When You're Under Attack

If you have your Bibles, you can turn with me to Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 6. I've not been feeling well the last few weeks, and so if I cough a little bit more than normal or sounds like I'm going through it, just know I'm okay. I'll make it through. Michael Jordan played in a in a playoff game with the flu, I think. And so this is just my flu game, okay? So I don't had the flu, okay? I'm not suggesting that. just don't feel 100% today. But God is he's still good and he's still on the throne. Ephesians chapter 6 verse number number 10. How many people know today that it's important to have the whole armor of God on your life? That that we are all none of us in this room are exempt, but we're all going through battles. And the Bible says that we are going through the day of evil. And it matters what we have on us. It matters what we carry. It matters how we stand. It matters how we battle. Amen. Amen. Ephesians chapter 6 verse number 10, Paul tells the church in Ephesus, "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and 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. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual host of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that ye that you may be able to stand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. Today, with the Lord's help, I want to preach on this title. when you're under attack. When you're under attack. Let's do this. Let's bow our heads one more time and let's pray, God, that God's presence would be in this place. Jesus, we love you, God. Thank you so much for, Lord, just the presence that we have felt already so strongly in this place. God, I pray that you would help me today to preach your word. Your word's anointed, but God, I pray that you would bless these lips of clay, Lord Jesus, to preach what you put on my heart to feed these people, God. And I pray for every mind and every heart that's in this house, God. I pray that they would be reminded today about the power that's in you and that you are greater than anything we could ever face. We thank you in advance for the victory. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. And amen. Amen. The prophet Isaiah, he tells us about how our God is the God of line upon line and precept upon precept. This was a reminder for us that God's word is growing inside of us in an incremental process. We don't learn everything overnight. You don't just get filled with the Holy Ghost, get baptized in Jesus name, repent of your sins, and then the next morning you wake up and you have all the Bible memorized. It'd be nice. It'd be nice. I remember when I was in high school, I would pray pray prayers like this. Not necessarily for the Bible. I probably should have been praying that the word would be hid in my heart and that I would have it all memorized, but I would pray prayers like, "God, if you'll just help me on this next test, ABC, B, C, and D. God, I believe you can give me clarity right now in Jesus name. I believe you I would I would pray prayers like, God, just guide the pencil. Just guide that pencil." Now, he doesn't work that way. I wish if he did, I probably would have gone to Harvard and done some other things in life. But he doesn't work that way. But likewise, when it comes to the word of God, you know, we don't just pick it up and have it all memorized and downloaded. Again, it'd be nice. And for some of you in this room, you your IQ is a little higher than mine, and so you're able to pick up on things a little quicker than I am. I know pastors mentioned this before, but there there is a scratch and sniff version of the Bible that I for a long majority of my life felt like I was prescribed to. But it matters that we have the word in our heart. It matters that we understand scripture. It matters that God would help us to continue to digest the word of God. and we understand that that through the word there is obviously doctrine and there is holiness and that God gives us understanding and he gives us discernment as we progress in our relationship with Jesus Christ. That that's why there are people that are born into the church. We don't expect for them to have the same walk and maturity as someone who has been in church their entire life. It it's a it's a process. It's there's progress that that is expected. And so in other words, in his goodness, he allows us to grow in understanding one layer at a time as we step into the fullness and the understanding of who he is. And he he's just that good of a God. He's patient with us. He's, as the Bible says, he is long-suffering. He He's not willing that any should perish. And his goal and his objective is that we would all get to know him better. His desire is for the church not to be living in ignorance of him or his word. He desires for us to know him intimately, for us to walk in a close relationship with him. He wants each and every one of us to have a wisdom and a revelation of who he is. And I'll just say this just to break up any potential myth. God's will is not just for the ministry staff of this church to know who he is. It it's not just for those who have it all figured out that he wants to reveal himself to those people, but it is our God's will that each and every person that is here today that you would get to know him better, that you would have an intimate walk with him and that day in and day out you would have a close relationship with your God. Now, we need the Holy Ghost to help us with this because the world it duels our spiritual senses. It blinds us from the truth. Sometimes we fail to realize the reality that the victory is right ahead of us. How often do we sacrifice the victories that are right there presently ahead of us because all we can see is the trouble and the problems and the fears and the issues of our current situation. That the truth is today is that God declares that there is a reality for us. that that there is a truth for us and that we can experience it. And we know through faithfulness and consistency, we can align our will with his will. But ultimately, I do believe wholeheartedly, God's will is for each and every one of us to understand today, victory is ours. Victory is ours. that that no matter what you're going through that no matter what you're facing, no matter what mountain is presently ahead of you, I believe that God wants to reveal this truth to each and every person that's here today. And that is victory is yours. Victory is ours. Victory through Jesus Christ can be obtained by each and every one of us today. It doesn't today. It doesn't matter what. And listen, I I'm sensitive to say this because I know that every person in this room is going through something. It's an impossibility to be alive and breathing. Why don't you bump the person beside you? Make sure they're still breathing. All right, there we go. You're breathing. It's good. It's an impossibility to be alive here today, to be breathing, to have blood coursing through your body without you going through some type of trial or circumstance. It's an impossibility not to have situations pop up and for issues to arise. But I come today with good news for each and every person. And that is again that victory is ours. And that no matter what you're facing, God is the author of our faith, but he is also the finisher of our faith. He's not just writing a good beginning of a story, but his goal his will is to write that last chapter in your life. His will is to pin the last words that describe your existence on this earth. And I want you to know that that has already been pinned for you. It's found in the book of Revelation. And that tells us that victory is ours in Jesus Christ. It's yours today. His word's already settled. Your last chapter. All you have to do is be obedient to what it is he's trying to do in your life today. You may be in the middle of a battle. You may be going through a circumstance, a situation, but I believe just as bishop to priest preached many years ago, we can have a crazy praised inside of us that despite what we're going through and despite the circumstances and despite the diagnosis, we can praise on credit because we know no matter what we're facing today, no matter what we're going through today, victory is ours. Victory is ours. Victory today is ours through Christ Jesus. I wish somebody today would give the devil a bad day. I wish somebody today would walk out those back doors. You walked in tell between your leg. You walked in feeling defeated. But I wish to God you would leave this place today victory in head, a smile on your face, the joy of the Holy Ghost coursing through your spiritual being. Paul, he in Ephesians, he's writing to a church and I'll just say this. I really enjoy the book of Ephesians. I really enjoy it. some of Paul's writings are typically dealing with disgruntled saints and he's dealing with carnal Christians and he's getting on to people and addressing problems. But I like Ephesians because there's really not any of that. what what Ephesians tells us, it shows us a revelation of who God is, but also what he is doing in our lives. The book in Ephesians here, it gives us an identity, an understanding of who we are and whose we are. That our identity is found in Jesus Christ and through Jesus Christ, we can have unity and we can have holiness. But as Paul is writing this letter to the church in Ephesus, he the first five and a half chapters are you can do this. You're awesome. God's awesome. Through through him, you can you can find purpose and identity and do great things for the kingdom of God. He talks you up. He talks me up. He obviously talks up Jesus Christ. But at the end of this letter, as he's writing the last portion to the church there in Ephesus, after he's told them about who Christ is and what Christ has done for them and the measure of his grace and the fullness of his power and the depth and the width and the height of his love, he starts to tell us in Ephesians 6 that there is still a battle at hand. that that despite how good our God is and despite how good we have it in covenant relationship with him and I want to stop here and just say this. I hope you recognize that living the apostolic life is the best life. That living a life full of the Holy Ghost, walking in holiness, it is the best life you and I could ever ask for. I rebuke the notion that living for Jesus is some kind of hardship. No, it is the best decision I have ever made in my entire life. But Paul, he says, "Hey, just so you know, there's still going to be a battle. You still have an adversary who who wants nothing more than to kill and to steal and to destroy." And I know that not every church in our city will preach this today, but the reality is there is a hell and your soul has an adversary. And he listen, all he wants, he doesn't want to play patty cake with you. He doesn't want to feed you Chick-fil-A and pat you on the back and say you're doing a pretty good job. No, he has one objective and one objective only. That is to kill, to steal, and destroy. He wants to rob you of every identity that Jesus Christ has placed on your life. He wants to rob you of every bit of joy, every bit of peace, every bit of stability that you can find find on rock, our savior Jesus Christ. That is his goal. His goal is to bring some type of discourse between your identity and the harmony that God has for your life. And so Paul, he says, "Finally, brethren, I've told you all the great things. I've told you that that Jesus is for you and you can find identity in him. You can find grace and love and peace in him. But brethren, I want you to know there is a battle for your soul. You're going to be in conflict. You're going to have in essence this wrestling match. It's not going to be a cruise ship that you get to live life on, but you're going to be on a battleship because in order to follow Jesus, it's not going to be just rainbows and butterflies and unicorns. It'd be nice. It'd be nice if you if you got, you know, came to an altar, repented of your sins, got baptized in Jesus name, got the Holy Ghost, and then all of life was just peaches, bluebell ice cream, and that the calories didn't even count when you had it. It'd be nice if you never had any car issues afterwards or no issues that were It would be nice if that's how it was. But we know that's not the reality. We know that that's not what actually happens. We know that when we sign up for this relationship with Jesus, it's not so that we can avoid things. We sign up for this relationship with Jesus because he's the King of Kings and he's the Lord of Lords. He's the great I am. there there is no way outside of following the way of Jesus Christ. And so he says he says, "Hey guys, you you've got to understand, you've got to comprehend there is a battle at hand." And so he tells them, "Hey, there's a conflict ahead of you. But I want you, brethren, to recognize this, and I want you to be strong." Now, when he says, "I want you to be strong," he's not saying, "I want you to be strong in your own ability. He He's not trying to give him a pep talk and saying, "Hey, on your own, you've got this. You you've got the smarts. You've got the talents. You've got the looks. You you've got it all figured out." No. When he says, "Hey, you you have to be strong." He's talking about finding strength in Jesus Christ. He he's not talking about you summoning up some self-will or some self talent or ability or skill set that you can offer the kingdom of God. There were there was a movie when I was a kid called Little Giants about a little pee-wee football team and there was a scene where the run of the team and they were all pretty small compared to the competition but the smallest of the smallest the Gideon I guess you can say of the team. There's a scene where he looks himself in the mirror and he's like, and he says stuff like, "You talking to me? You talking to me?" I think sometimes that's how some folks try to live for the Lord. is like, "God, I appreciate you, but I'm gonna talk myself here in this mirror, and I'm gonna try to convince myself that I'm good enough or that I'm capable enough that I can get through these situations without coming to you." Listen, I need somebody to hear this today. God is not impressed with what you think is your strengths. Your righteousness, the Bible says, is filthy in comparison to him. You you have no strengths to really offer the kingdom of God. the best thing you can ever give the kingdom of God is your obedience. Obedience is always better than sacrifice. Today needs to be the day where you stop trying to look in the mirror and try to convince yourself, I think I can. I think I can. I think I can. And you needed to get to a place spiritually speaking where you say, "I know he will. I know he will. I know he will. I know that I'm going through it. I know I'm facing some challenges. I know I've got some circumstances that I didn't ask for, but I know he will see me through. Paul told the church in Philippi, I can do all things through Christ who strengthenth me. I can do all things not because of my ability. I can do all things because of who he is. The psalmist said, "I will lift up my eyes to the hills from whence comes my help." Where's my help come? He says, "My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved. He who keeps you will not be will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the new moon by night. The Lord shall preserve you from evil. He shall preserve your soul. The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forever more. I wish somebody today would comprehend your help comes from the Lord. Look up. Look up. That's where your help is coming from today. Your help is not, and I like self-help books. I I'm for you getting all the education in the world. But if you want true help in this life, you've got to have a relationship with Jesus. You've got to rely wholly on Jesus. Fully on Jesus. You're not going to figure it out another way. The only thing the only thing that will give you true strength is in Christ Jesus. The old song says it this way. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus's blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus name. Why don't you look at your neighbor and say, "My strength is coming from the Lord." He gives us strength. He gives us strength despite our weaknesses. He still wants to work through us today. He wants to help us when we're under attack to give us the strength that we need to get through the season. The prophet Isaiah said it this way in Isaiah 40:29. He gives power to the weak and to those who have no might, he increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary. Even you guys with all the energy, all the lapr running abilities, even you shall faint and be weary. The young men shall utterly fall. But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like easels eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. It's those who rely on the Lord. I got a lot of I shouldn't say I have a lot of kids. I was about to have a lot of kids. It feels like I have a lot of kids. I've got three kids. That's not a prophetic word. I promise. I' I've got three. I've got three in Jesus name. No more. Lindsay is about Lindsay's about to take a lap right now. It amazes me how much energy they have. It amazes me that they can go hours on hours on hours and hours and it's like non-stop. I wish I had that. But when God's looking at us, he's not needing our physical strength. He's not needing our physical stamina. He's needing us to rely on him. It today I'm talking about when an attack comes on you, we cannot rely on physical stamina or physical strength. We need to rely on the supernatural strength that carries us from battle to battle, war from war, so that we can endure and have the victory in Jesus Christ. Today, victory is still on your side. Today, God has still spoken victory over your life. Ecclesiastes chapter 8 vers4 says, "Where the word of a king is, there's power. The king still speaks healing over your mind. He still speaks peace in your storm. He still speaks calm to your chaos." That's the kind of God we serve. That's the kind of God we serve. He is still speaking words on behalf of his people. Hallelujah. And no matter what you're going through today, no matter what the diagnosis is, I want you to re be reminded today that Jesus is greater. He's greater. Whatever you're facing today, he's greater. What will always be true is that no matter what you're dealing with, he is greater. Well, well, Pastor Wes, you don't know about the diagnosis I received this week. He's greater. He He's greater than the bottle of pills that you're having to rely on. And I'm for medicine. He's greater than the doctor that you've been visiting. He He's great. I'm for doctors, but he's greater. He is the great physician. I want somebody to hear this today. I'm for all the things modern medicine can offer you. But I know that ultimately it's only through his stripes that I shall receive my healing. Look, this is not preacher talk. This is what's in the word of God. Thus sayeth the Lord, you will you shall be healed through my stripes. Some of you have heard from the doctor heart disease, diabetes, and it feels like that diagnosis was a prison sentence on the rest of your life. But I need you to hear this preacher today. The name of Jesus is above every name. He's above every diagnosis. He's above cancer. He's above heart disease. He's above every chronic condition that the doctor could ever. If the doctor says it's unccurable, I want you to hear this preacher today. It's curable. It's curable through Jesus Christ. I'll tell you this too. He cares about the small things as well. The things that you don't even think God cares about, he cares about. The Bible says in Luke 12:7, "But the very hairs of your head are all numbered." Do not fear, therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows. Now, God doesn't have to take as much time with me as he used to, counting my hairs on my head. But he even cares about that. He cares about the small things. He cares about the big things. He cares about all the things in between. Folks, today, there's nothing you are going through that he does not have compassion for. Nothing. Nothing. Whatever is weighing on your mind today, no matter what is causing you to lose sleep at night, I want you to hear this. He is for you, he he's on your side, and he has already guaranteed you victory. Now, I'm going to share this story, and some of you may think this is this is comical. To me, it wasn't very comical, but about three Memorial Days ago, and maybe I've shared this story with some of you before, but this is how God cares about even the small things, okay? The small things. Everybody say small things. He doesn't just care about the big thing. He cares about the day in dayout grind and what we're going through. It was about three It was three Memorial days ago and my family and I, we were going over to my in-laws for to grill and I put Finn, our baby, in the car and I buckled him and I was talking to him just, you know, all those, you know, he was he was basically he was he was about six months old. He wasn't very big and you know, and you're doing you're doing those things that you can only do to like a six-month-old, like you know, the goooo gaga type stuff. And I'm like just really over the top. I don't know. I was just feeling it that I guess I was really excited about that hamburger. But anyways, I'm sitting there and look, I'm not I hope you all understand today. I I'm not trying to like pat myself on the back and say I I'm just the best person in the world. I hope what I'm about to say doesn't sound super arrogant, okay? But I'm typically really good at shutting doors. Like I'm pretty good at it. Like, hey, listen. I some of you maybe, but me, I'm very sufficient. In fact, there has been very few doors in my life that I have not figured out how to close. I'm really good at shutting doors. But on this day, I lost my skill set. I lost my ability because as I'm talking to baby Finn, I grab that door and without moving my hand out of the way, I shut the door. Now again, I'm usually really good at that. I would I would almost say I'm basically the best at shutting doors, but on that day, I was the worst. And instantly, there was a pain that shot through my body. I fell to my knees. I said no bad words. I have witnesses. My fruit was checked on that day. But I looked at my thumb on my left hand and my fingernail was a shade of purple that even some LSU boys would be like, "Wow, that's very purple." And like within just a little bit of time, that fingernail completely fell off. Yeah. Yeah. So I get a some sympathy here. There we go. I like this. And for a long time, my fingernail was just completely off. Well, then one day it started like growing just randomly. Like I'm not not like at the bottom all the way, but like just randomly, okay? And I'm giving you a lot of details here, but for two years, I would just sit there and I would like, God, I would really love for my fingernail to come back. For two years, I'd like, God, I know this is small. This is instant. I would really like for this thing to grow back. I went to the doctor about six months ago and I was talking to my doctor and I love my doctor. This is not This is not Listen, I again, I am for doctors. I like my doctor. I like it when he tells me I'm doing good things. I like those kind of doctor reports. And so I went in and he's like checking all the boxes. Your health is great. Blah blah blah blah. He's like, but let me ask you, Wes, what's up with your thumb? I was like, man, it's my thorn in my flesh, doc. I So what happened? I told him the whole story about how I shut it. And he thought it was funny. And he goes, you know, Wes, I think, let me look at it. He looked at it for a little bit. He goes, oh man, I hate to tell you this, but that fingernail is never growing back. Never. He's like, you you could probably get plastic surgery for it. And I was like, "Well, I don't really want my first plastic surgery experience to be my thumb. I'm saving that for my nose." I was just joking with them. I really don't want my thumb to be the first one. Maybe my second or third, you know, once I've gotten some experience. But anyways, I was like, you know, I'm probably not going to do the plastic surgery. He's like, "Okay, just just know it will never grow back." I was like, "Cool. I get it." Literally, I go home, I tell Lindsay, I'm like, "Hey, babe. Just so you know, you're always going to be married to a guy without a left thumb fingernail. So, hope hope that's not a dealbreaker, you know, like. So, I tell her that. And don't you know, don't you know that as soon as I start I got that diagnosis that my thumbnail would never go back. Within just a couple weeks, it started growing back. And then Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Listen, it's my thumb. I appreciate the hand clap there. And I will show you this after church if you want to see it. But literally weeks after weeks after weeks, I kept looking at I was like, man, this thing is just like it's and it would like get and then would fall off again. And like I'm like, man, this is this we're getting somewhere with this. Well Well, today I'm sitting here and again, this is this is small, insignificant. I get it. But my thumbnail is fully there. Yeah. Yeah. For good measure, I just laughed at the devil today and I clipped a little bit of that fingernail off just to show him that it was still there. What am I trying to say today? I'm trying to say this. No matter what you're facing, no matter what you're going through, no matter if it's small or big, insignificant, or the biggest thing you've ever faced in your life, my God can give you the victory over it. My God has all power. He has all authority. There is nothing he cannot do for you. So be strong. Be strong in the Lord. Be strong, Paul says, but also he says you got to put on the whole armor of God. You got to put on the whole armor. Not not just some of it. Not not just the parts that you think will benefit your life, but you got to put on the whole body body, the whole armor that he wants to put on your body. All of it. All of it, folks. there there there's no compromise when it comes to the Lord. It's either it works this way. It's either all or it's nothing. Our pastor talks about this. He says he's either God of all or he's the God of nothing in your life. You've got to choose. When he says, "Hey, put on the entire armor of God." He wants you to put the entire armor on. And the reason why is if you only put on some, you leave yourself vulnerable. He you put on just the breastplate of righteousness, but you forget the helmet. You leave yourself exposed. Now, if you want a thorough lesson on this, I obviously I don't have time today. Some of y'all were getting worried. I was I was going to pretend like I was going to go through them all, but I'm not going to do that to y'all today. I know lunch is right around the corner, but on our app, you can go and you we did a series in 2024. can listen to a good diagnosis or a good overall view of the armor of God, but we have to put it all on. Now, I want you to hear this today. Just because you have all of the armor on, it does not mean the devil's not going to still try to attack you. You think he's going to give up that easily? No. And furthermore, it doesn't guarantee you that you're never going to get knocked down. I feel like I need a witness in the room. Even though I'm full of the Holy Ghost and even though I I'm trying to do all that I know to do and even though I I've put on a daily basis the armor of God, there there are still days, brother, there's still days where where I'm not at my peak and I get knocked down. But the writer of Proverbs, he says, "A righteous man fall seven times." But what does he do? He rises again. He rises again. Oh, I need somebody to hear this today. The reason you put on the armor of God is because yes, you will get knocked down, but you will never get knocked out. You will never be eliminated. You will have the opportunity to get back up again. Oh, I think the devil's lied to too many people in this room and said, "It's over. It's over. It's over." But I want you to hear this preacher today. Because you have the armor of God over your life, he has knocked you down, but you're not out. Get back up. Get back up. Do it again. Walk for the Lord again. As long as you have breath in your lungs, you are a perfect candidate to get back up on your feet. As long as you're breathing, that means you have another opportunity. You have another chance. You have not gone too far. The devil loves Elas and say, "Well, you've gone Listen, if you only went this far, then God could still reach you. He his arm is not short today, folks. He His grace is not limited today, folks. My Bible says it is fully sufficient." Meaning, no matter what you've done, no matter where you've been, no matter the amount of mistakes you've made, no matter if you are the worst sinner in Murreey'sboro, I want you to hear this today. My God's grace is sufficient for you. Today can be the day of salvation for you. Today can be the day where you walk away from your past and you walk in the newness of his light. Today can be the day. Today can be the day. We got to put on the whole armor of God. And we got to put on the whole armor of God because we're going to have to fight. I'm losing some of you right here. I know this. But you are going to have to fight. Not Not your pastor. We love Pastor Allan. But your pastor cannot fight for you like you can fight for yourself. Furthermore, there are limitations to even what he can do in your life. You at some point, you've got to be willing to fight your own battles. I know I'm upsetting some of you right now. I'm talking about you are going to have to learn how to have a prayer life. You are going to have to learn how to fast. Well, I don't like to f Who likes to fast? Let's talk to that person. You are going to have to worship for yourself. I love our worship team, man. They did a fantastic job today. Fantastic job. But they can't worship for you. They can't worship for you. You've got to praise for yourself. You've got to magnify the Lord for yourself. We all need together to magnify his name. Today, you need to start binding and loosing some things in your life. You need to fight your own battles today. Stop making Oh, I feel this in the Holy Ghost. Stop making excuses as why you're not capable of fighting today. If you're here, you're capable of fighting. I If you're here, you're capable of fighting for your family today. I wish some mama or some daddy who has a prodal back home. I wish some of you would wake up and say, "I still can fight for my kid. My prodal is coming back home." But the devil, he likes to lie to us. I'm about to get carnal here for a second. I hope this is okay. My pastor's in Guatemala. It'll take him a while, you know. Oh, I'm about I'm about to step on some toes here. I can already feel this. WWE or WWF, whatever they call it these days, it's fake. I ain't going to get no help today now. I've lost it. It's not real. But you know what they love to do? Well, I feel this in the Holy Ghost. You know what they love to do? They love writing these scripts where the guy looks like he's knocked out. He looks like he's on the ground and he looks like he's not going to recover and his opponent gets onto him and man, I'm going to get real carnal here for a second. Lord forgive me. That referee will go one, two, and the whole crowd's like, "Is this it? Is it over? Is this where it ends?" And that referee gets up and it looks like it's about to be a three count. Y'all know what I'm talking about. And before that that referee can put his hand back on that mat, you know what that wrestler that that wrestler does? magically gets healed. You know what I wish somebody would do to the devil today? The devil's trying to convince you that you're out, that it's over, that it's done for your life. One, two, three. That's what he wants you to believe today. But this is what I know because you are here. You may be on a one, you may be on a two count, but there has not been a three count for you yet. Today can be the day when you get back up and you say, "I've got fight in me. I've got fight in me. It's not over yet. The fat lady has not sung. My God is still on the throne and he can do a work in my life." Every time Every time you get in the presence of God, you've got an opportunity to get back what's been stolen from you. Every time the Bible says that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. But you can go back to hell today and you can take back everything the enemy's ever stolen from you and you don't have to ask permission. You don't have to. Your God has keys to his house. You go back in today and you take back everything that has been stolen from you. I wish today the redeemer of the Lord would say so. I wish today somebody would rise up and say, "Let God arise and my enemies be scattered." I wish today somebody would get a fight in their spirit and say just because it's been this way for a long time, it's not going to always be this way. Victory is mine. Victory is mine. Victory today is mine. The Bible says, "Greater is he that's in me than he that's in the world." That's not just preacher talk. That's what the word of God says. My Bible also says that no weapon formed against you will prosper. Amen. Can I just say how I'm feeling it today? Let me just say this way. There's nothing the devil can do against you. There's nothing he can develop. There's no scheme that he can come up with. There's no concept that he can cultivate today that can destroy your life. When the Bible says no weapon, it literally means no weapon. It means nothing. It means no diagnosis. It means no loss of job. It means no health scare. It means no mental disease. It means nothing. No weapon, no weapon, no weapon will prosper against me. No weapon means none. In the Greek, no means no. It means no. It means today, no matter what you're facing, no matter what circumstance you're dealing with, it's not greater than your God. Somebody say, "Victory is mine." Victory is mine. Victory today is mine. Today victory is mine for my family. Today victory is mine in my marriage. Today victory is mine in my children's life. Today victory is mine when it comes to my peace and my joy. Today I'm picking up the whole armor of God. I'm going to apply it to my life. I'm going to stand fast in my faith. And no matter what fiery dart the enemy tries to throw my way, I'm going to be able to withstand it because my God is on my side. Ask the musicians to come at this time. Paul says, "We're going to have to battle. We're going to have to war." But his instructions for warfare are very unique. Often times we think in a battle you got to be on that front line and you got to storm. You got to got to be that that front line spear out ready to attack. But Paul when he tells us that we are to battle our instruction today is for us to stand. It's to stand. You know why we get to stand? Because ultimately the battle is not ours. It's his. Today we are not fighting solo. Don't let anybody convince you you're by yourself today. Don't let anybody convince you today that that you're going to have to go through this season by yourself. I reject that. I rebuke it in Jesus name. You are not alone. You're not by yourself today. He's on your side. Today, all you have to do is learn how to stand. If you're not standing, get back up on your feet again and stand. stand. Be willing to fight another round. Be willing to fight until you hear those words, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." Paul said in Ephesians chapter 6:18, "Praying always with all prayer and supplication of the spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints today." His task for us is to stand. And when we stand, what we have to do is we have to begin to pray. Here's the deal. You want to activate the armor of God, you're going to have to have a prayer life. You're going to have to learn how to pray. I'm not today even talking about praying a cute prayer. I'm talking about pray praying a real prayer, a big prayer to a big God who can do big things in your life. When when Paul says we need to start praying, he understands that if we have the armor of God but no prayer life, then it doesn't do us a lot of good. But if we can commit to having the armor of God and having also a prayer life, there are no limitations and nothing we cannot withstand for the kingdom of God. But I also love this at the end of that verse in verse number 18, it says, "Being watchful to this end with all perseverance, supplication for all the saints." Stand our stand to your feet today. Paul says we need to be in prayer. Have the armor of God on. We need to pray. But we also have to do this. We have to look out for our brothers and sisters. I want someone to hear this preacher today. You're a blessed person to be at this church. Not not because this church has material resources. It's not a funding thing I'm talking about today. I'm talking about the fact that just look around this room right now. You're not in this by yourself. The armor of God is great. It's needed. Prayer life is great. But folks, we can't get to a place where we stop being concerned with the brothers and sisters beside us. What I feel like God wants to do today is he wants to remind you, you're not fighting by yourself and you're not just fighting with God on your side, but you also got some brothers and sisters that can link up with you. There's strength today in numbers. There there's strength today in no matter what you've been facing. There's strength in the house today because there are more than two or three gathered today in his name. I believe that today we can pray big prayers as a family of God. I'll tell you this right now. I got to come to a close. I promise I'm getting there. But I believe this. I believe that God wants to show us his dominion and his power today. But he will not do that as long as there's division in the church. You've got to today to decide, are you going to side with dominion and power or you going to side with division? Because division, the separation of the body of Christ, has never been God's will. And I hope this is okay. If you want to have a move of God the likes of which you've never had in your personal life, you've got to get past any division in your heart. And you've got to bind together today with your brothers and sisters in Christ. Paul says, he says, "Hey, with all perseverance and supplication for the saints, you need to be linked up with somebody today. You need to battle with somebody on your side today. You need to fight this fight with somebody right beside you. Today we have a real battle. We have a real opposition. We have a real adversary. But we also have a real opportunity. Today in this place, you have an opportunity. You have an opportunity to get from God what you need in your life. All the ingredients, all the needed things are here today and they're for you. They're on your side. The question is today, are you going to activate it? Are you going to step out? Are you going to fight that fight? Are you going to fight again? Are you going to fight the good fight today? Yeah, you're under attack, but you have the opportunity to get back on your feet and fight again with your brothers and sisters. The just man, he falls seven times, but he gets back up. Today can be a day where you get back up on your feet. Let's bow our heads right now. Jesus, God, I pray, Lord Jesus, that I delivered what you put on my heart today for your people. I pray that today, God, that there would be somebody in this room would understand that the fight is not over. That defeat is not the final chapter in their life. But God, you are still reigning. You are still victorious. God, you are still on the throne. The word of God says, "Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Today, victory is in the house." And God, I pray that today your people would respond to your word. That they would walk in that victory, that we would walk in that strength, that they would walk in that joy and that peace, and they would stay under your authority and your dominion, God. I pray today, Lord Jesus, that you would speak to your people and that victory, God, would flow through this house even while we're under attack. Right now, I'm going to open up this altar. I'm going to ask that you would come forward. Church, it's time to pray.