Dressed to Kill: The Real Battle | Raymond Woodward

Oh my. Wow. Wow. Wow. What a privilege it is to be with all of you and to be at this uh strong tower 2025. I have fond memories of uh Mars Hill University, but none better than what we're feeling right now. The spirit that has endued this youth camp for all of these years, that same spirit of anticipation is here tonight. And I'm excited for you. all the ministry you're going to experience, all the moments in God's presence you're going to experience, and it's a great honor to address you tonight. You can be seated in the presence of God. Now, they blew my cover and told you I have a birthday today. I am 36, and I know I've got both of those numbers right. I am not part of your age group. I'm no longer in your stage of life, but I love this age group that's in this sanctuary tonight. I am not your critic. I am your cheerleader. I am not your adversary. I am your advocate. I believe in you. And this great fellowship of the assemblies of the Lord Jesus Christ, they believe in you. And it's an honor and it's a privilege to speak to you tonight. Now some some stat statisticians say that your demographic 18 to 30ish that you are the most likely out of all the age groups to want immediate gratification and instant recognition. All of those statistics tell us that you are often impatient and immature and you don't play by the rules. And sometimes they say you have the attention span of a 5-year-old. And it's because of reality TV and Tik Tok and Facebook and Snapchat and Instagram and YouTube and every other kind of self-promoting social media. They even call you the selfie generation. And most tragically of all, they say that you are more likely than any other age group to walk away from your faith during this stage of life. To which I say, well, you've never met any apostolic millennials yet, have you? Because as a pastor for more than 40 years, I'd like to go on record and say that the young people in our churches are some of the most committed, some of the most involved, some of the most prayerful, some of the most worshipful, some of the most godly, some of the most responsible, some of the most evangelistic, and some of the most apostolic people I've ever had the privilege to know. Secular polls don't take into account what happens in the heart of a person who meets Jesus when they're young. So I get it. Nominal Christianity is declining, especially among your age group. But convictional Christianity, it's growing, especially among your age group. Millennials are now nearly one quarter of North America. You are the largest generation in history. In fact, right now, 1 half of the world's population is under 30 years of age. What a chance we have to impact our world. And you are, I know you, you are cutting edge. 53% of millennials say they would rather lose their sense of smell than their mobile device. More people in our world now own a mobile device than own a toothbrush. Hopefully, you're not sitting beside one of them right now. Every day, 20% of the terms typed into Google have never ever been searched before. So, you know what that tells me? You will be the ones who develop new ways for the church to reach our world. You will be the ones who create new ministries that grow and strengthen the church. But it gets better than that. Almost without doubt, you will be the ones who see the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to take his church home to heaven. You are the rapture generation in every sense of that word. So, I hope that all the effort and the money and the time and the creativity and the people who have invested in Strong Tower this week on your behalf, I hope that shows you something how much the ALJC loves you and believes in you. The pollsters say that your generation's greatest desire is for something real. And they also tell us that your greatest fear is living a life that fails to make a difference. So tonight, with the help of the Lord, I want to share something with you that will make a massive difference in your life if you just learn it and do it early enough. I'm going to read a text in a moment. Just one more time, would you lift up your voice? You don't even have to lift your hand, but lift your voice. Your voice is the center of spiritual warfare in your life. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. Let the weak say, "I am strong." Let the sick say, "I am healed." In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. Tonight, we begin at the end. We begin at the end of the book of Ephesians. And we begin nearly at the end of Paul's life. He's a prisoner in Rome. He is awaiting the trial that will end with his death. And he has spiritual warfare on his mind. And he writes about the weapons that you and I need to win the battle that we are in. Ephesians 6:10. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the ws of the devil. Here's why. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. I know that we all kind of dressed up cool to come to Strong Tower and you are dressed to kill. You've got the latest styles and fashions and you look good in them. But there's another way you need to be dressed to kill. You've got to go to war in your generation and you've got to kill every evil influence. You've got to kill every tactic of the devil. You've got to kill every spiritual opposition. And there's a real battle that's going on. And it is not with your friends. It is not with your parents. There's a battle going on in the spirit and you are equipped to win that battle. God made sure you were. Spiritual warfare is just as real in the 21st century as it was in the first century. But here's the thing. Spiritual warfare may not be exactly what you think it is. Many Christians get caught up in extremes surrounding this subject. Either everything is spiritual or nothing is spiritual. Either everything's caused by the devil or nothing's caused by the devil. And here's the thing, the devil doesn't care whether we focus on him or whether we ignore him. Either extreme helps him because it gives him the advantage. If we focus on the devil all the time and every little situation in our life, that's the devil attacking me, then we become paralyzed by anxiety and we are incapable of functioning in our everyday lives. But on the other hand, if we ignore the devil and we don't think the devil's doing anything, we become paralyzed by apathy. We just don't care. And then we're incapable of functioning in the spiritual realm. That's why the Old Testament prophet Hosea said that God's people can be destroyed for lack of knowledge. And it's why Paul told us, "Don't you be ignorant of the devil's devices." Now, the very thing Paul says right out of the gate is this. Our battle is not against flesh and blood. We are not fighting against other people. You hear me tonight? We're not fighting against any group that is anti-truth, anti-Bible, anti-apposic. We're not fighting against groups that have an alternate lifestyle. We're not fighting them because our battle is not with them. We are not fighting against flesh and blood. In fact, I would argue we are fighting for them because they're not the cause of spiritual warfare. They are the casualties of spiritual warfare. Just because the devil broke somebody else in a different place that he broke you. Don't you get an attitude and don't you think you're so high and mighty that you could never fall. We stand by the grace of God. We stand on the word of God. We stand in the power of his might, not our might. So when we wrestle against principalities and powers and rulers of darkness and spiritual wickedness, we're not wrestling them. We're wrestling on their behalf. We're wrestling for our families and we're wrestling for our friends and we're wrestling for the people we go to school and university with because other people are not the cause of spiritual warfare. They are the casualties of spiritual warfare. So that's what Paul said in Ephesians. And he says the same thing to the Corinthian church, but with a little different emphasis. Ephesians 6 identifies the source of spiritual warfare. Where the conflict originates, where does it come from? It's in the high places. That's above my pay grade. But 2 Corinthians 10, it talks about spiritual warfare, but it doesn't just identify the source of that warfare. It identifies the sight of that warfare, the place where the battle is actually fought. So here we go. 2 Corinthians 10:3. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exaltth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. And so I say to you that the source of spiritual warfare is in the high places. But the site where the battle will be fought is right here. The site where the battle will be fought is where you've got to war every day to pull down the strongholds and the thoughts and the imaginations and the pride, the high thing that is in your own mind. So we don't just fight the devil. We are also fighting our own carnal mind. See, you can't control other people. You can try knock yourself out. You're just going to be frustrated. You can't control their decisions. You can't control their actions. You can't control other people. But you can pray for them. And God can work on them. But here's what you can control. You can control yourself. You can control your own choices. You can control your own life. You can control your own thoughts. you can control your own actions. And so notice when Paul talks about the sight of the battle, all of these words have to do with the battle in our mind. A stronghold that's an entrenched pattern of thought. It's a prison that you've locked yourself in because until you change your thinking, you can't change your reality. imaginations. That simply means a mindset that you may have inherited or somebody may have convinced you of it in university class. But it's a mindset and it becomes a prison. High things that's just human pride. I'm self-sufficient. I can do whatever I want. I can do this by myself. And thoughts, that's literally our perception, our senses, our responses. It's our feelings. And if you live your spiritual life governed by your feelings, you are going to look like a roller coaster at Six Flags. You're going to be up and down and around and in and out. You're going to be all over the place. My feelings don't tell me the truth. I'll tell you, Jesus tells me the truth about who I am and what I can do and what I can be in him. So if you feel awful tonight, that's no big deal because Jesus is here and he can do the miraculous for you no matter how you feel. Oh my. Huh? Romans chapter 12 and verse two, you know this scripture. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. See, that's where the battle is. Paul says, "If you're renewed in your mind, you will prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." He tells that Ephesians church in chapter 4 27, he says, "Neither give place to the devil." Would you stop giving the devil free rental space in your head? Would you stop giving the devil free space in your thoughts? He's going to constantly come at you. If you think you're going to escape the battle, you won't escape the battle. But the Bible tells me that greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world. So I can't escape the battle, but in the name of Jesus, I can win the battle. I am not just going to scrape by. I am more than a conqueror. I can win this. You can win this. You you cannot give the devil a foothold in your life or he'll turn that foothold into a stronghold. Now, as we engage in spiritual warfare, and it is real, we've got to be balanced and we've got to remember, we are fighting on two battlefronts. Yes, we have to fight the devil. We come to church. If I was the devil, I would not be anywhere within a thousand miles of Marville, Tennessee right now. But the devil's crafty and the devil, he's always trying to regain territory that he's lost. So, we do gather together and we pray kingdom prayers and we pray for missionaries and we pray for countries and we pray big prayers because we've got to fight the devil, but we've also got to fight on another battlefield. Paul says, "We've got to renew our mind and we've got to crucify our flesh." And the reason you've got to win this battle is because the devil's attacks against your life will always fail if your flesh refuses to cooperate. 100% of the time, the devil's attacks will fail if your flesh refuses to cooperate. Now, there are lots of wars recorded in the Old Testament, page after page. But in the New Testament, other than the battles that are prophesied for the end time in the book of Revelation, other than those, every other time you see the word war or warfare, it's not primarily describing battling with the devil. Almost always, those words are describing our fight with our own flesh. It's everywhere in the New Testament. 1 Peter 2. Dearly beloved, I beg you. I beseech you, you're just strangers and pilgrims here on this earth. The longest part of your life is after the rapture or after we have your funeral. You're just strangers and pilgrims here. So, abstain, stay away from, run from fleshly lust. Why? Because if you let them have control, they war against your soul. They do eternal damage to you. So here it is. The real battle in spiritual warfare is not to show up at strong tower and scream with everybody when we get excited. The real battle in spiritual warfare is to conquer our flesh and control our mind. If we let the Holy Ghost help us pull down strongholds in these areas, then most of the spiritual warfare we encounter in our lives will have already been settled. You can win great victories at home in your personal prayer time on Monday morning. It can carry you all through the week. And when you show up on Sunday, you're helping us because we're not trying to pray you through one more time. We're not trying to get you excited one more time. We're not begging you to come to the altar one more time. No, you want a battle on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning and Thursday evening. And so by the time you show up at church, you're ready to fight. And you can help us with the big battles cuz you won the personal battle. I wish some young person would get your hands in the air and just shout for the victory. This is the victory that overcomes the world. Even our faith, we've got to fight the good fight of faith. If you yield to the Holy Ghost, you will not yield to the devil. And then when we come to church, we can help pastor and the team and the worship singers and and the staff. We can help them fight the big battles against the devil. But you have no spiritual authority to win the battle out there if you don't ever win the battle in here. You've got to fight on two fronts. You've got to win the battle here. So then you could help us fight the big battle out here. Galatians 5 24. And they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lust. Don't ever get away from the word crucified. Jesus went through agony. He died in pain and agony. And so the image here is very severe. Paul said, "You've got to get a death grip on your old nature and you've got to crucify it. You've got to put it to death and let that new nature that Jesus gave you, let that have the preeminence. So, yeah, Jesus defeated Satan at the cross. That's that's without question. 2,000 years ago, he defeated the devil. But the devil cheats and the devil lies. And so, the devil deceives us. And he's always trying to claw back that victory that Jesus won. He's always trying to claw back that dominion that he lost. And so he can't fight Jesus. That's already a done deal. Jesus kicked him out of heaven. He lost his job. He lost his position. Don't you ever think that Jesus is here and the devil's here and they're equal and opposite. On his best day, the devil was just a created angel and now he has fallen and he can't get up. And so the devil's already defeated. But if you're not careful, he'll lie to you and tell you he's got power. He'll lie to you and say he can trip you up and he can make you fall. The devil can't do any such thing if you're prayed up in the Holy Ghost. You can win this battle. Oh my. So living the crucified life, that's actually a critical part of spiritual warfare. We've got to kill and destroy our old nature. We've got to mortify and crucify our flesh on a daily basis. And if you do, you won't respond to temptation. You know why? Cuz dead men don't respond to anything. You can spit on them, you can laugh at them, you can kick them, you can pinch them, you can hurt them, you can cut them, but if they're dead, they don't respond to anything. So that's the image Paul said. You got to kill that old nature. And then when the devil comes knocking and he's got all kinds of temptation, you don't respond. Why? Because every day you get in the secret place and you crucify that old nature. And I say to all you wonderful young people that I love and esteem so highly. This is the other side of spiritual warfare that many Christians forget about. And because they forget it, they forfeit the battle over and over and over. And you've met some of them. In fact, you could probably call out their name because you've watched them in church. Maybe they're much older than you, but they just seem to struggle. And every week, it's just the hamster wheel of I sin this week, I got to pray through. I messed up this week, I got to pray through. I'm defeated this week, I gotta pray through. I'm depressed this week, I gotta pray through. You don't need to spend your life doing that garbage. What you need to do is walk from victory to victory and glory to glory. That's what you need to do. And you can do it because Jesus gave you the weapons to fight and win that battle. You are not defeated. You are victorious. But see, many Christians, they forget the real battle. They forget the other side of spiritual warfare. Here it is. Romans 6. Paul said, "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Jesus, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth from this point forward, we should not serve sin." Why? For he that is dead, he's freed from sin. You want to be really free, truly free, fully free, absolutely free, die to all of that sin that keeps trying to creep in your life. When you kill that off, you're going to be so free you'll hardly be able to stop from smiling and laughing and singing. There's a freedom that God wants for every apostolic young person. Not a Sunday night freedom. Not just a strong tower 4-day freedom. God wants a freedom that you can walk in and you can do damage to the kingdom of hell. That's your right. That's your privilege. That's your calling. You're not called to look pretty on a church pew. You're called to do damage to the kingdom of hell. You're not dressed to kill so somebody can say nice suit. You're dressed to kill so the devil can flee from you. Oh my. So here it is. Most believers who fall into temptation and sin, they would not have fallen if they hadn't given the devil a foothold in their mind. They left a door open somewhere by not dealing with an unseen private area of their life. I say it to you on the authority of the word of God. The devil can't bring destruction unless he finds an open door. But once he finds a little foothold, he begins to build a stronghold in your life. Now the Holy Ghost will be faithful. He will convict you of areas where you are struggling. He will convict you of areas that leave you vulnerable to attack. He will challenge you to repent. But I got to tell you, you got to learn this young and it'll serve you well all the days of your life. You are the one that is responsible to slam the door shut and say, "Not me, devil. Not here, devil. Not now, devil. Not today, devil. You're responsible to slam that door. See, the Apostle Paul was often attacked outwardly. That poor man had more people attacking him and trying to kill him. He was attacked outwardly, but he was never compromised inwardly. He lived the crucified life every day. So, the devil couldn't get a foothold. Nothing in Paul's mind left the door open for sin. Nothing in his thoughts cooperated with the temptations that were sent by Satan. Paul's personal consecration was his greatest defense against the devil. We would say it this way. Paul's personal holiness was his greatest defense against the devil. Paul refused to live close to the edge of the world. Oh my god. So you say, "Well, that's the Apostle Paul." No, no, no. Paul wasn't unique. We can do the very same thing. In fact, Paul wrote that we can. 1 Corinthians 10:13, "There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man." Stop saying, "You're the exception to the rule, and poor me, this came on me, and I couldn't resist." Everybody else in this room has probably faced the same temptation. The difference between a victorious young person and a defeated young person is somebody is in the prayer room and somebody is fighting the flesh and somebody is in the word every day. That's the difference. You're not unique. We're all the same. And when you find yourself in an hour of temptation, watch this. God will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able. But he will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. So when the devil comes and he will and he starts tempting you with sinful things and he will you need to start looking around for the escape hatch cuz God promised it would be there. God promised he'd make a door out of that temptation. One of the most effective doors I know is what we're doing right now. I get around some people that are living for God. I get around some people that are going in the same direction and we pray together and we war together and it strengthens me. You can be seated. Although Paul walked in the flesh, he knew he did not war after the flesh. Flesh can fight flesh, but flesh is no match for spiritual warfare. So in order for Paul to enforce the victory that Jesus won at Calvary, he had to use spiritual weapons to pull down those strongholds. He had to use spiritual weapons to cast down imaginations and pull down high things and bring every thought into captivity. But remember this, this is the battle that everybody forgets. Don't you forget it. Paul had to use those spiritual weapons against his flesh before he went into battle to use them against the high places. You've got to learn to use these spiritual weapons in your personal battle because other than that, quite frankly, I don't want to offend you, but you're dead weight when you come to church. We got to pray you through. You you've messed around all week long and we've got to pray you through. So, you're dead weight to the service. But when a young person tanked up with the Holy Ghost walks into this place, they can pray for anybody and they can be healed and delivered. They they can worship until the presence of God flows like a river. God, give us young people that can tip the balance in every church in the ALJC. God, give us young people that say, "This is not going to be a dead service as long as I have breath in my lungs. I wish you'd lift up your voice. Huh? In your face, devil. Jesus. Now, you can pray in tongues all day long, but if you have willingly permitted your mind to entertain sinful thoughts or permitted your flesh to engage in sinful actions, then all of that praying will be ineffective. You know why? Because the problem isn't the devil. Problem is your flesh. People say, "The devil's attacking me with sinful thoughts." No, you've been scrolling all that social media garbage all week long, every day, every night, well into the night. The devil's not attacking your mind. You are attacking your mind. You are setting yourself up for defeat, setting yourself up for failure, and setting yourself up for sin. You've got to learn to win the battle right here. And then you're going to be strong to fight every other battle. So, can we just be honest? This is strong tower. Let's just be honest. Most of the problems we deal with are not attacks of the devil. The devil gets blamed for everything. The devil is not omniresent. He's not everywhere present at the same time like God is. So, you've got God. He's a everpresent, very present help in the time of trouble. He's everywhere. He's with all of you in your daily life everywhere you go. The devil is not. The devil's been attacking me all week. I imagine the devil's probably got bigger fish to fry than you or me. The devil's probably busy. But he sends his demons and he sends his temptations and he sends evil spirits. So many of the the the situations we encounter, we're doing his work for him because we're getting too close to the edge and we're looking at worldly things and we're thinking on worldly things. Many of the battles we face are not the devil. They're just unsubmitted, uncrrucified flesh in church. Many of the battles you are facing today are due to doors in your mind that you left open yesterday and the devil gained an advantage. Here, here it is. You can't pray yourself out of what you disobey yourself into. You can pray in tongues for a week. You can't pray yourself out of what you disobey yourself into. You say, "Wow, that's heavy." Yes, it is. It's a battle out there. It's real. It's a real war that we are fighting. The devil would love nothing better than to cart every one of you young people back into addiction and bondage and shame and sin so he can wave you and say, "This is my trophy. I got them back from God. I got them back from the apostolic church. I made them give up on holiness. I made them give up on every He'd love that. This is a real battle. But I am thankful to announce to you tonight that God did not leave you alone to fight this battle unarmed or unprotected. So back to Paul, Ephesians 6, wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. Somebody say withstand. And having done all to stand. Somebody shout stand. Stand therefore. Somebody shout stand. Having your loins gird about with truth and having on the breastplate of righteousness and your feet shaw with the preparation of the gospel of peace and above all taking the shield of faith wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching there unto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. That sounds like a lot of heavy artillery right there. God has not left you alone to fight this battle in your own strength. In fact, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. You can't fight this in your flesh. But God gave you armor. God gave you weapons. God gave you the key to victory. So, I don't want to take too much of your time, but this is really important. First of all, Paul said, "You need to put on the belt of truth." And the central part of every Roman soldier's armor was this belt that connected every other piece of his armor together. So, the least dramatic piece of the armor was his belt. I mean, who thinks about a belt going into battle? But see, his breastplate was attached to the belt and his sword was attached to the belt. And if he didn't have the belt of truth on, everything else started to fall apart. Let me tell you, the belt of truth is right here. The belt of truth is the written word of God. Everything in your life is attached to the written word of God. You need to be the first one on your feet when pastor is preaching the word of God to you. You need to be the first one at Bible study. You need to be the first one to say, "I want to get my face in the word of God." Cuz everything else in your life is attached to this. If you lose this, you lose the battle. If you lose this, you lose everything else. You can pray all day long, but if your life isn't grounded in the word of God, you've already lost. Paul said, "Then there's the breastplate of righteousness." And the breastplate was the largest and most elaborate piece of the armor. It covered that Roman soldier front and back. It was the first thing anyone ever noticed when a soldier walked down the street because the brass shone brightly. And the more they wore it, the more the pieces of metal rubbed against each other and they became more beautiful. There was more luster and there was more glow. And the breastplate protected the heart just like our external righteousness protects our internal relationship with God. Don't you pay any attention to somebody that's always blasting holiness and putting down standards. They don't get it that our external righteousness protects our internal relationship. Holiness is a fence around your life. It protects you from the devil getting a dart against you. I thank God for holiness. And that that breastplate, it was beautiful. It wasn't just powerful. It was beautiful. Holiness is not just powerful, it's beautiful. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Holiness is not an old people's doctrine. Holiness is not for people that already had their party years and now they're too tired. That's not what holiness is. Holiness is a breastplate that protects your heart while you're going to college. It protects your heart while you're in this world. It protects your heart. It's the breastplate of righteousness. And then Paul said, "You need to have your shoes shaw with the preparation of the gospel of peace." He said, "You need to put on the shoes of peace." Now, this is a cool piece of the armor because the soldiers shoes were actually made of brass and leather. And they actually came in two pieces. There was the piece that was on the foot, but there was a piece that went clear up to their knee, and it was made of metal and heavy leather. And and so the reason for that was so an enemy soldier couldn't take their legs out, break their leg, then that leaves them defenseless laying on the ground. And so it was a defensive weapon, but it wasn't just a defensive weapon because on the bottom of those shoes were spikes. They were anywhere between 1 and 3 in long. And that gave him traction. He could stand in the most unstable terrain. And he could lock his feet and nobody could displace him. Nobody could push him out. But it wasn't just defense defense, it was also offense. Because if you've got 3-in spikes on the bottom of your shoe and you knock down an enemy soldier, you can do some damage to him. That's what Paul was talking about in Romans when he said, "And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly." The peace of God is that confidence that you have that God is for you. And it doesn't matter who else is against you. And if you've got the peace of God, you can stand your ground. You can lock your feet. The worst situation imaginable can come into your family, can come into your life, but you can lock your feet and you stand confident in the peace of God. And when the devil tries to come against you, I wish we could forever banish Pentecostal panic attacks and apostolic anxiety attacks. I am not nervous. Jesus is large and in charge. I'm not worried about the end times. I'm not worried about today's times. I'm not worried about anything. I've got a God who sits on an eternal throne. So, my life is governed by the peace of God. Bring it on, devil. I've got my feet locked. Bring it on, devil. I'm standing my ground. Oh, somebody thank God for the weapons he gave us. These weapons are mighty. Then Paul said, remember he's in a prison. He's chained up to a Roman soldier. He's watching this. He's looking at all these weapons. He's looking at this soldier dressed in these weapons. He said, "Oh, and there's another weapon we've got. It's called the shield of faith." Now, there were a couple of kinds of shields. One was round like the one in the picture. It was a dress shield. It was a battle shield, but there was another shield that he actually took into battle and it was almost shaped like a small door. It was rectangular. It provided full coverage for his body. And this was the only weapon the soldier had that could repel the enemy's fiery arrows. But it had to be maintained two ways because it was made out of a wooden or metal frame overlaid with heavy thick leather. And so he had to do two things if his shield of faith was going to work. Number one, he had to rub it with oil. He had to anoint that shield with oil because that leather would get brittle and dry and crack. But if it was anointed with oil, then it remained supple and ready for battle. But the other thing that he had to do in addition to the oil, he had to saturate that shield, that heavy shield with water. Because if it wasn't saturated with water just before he went out to battle, then when the enemy shot fiery darts, they could stick in the shield. And if the shield ever caught on fire, he had to discard it. So he would saturate it with water. It wasn't convenient. It made it heavier. But that was what enabled the shield to quench all the fiery darts of the enemy. Let me tell you, I know you've got faith in God. I thank you for that. But you need this for your faith. You need to keep that Holy Ghost anointing in your life, every day of your life. And you need the washing of water by the word every day in your life. And that'll keep your shield of faith ready for battle. And when the darts of the enemy come flying over the fortress walls, you can stand your ground because that shield will repel them. Then Paul said, "Oh, you've got the helmet of salvation." A soldier's helmet was protective, but it was also decorative. It was beautiful. It had engravings, and it set him apart from everybody else on the street. It was so strong that nothing could pierce it. Even if the enemy came down on his head with a battle axe, it couldn't crack that powerful helmet. One of the greatest attacks the devil makes against every one of us, especially when you're young, is to try to make you doubt and question your salvation. He'll tell you you're not saved. He'll tell you you're not worthy. He'll tell you you don't belong. He'll tell you you don't fit in the church. He'll tell you you don't have any friends. He'll tell you that you're not even a real Christian. You're just a fake and a phony. Let me tell you what you need to do. You need to put on the helmet of salvation. Because here's why it works. See, I didn't just believe the gospel. There's tens of millions of Christian people that their claim on this is, I believe the gospel. I believed on the Lord Jesus. I believed and so I'm saved. That's a pretty weak, flimsy foundation because your belief can be conditioned by your emotions. Let me tell you how it works with apostolic people. I didn't just believe the gospel. I received the gospel. I didn't just believe the gospel. I obeyed the gospel. So, here's how the helmet of salvation works. When the devil comes against you, I say, "Oh, wait a minute. I know that I'm saved because I was baptized on this day and I received the Holy Ghost and spoke in tongues on this day. So, I didn't just believe the gospel, I obeyed the gospel. It's my helmet of salvation that protects me from every attack of the enemy. You're not going to feel like you're in victory every day. You're not going to feel worthy every day. You're not going to feel happy every day. But I know in whom I have believed and I'm persuaded that he is able to keep everything I've committed unto him against that day. I know it. You got to know it. And Paul said, "And also you've got the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God." And the two-edged sword of that Roman soldier was sharp on both sides. So, it was a lethal weapon. Now, wait just a second, Pastor Raymond, because I thought you said that the belt was the Bible. I did. It's the written word of God. It's the revealed word of God. But when Paul says the sword of the spirit, he does not use the word logos, which means the full revelation of God contained in his word. He uses a different Greek word. It is the word remma. And what it means is not the written word of God. It is the spoken word of God. It is the declared word of God. It is a now word from God. See, the devil's not afraid of you because 15 years ago you went through Bible quizzing and you memorized 50 verses. He's not terrified of that. Here's what he's scared of. That this morning you had your nose in the Bible and God spoke a verse to you and you're carrying it all day long and you're going to knock the devil down. You can't tell me any different. We've had little experience with this over the last couple of years in our family. When Beverly was diagnosed with cancer, she came home, she put every doctor's paper, every hospital appointment paper, she put them all in a pile on the floor. She stood on top of the pile and she started wielding the sword of the spirit. I am the Lord that health thee. You can do the same thing with every temptation, with every tactic, with every attack. That's why you got to know this book. That's why you got to love this book. It's your sword of the spirit. The devil isn't scared cuz you memorized a verse in Sunday school. He's terrified. He's mortified. He's running. If you got a verse that's in your spirit from this morning, almost done. I want you to grab somebody by the hand and lift every hand that we can lift and then lift every voice that we can lift higher than the hands. You have weapons. You are a victor. You can win this fight. You are in this battle and it's life or death. But here's what I know. We're going to win this battle cuz God gave us weapons to win this battle. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Just remain standing. I'm almost done. So, those are all powerful weapons, but the armor is still not complete. Any historian can tell you that a Roman soldier carried one final weapon. It was the only weapon he had that could strike the enemy at a distance. See, all these weapons fight the enemy up close, but there was one final weapon that could strike the enemy at a distance. There were all kinds of types and lengths designed to cause a variety of damage. All of them were made of iron because the heavier this weapon was, the more deadly it was. And Paul didn't forget this. He's looking at a Roman soldier. He didn't forget it. He just said it different. Ephesians 6:18. praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching there unto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. So the final weapon in our spiritual armor is the spear of prayer. Every Roman soldier carried not just one spear but they carried several spears, different lengths, different weights and that kind of a weapon can strike the enemy at a distance. It can thwart his attacks before they even get started. The enemy is always firing fiery darts at us. How about at Strong Tower, we turn the tables and we throw some prayer back at him. It can strike the devil at a distance. It can knock down his attack before it ever gets started. It's a preemptive strike against hell. when apostolic young people go to prayer and you've got a secret weapon because the Bible tells me in Romans 8 26 likewise the spirit also helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought sometimes I don't know exactly how to pray but the spirit itself maketh intercession for us with cronings which cannot be uttered you've got a secret weapon that nobody else has unless they've got the same experience is you can pray in the Holy Ghost. You can pray in the spirit. You can pray in tongues. And that is a weapon that can hit the devil at a distance. It's a weapon that can thwart his attacks before they even get started. People are always wanting a quick fix. Let me go to Strong Tower. I'm going to get a quick fix. They want a quick fix for problems they've developed over a lifetime. God does not give us a quick fix in his word. But here's what he does give us. He gives us weapons to fight with. So, we are getting ready for a miraculous, powerful week. But tonight, before we begin and go to every other service and every other great preacher and every other great speaker, here's what we're going to do. We are going to clear the battlefield so there's a straight ahead path to victory. We're going to pray and we're going to throw every kind of spear that we can against the devil. We're going to fight against him with every kind of weapon that God gave us and we're going to knock the devil down. So, it's clear sailing to victory all week long, every morning, every afternoon, every evening. It's clear sailing for victory all week long. Now, keep coming. Those of you that are already here, step forward a little bit, could you? We'll pack in. My goodness. We were at Mars Hill campus. We can pack in here when you get here in just a moment. We're not just going to pray for little old me, my little old struggles, my little old feelings. No, no, no. We're going to pray for each other. We're going to pray that every young person leaves this week with so much victory that when they get back home, they help their pastor revolutionize their church. We're going to pray for every young person that when they get back home, they convict every backslider just by walking in the room with the joy of the Lord. So, you ready? Reach over, grab somebody's hand on either side, lift up every hand, but your hands aren't going to cut it. You got to use your voice. You got to use your mouth. That's how you throw a spear of prayer. That's how you attack the devil's forces. That's how you pave the way for great victory. Right now in the presence of God, you can receive the Holy Ghost right now. You can receive deliverance right now. And addiction can be broken. Bondage can be shattered. You're in the free flow of the Holy Ghost all around you. People are praying in the spirit. Pray, young people. They're going to sing, but we're not ready to sing yet. We're going to pray. Keep praying. There's victory in this house. There's victory in this house. There's a preemptive strike against hell in this house. It's going to level the ground for every victory that comes this week. I'm going to see a victory. I'm going to see a victory. For the battle belongs to you, Lord. I'm going to see a victory. I'm going to see a victory for the battle the battle. Said I'm going to see a victory. I'm going to see the victory for the battle. I'm going to see the victory. For the battle belongs to you. I'm going to sing your victory. I'm going to sing your victory for the battle below. I'm going to sing. I believe I'm going to see I'm going to see the battle. for the battle. You take what the enemy say. You take what the enemy for real and you turn it. You turn it for good. Say you take what the enemy for real and you turn it for good. You turn. You take what the enemy must You take what the enemy must be. Heat. Heat. I'm going to see your victory. I'm going to see. I'm going to see. I'm going to see. I believe it. I'm going to receive it. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Oh, heat In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. I want to I want to prod you just a little bit on this first night. I'm walking across this altar and I see a lot of young people that are praying. And I understand there'll be some messages that are preached this week that might be directly to certain people, but it doesn't matter your age tonight. We all need to crucify our flesh. So, I wish you'd close your eyes. I wish you'd lift your hands and you'd surrender to the spirit that we claim to inhabit. The spirit that we claim to have set up in our heart. And I pray right now that you if you have the Holy Ghost, you ought to begin to speak in it. If you need Oh, I feel the Holy Ghost. Every young lady, every young man, could we crucify our flesh in this room tonight? Could we crucify our flesh in this room tonight? There's not one of us that's exempt from needing a touch, from needing to bear that cross this evening. Come on, in the name of Jesus. Lord, we surrender our minds. We surrender our hearts. We surrender our thoughts to you this evening. Come on, young man. Go ahead and get your pride out of the way on this first night. We all need a touch from God. Come on, young lady. Don't Don't look around. Just close your eyes and go ahead and get what you need from God in this moment right now. Oh, in the name of Jesus. We just had a young lady receive the gift of the Holy Ghost for the first time. Could you create an atmosphere in this place tonight for the spirit to move? Every eye closed, every hand lifted. Come on, let the Lord touch you tonight in the name of Jesus. Victory belongs to Jesus. Victory belongs to you. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. to Jesus. Come on. That's it. Find somebody right now. Find somebody next to you. Find somebody and pray with them right now. the students that are are being moved by the power of the spirit right now. Come on, reach over. Nobody praying by themselves for the next few moments. God's doing something in this altar right now. There's a battle that's being fought that we can't see. We don't comprehend. Touch that situation at home, Lord. Touch that situation with a Oh, touch that situation we don't even know about. Come on. As you begin to speak in the Holy Ghost, those groanings, those prayers, God hears them. I don't even know what to say. Just pray in the Holy Ghost right now. Oh yeah. No, no, no. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat up here. Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat. Heat. in Jesus name. I walk back here for five minutes back and forth. I would be disobeying the Holy Ghost if I didn't tell you this. Sometimes in warfare, the first strike isn't quite enough. Sometimes in warfare, you got to send in some heavy artillery. Sometimes in warfare, you need to just not throw two or three spears. We've been praying with each other, beside each other. It's powerful. It's beautiful. seen some of you guys get in a football huddle and pray and some of you ladies join up. I want you to do something apostolic because when the Bible talks about laying hands on people, it's not talking about a pat on the back. It's not talking about a high five. It's talking about lay your hand on their head. I know it puts some of us out of our comfort zone, but this is warfare we're in. We got a few more spears of prayer to throw tonight because there's somebody here. I I I I feel you. You're here. You're that close from receiving the Holy Ghost. I don't know who you are or where you are, but you're right there. And so, we're all going to go to war one more time. We're all going to pray in the Holy Ghost. And if you've never received the Holy Ghost, you just lift up your hands and begin to worship God. And God's going to fill you with the Holy Ghost on the first night of Strong Tower. You ready? Turn around to somebody. Lay your hand on their head and pray for them in Jesus' name. Take authority. Pray a big prayer. Pray a bold prayer. Go pray some little wimpy sleepy prayer. Go to war. Apostolic. Go to war now. Receive your deliverance in the name of Jesus. Receive your healing in the name of Jesus. Receive the Holy Ghost in the name of Jesus. Receive it. Receive it. Receive it in Jesus name. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat Yeah. Heat. Heat up here. Heat up here. Heat up here. Heat. Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat up Heat up here. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat up Heat up One final time, let's all lift our hands across this room. Come on. With any out without any aid of any musical instrument. I wonder if we can lift up the most powerful instrument and that is our tongue tonight. Come on. I wish we could lift our voices loud enough to where we can hear oursel pray tonight. Come on. And if you haven't received the Holy Ghost right now, lift your voice and give God a a shout of praise right now. Begin to tell God how good he is to you. Make it very personal right now. Lord, I love you. God, you've been so good to me tonight. God, I look back over my life and realize what you've kept me from and realize what you've brought me out of tonight. And God, on this fight, this first night of Strong Tower, God, I want to lift my voice to you right now and give you praise and worship and glory tonight. Hallelujah. Come on, let's clap our hands all across this room this evening. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.