer season and and I remember my brother and I were walking through the field and there's a bunch of cattle on on a family's uh members's land and and I looked over the cattle's shoulder and there's a just a little pack of coyotes sitting up on the hill.

All their meal right in front of them. They weren't going after the herd. They were going after the one that got away from the herd. I think it's safe to assume that unforgiveness and bitterness and division is one of his most effective ways to get you isolated and to to where he can go after you and go after your family. And I'm just exposing his devices.

Others in scripture include deception, temptation to do evil, murder, lies, accusation, twisting of truth, the blinding of hearts and minds. But Job, he plagued and he troubled him endlessly. Job even speaks of nightmares that may have been induced by the enemy. He he constantly accuses and he casts guilt and condemnation. If you're facing condemnation today, it is not from our great God.

He accuses the people of God day and night. AND WITH THE DEMONIAC and others, he tormented and oppressed, even possessed them. He took them captive to do his will. With others, he oppressed them with fear and discouragement and doubt as much as was in his power. And with the aforementioned Judas, he led him to turn against his own, his own family, his own people, his own brothers, and to take his own life.

And lastly, even though this isn't an exhaustive list from scripture, we know that Ephesians tells us we wrestle with this adversary regularly, that he employs fiery darts of the evil one. Some say those are temptation and other things along with him. And we know in Paul's letter to Timothy that he employs snares and traps along the way, especially for the believer and the Christ father running the race with patience. Apostle Peter himself is one of those caught in that snare. Jesus warns him.

He says, "Simon, Simon." Two times in scripture, God calls someone's name twice. This is one of them. INDEED, SATAN ASKS for you. He wants you.

And he may sift you as wheat. Simon, if you let me paraphrase, like Job, Satan has asked me to hand you over to him. He He wants to ensnare AND CAPTURE YOU ALIVE. He wants you to do his will like your brother Judas. So, I'm warning you, Simon.

I'm warning you, people of God. And it's the same Simon Peter, after falling into that trap. and after seeing one of his fellow disciples hang himself after betraying their master and seeing all the suffering in the world that his brothers endured and after being lulled to sleep in the garden and then into a trap. It's no wonder he's the one to warn the people of God. He says, "The elders who are among you, I exhort. I whom a fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ.

I'm a partaker of the glory that be revealed. Shepherd the flock of God which is among you. serving his overseers, not by compulsion, but willingly, not for dishonest gain, but eagerly, not as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. AND WHEN THE CHIEF SHEPHERD APPEARS, you'll receive the crown of glory that does not fade away. Younger people, submit yourself to your elders. All of you be submitted to one another.

Be clothed with humility. In other words, get it right. Submit to one another. Come together. For God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.

Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, and he may exalt you in due time. Casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you. And then he says, "Be sober. Be vigilant." Literally, be watchful.

Same Greek word Jesus used in the garden when he warned Peter, "Watch and pray lest you enter or fall into temptation." Spirit is willing, the flesh is weak. In other words, Peter says, "Wake up, people of God. Be alert. Don't be lulled to sleep.

Don't be trapped. Watch for the attack and the temptation of the enemy." Why? Because your adversary, your mortal enemy, your eternal foe, the one who will not take a single day off. The devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, resist him steadfast in the faith.

He issues the same warning Peter does that he was issued when Jesus yelled his name twice. He gives the same warning Jesus gave in the garden of Gethsemane when Satan was lurking and desiring to sift him like wheat. Peter steps to the forefront and he speaks to the church today. Be sober. Be serious people of God.

Wake up. Our adversary is looking for somebody, even somebody rooted in the church, someone he can devour, someone he can destroy. Wake up. A couple years ago, Mariah helped me wake up one day. I was sound asleep.

Sun was just rising. She's in the living room praying, reading her Bible. Someone grabbed the back door handle trying to get in the house. She thought it was me, but I was asleep. Ran in the room.

Bradley. Bradley. Bradley. Someone's at the back door. Someone's Someone's trying to get in our house.

I think I levitated out of that bed. I needed no other sentence. I needed no other warning. I I didn't I didn't grab nothing. I I just straight to the door, opened the door, walked out, looking around, and then I thought, man, what if he's got something and I don't have something?

I took no detours. Someone was at my door trying to get into my house. They were trying to get a hold of my family. I'm looking for some dads right now who've been asleep. AND YOU NEED TO WAKE UP AND GET TO THAT DOOR AND MEET THAT ENEMY AND ADVERSARY AT THAT.

NOT MY HOUSE. NOT MY FA YOU'RE NOT GETTING IN HERE. NO, NO. I'm looking for some family LEADERS AND MAYBE SOME ELDERS WHO'VE BEEN FIGHTING A WHILE AND SAID, "NO, NO, NO. NOT IN MY CHURCH, NOT MY HEART, NOT MY MIND, NOT MY FAMILY.

YOU CAN'T HAVE IT. NOT MY HEALTH. NO, you're not getting in here." Oh, HE MAY HAVE SOME TACTICS in some schemes, but we're not ignorant of them. And today, I didn't just come to warn you so we can cower and we CAN CODDLE AND OH MAN, THAT ADVERSARY, that big bad devil, he he's going to No, HE'S NOT.

I ALSO CAME TO RECRUIT you to wake up and to move for the saving of your family. It'd be one thing if I just I I issued as thorough warning as I can. I'm trying to paint the picture, but I didn't just come to warn somebody and just tell you that he's out there learning. I I I came to recruit you that we're STILL THERE'S A FIGHT right now. Paul said, "I fought THE GOOD FIGHT.

I'VE FINISHED the race. I've kept the faith." Oh, there's a fight and we are wrestling daily with an adversary and we're wrestling daily with an enemy who's after you and he's after your home. Ah, we've got some family leaders that are saying, "No, no, no, NO. YOU'RE NOT GETTING MY HOME.

If I CAN DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT, YOU GO AHEAD AND FOLLOW HER, MR. RANDY." YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A FAMILY LEADER WILL STEP UP? OTHERS WILL FOLLOW. YOU MAY NOT THINK THAT THEY'RE FOLLOWING, BUT WE'RE NOT LYING.

WE'RE not just going to take this. I've come to recruit you today. There is a fight going on. And if you're not in it, then you're losing. The truth is, you're in it whether you want to be or not.

There's an adversary. There's an enemy. And he's already taken out two people who were sitting on church pews, apostolic pews. I don't know why this keeps happening, but we're just going to follow. I know why it is.

Because the Lord loves his church and he wants you to be healthy, growing, and full of love. If you hear me preach that it's not just a tagline. It's the safest way. It's the only way. Sometimes we just jump to things that we know or we or maybe maybe we take the time on a Sunday to pray and we might not even be praying against the enemy.

Maybe we're just praying, "Lord, will you help me with my problems?" And and we think that that is us getting in the fight. And we think that that is us resisting the enemy, steadfast in the faith. I've I've come to help somebody. It's not.

Will it help you in that moment? Absolutely. When you call on the name of the Lord, he's drawn to it. He'll come help you. But it might be that the reason that you keep getting overrun and your house is in in in turmoil and you're you're battling and you're losing every day is because we're trying to fix it with a band-aid on a Sunday.

Let me help you. Ephesians chapter 4. Would you help me, Brother Bruce? Vers 17. Here's the remedy.

This is the same book that talks about the armor of God. This I say therefore and testify in the Lord. You should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk and the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that's in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling that they've given themsel over to lwdness, working all uncleanness with greediness. That just sounds horrible. It sounds horrible.

We wouldn't do that. But the only all other alternative to that is this. But you have not so learned Christ if indeed you've been heard him and been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus that you put on. We like to pray on the armor of God. Before you ever get to Ephesians 6 and you put on the armor, first you put on Christ.

I'm not sure you can put on the armor of God if you are not putting on Christ. You know what that armor is? The belt of truth. Truth translated as integrity, sincerity, the breastplate of righteousness, being righteous before God and to God and others. I've never been able to put those on without putting Christ on first.

My righteousness is as filthy rags. If I'm not putting on Christ, you know how to put on Christ. It's on this sound booth wall. We walk past it every day. And he himself gave some to me apostles, some prophets, SOME EVANGELISTS, SOME pastors and teachers.

Why am I here? What what are we celebrating today? For the equipping of the saints, for the work OF MINISTRY, FOR THE BUILDING UP OF THE BODY OF CHRIST. till we all come to the unity of the faith, the knowledge of the son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. You want to be safe, you want your family to be safe, I employ prayer, uh when that enemy comes in the middle of the night, I'll pray. I'll get up and I'll pray and I'll resist him and I'll push him.

Uh but I've got other armor on. He's not going TO RUN US OVER WHEN WE'VE GOT CHRIST. HE CAN RUN US OVER WHEN WE HAVE CHRIST. The vers next verse says, "It will no longer be children tossed and carried about every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men, the cunning, craftiness of deceitful plotting. So I've come to warn you, yes, but I've come to recruit you.

If you are not healthy growing and full of love, if your home is not healthy growing and full of love, you will face attack after attack until that adversary finds a window or a doorway in and he's very good at exploiting those and he will take up residence. This is why Ephesians 4 later in that chapter talks about how we treat one another. You know that how you treat brothers and sisters determines if you're safe or not. Would you go to Ephesians 4, the end of that chapter, I want to say it's uh around verse 20 says, ' Don't lie to one another, for we're members of one another. Be angry and sin not.

Don't let the sun go down on your wrath, neither give place to the devil. So, if I'm angry with my brother or sister, we're just plowing through right now. If I'm angry with them and I'm sinning against them, I'm not forgiving them. I'm talking about them. I am giving foothold and ground to the devil.

I have said, you know what? Come on in. I'm imploring someone in the Holy Ghost. Fix it. Forgive it.

Go to them. Talk to them. Meet with them. Do not give the word there is a foothold. Military term.

You just gave him ground. forgive them. The rest of the chapter just put all anger and malice, evil speaking away FROM YOU. DON'T GRIEVE THE HOLY GHOST AND BE KIND TO ONE ANOTHER, TENDERHEARTED, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. Then it goes in this thing called mutual submission in chapter five. And then chapter six, put on the whole armor of God.

I'm going to be careful because prayer is one of the most formidable weapons we use. But sometimes we just pick up prayer, pumpkin prayer. It's quick. And the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. They're mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.

And we'll just I'm going to pray and the enemy is going to flee. And he he will. I believe I believe if you're steadfast in the faith, he'll leave. But Ephesians 6, put on the whole armor of God, truth, integrity. That belt historically is what held everything else on.

Put on truth and sincerity. Put on righteousness, the bless breastplate of righteousness. Put on that helmet of salvation. You need to receive salvation if you haven't yet, and you need to help somebody else with the same. And take up the the shield of faith above all.

You ought to be steadfast in the faith or your trust in God, unwavering in your trust with God, with which you'll be ABLE TO QUENCH ALL the fiery darts of the wicked one. I'm under attack. I got to trust God. That's my response. That's not a shield, but I'm going to trust God.

I'll use this chair if it came and if it came after me, I'd use whatever I could. I trust God. There's nothing he can do with that. Steadfast in the faith. Planted in the faith.

Planted in your trust in God. And then the sword of the spirit. The sword given and inspired by the spirit which is the word of God. Praying always. Prayer's in there.

But can I submit to you today that the armor of God may not be something that we just pray on. I believe it's something that we put on when we put on Christ. If I grow in every way like he is, I'm going to be truthful and man of integrity. I'm going to have righteousness. I'm going to follow that plan of salvation.

I'm going to teach others the same. I'm going to have faith. This is how we withstand the enemy. This is your crash course in spiritual warfare. Healthy, growing, and full of love.

So, is your home healthy, growing, and full of love? Are your relationships healthy, growing, and full of love? If not, you may have opened a door for our adversary. Healthy homes don't hit play when they know that it's opening a door. Healthy homes know that Romans says the day is far spent or the night is far spent.

The days come that we've put off the works of darkness. Healthy homes are repenting homes. Prayerful homes, yes, but homes built on the word of God that when the floods come and the rains come, they'll stand. This is just again a warning today, a wakeup call for some, but for everybody, it's a recruitment session. I want you to stand with me right now.

We're going to pray in a moment. Of course, I just said prayer is the only one of the only uh it's not the only weapon that we use. I wonder if you just start to pray right now before we move any further. The Bible says submit to God. Resist the devil.

Would you just start submitting to God? Every part of your life, would you begin? Maybe you just begin to repent and let a soberness come over you right now. A seriousness come over you. Would you begin to repent before the Lord?

I think that'd be a good step for us to take. Jesus, we repent before you and in doing so, we submit to you, Lord. Your word says that we should humble ourselves before you and that you will lift us up. So that's what we do right now. We submit every part of ourselves to you.

We submit our homes to you. We submit what we're doing later today to you, Lord. If you don't like it or you don't want it, oh God, we submit it to you. We want to be like you. We want to be closer to you, Lord.

H you want to be healthy, growing, and full of love. or you want to be safe and you want your family to be saved. My best advice I can give you from the word of God is just be like Jesus and get as close to Jesus as you can.