Bryan Samms: Let’s go to Ephesians chapter 6. It is a delight to be here again to see you. Well, I’m just glad somebody wanted to come and listen to some preaching.

I didn’t know if anybody would show up. I figured you heard enough of my redneck lingo in the first service. I’m a little out of place usually up here in the great northern part of the world.

And every once in a while I venture up here and end up in Wisconsin and do some preaching. I was just here a couple weeks ago. I was in Ashkosh and preached up at Northland too.

And so every once in a while I leave the south to come up here and get cold. And then I go home. And that’s about it.

But it’s nice and warm here, at least in the summer. I was preaching at Camp Kobiak last year in February. And that was a real blessing.

And I was at Northland the year before that in February, and that was even more of a blessing. It was freezing cold, the two coldest days of my entire life. And so I just stay in Texas.

That’s where I feel most comfortable. But boy, I hope you came, ready to learn a little bit. Now, I am going to be in super speed demon mode through the entire section of Ephesians chapter 6.

So you’re going to have to fasten your seatbelts a little bit. And really, the goal of this is to give you an overview. And I hope to give you some, we would call these, I guess, hangers for you to get back in Ephesians chapter 6 and go a little deeper.

Because there’s no way that I can do this. I usually preach what I’m going to preach to you in just a few moments in five different messages. So it’s a series of messages.

And I’m cramming it into one. And so I’m going to be kind of cutting and pasting and asking the Lord to help me as I go share some things with you that will be most helpful to you. And how many of you have been to camp or a conference before, made a decision, and then you turn back on your decision?

Can you see, just honestly, you didn’t keep your commitment. I mean, I’m my hands up with you. And for the rest of you, that probably means you never went to camp or you never went to a conference and you’ve never made a decision.

Or you’re perfect, and if you are, I’d really like to meet you. I’d like to learn a little bit about what that’s all about. What I hope to do is, I titled this session, Welcome to War.

And the reason I did that was because when you do endeavor to live your life for Jesus Christ, you have just welcomed war. I want you to know, Satan hates your guts. he hates you.

He wants to destroy you. The Bible says that he has blinded the eyes of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious gospel should appear unto them. The Bible tells us in John 8, 44, he was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there’s no truth in him.

And so it is Satan’s desire, as you well know, to ruin your life. And if he had his will and his way, you would walk down a path that would most displease God and most honor his path or his kingdom. Now, Satan gets most frustrated at us when we start walking in the light as he is in the light.

And so it brings me to the first blanks here on your notes here, and that’s the promise of war, okay? Now, look down at your Bible if you would, in chapter 6. I’m only going to read one verse because we’re going to look at all of them, I’m not going to take the time to read the whole text.

Verse number 10, finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. Now, I’m going to set the stage for you so that you understand that what I’m saying from Ephesians is not just, I didn’t just pull this lesson out of my nose. I didn’t just kind of dig up there and go, oh boy, that’s cool, and grab it.

That’s not what I did. This is really, when you understand the book of Ephesians, you understand why it is that we struggle so many times when we are trying to stand for the Lord. For instance, letter A there teaches us the wealth of the believer.

Now, these three points underneath of number one are the breakdown of the book of Ephesians. Now, this is not original with me. This outline is not mine.

Everybody has their own little outlines of Ephesians, so this is not original. So the first chapter, beginning in verse number 1, chapter 1, verse 1, through chapter 3, verse 20, teach you and me about our position in Jesus Christ. It tells us that we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.

That means we’re in Him. He was the elect of God. We are in Him.

And because we’re in Him, we now sit in heavenly places. Do you realize today that you are as saved, if you’re a Christian, You are as saved right now as you’ll ever be in the rest of your life. You sit right now in heavenly places.

That means you are as sure as in heaven right now as you’re standing here. And it’s a promise to us that we will one day be with Christ, but now we live in the heavenlies. Now, I mean, you’re as sure as in heaven right now.

You’re adopted into His family. Praise God for that. I’m getting ready to adopt a little girl next month.

And boy, I’m excited about that. You know, the thing about adoption that’s so beautiful is you were not a part of God’s family naturally, right? Nobody was.

And God came looking for you when you couldn’t look for Him at all. And He brought you out of an alien family and put you into His family. And what we learn in the first three chapters of the book of Ephesians is, oh, it is wonderful to be a Christian, amen?

Now, come on now, I know you guys are from the north, but it is wonderful to be a Christian, amen? And man, I tell you what, don’t be so starchy that you can’t say amen. It’s okay to say amen.

and the fact is you ought to get excited about being saved I’m not saying that everybody that is excited has to say something about it but you know what you ought to be a little bit excited about being saved and that’s what Ephesians 1, 2, and 3 is all about it’s about the greatness of being saved now chapter 4 verse 1 through chapter 6 verse 9 teach us letter B the walk of believers and he uses the word walk several times for instance let’s just go

there for a minute to chapter 4 verse 1 I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech ye that ye what?

Walk worthy. So there’s the word. Go down if you would.

I know I’m skipping one here, but let’s look at verse 17. This I say therefore and testify in the Lord that ye henceforth what? Walk.

Not as other Gentiles walk. Exactly right. Now, and let’s go to chapter 5 and verse 2.

And what? Walk in love. And I’m not going to read them all for sake of time, but there’s several of them.

Now, walking in the New Testament is a picture of Christian progress. In other words, when you get saved, it is a progress. God saves you once for all.

That is salvation. Sanctification is a progress by which God is changing you into His likeness. Your Christian life should not be stagnant or plateaued.

Your Christian life ought to be a progress of growth. God says walking. We ought to walk in love.

We ought to walk in unity. We ought to walk in contrast. and God is teaching us in chapter 4 verse 1 in chapter 6 verse 9 that once we’re saved there is a way that we ought to walk and we agree with that, wouldn’t we?

I mean, there’s no doubt about it that we’re not saved by what we do but we are saved in order to do something for the Lord if God just wanted you to get saved just to go to heaven you’d have went to heaven the moment you got saved but that’s not why you got saved you got saved so that God could begin a work in you that would be changing you into the image of Jesus Christ walking after him and as a result of that people

would see Jesus in you and God would get the glory for that you see the purpose of your life is for God to get the glory you understand that but the only way God gets glory is when you’re like Jesus when you’re not like him he doesn’t get any glory because you can be like you any day of the week But when you’re like Christ, we know that God’s done a work in your heart.

And so when we’re walking in the light, that’s what we’re supposed to be doing. When we love the brethren, that’s what we’re supposed to be doing. When we’re not walking like the Gentiles walk, which is the way we walked before we were saved, then we’re walking in newness of life and God’s getting glory from that.

Chapter 5 verse 18 says we’re to walk in the Spirit, to be filled with the Spirit. Galatians 5, cross-reference that, tells us to walk in the Spirit. It’s the same thing.

And so God says, as you walk in the Spirit, you’re going to be living for me. Your relationship with your parents will be right. He tells that in chapter 6, verses 1 and 2.

Your relationship with your boss will be right. You’ll be singing praises to God. You’ll be living a life that’s pleasing and honoring to Him.

Now, that’s what God wants from you. Okay? Now, I am saying this today, not because I’m assuming everybody’s there.

I’m saying this, that as you study the book of Ephesians, this is what God expects of you. Now, you put it all together, you’ve got your position in Jesus Christ, or the wealth of the believers. Letter B, once you’re saved, you’ve got the walk, okay?

You’re starting to walk in newness of life. And then it brings us right up to chapter 6, verse 10, the verse that I read for you. So letter C is the warfare of the believers.

Now, there’s no mistake about this, folks, alright? The Apostle Paul is always very clear when he writes. There’s never any, you know, debate about what he’s talking about.

There’s no really discrepancy. Scripture is not of any private interpretation. So when Paul writes here, and he starts out by saying, okay, you’re saved, right?

Chapter 1, verse 1, through chapter 3, verse 20. The next step is that you are walking with me, right? Chapter 4, verse 1, through chapter 6, verse 9.

And then the inevitable result is that Paul now throws up a warning beginning in chapter 6, verse 10, through the end of the chapter, and he says this. Once you’re saved, and once you begin walking with me, you’ve got a battle in your hands. Now, that’s the little box, okay?

The little blocks with blanks there on your notes. Here’s how you can fill that in. Now, I’m not the best with blanks, so if you miss blanks, I’ll give them to you after the session because it’s a miracle I’ve made it so far through this outline, okay?

Here’s what I’m saying. From Ephesians 1-6-20, this is what we learn. Ready?

If you are saved, how many of you are saved? Can I see your hands? Amen.

Amen. Good. You can lower your hands.

If you are saved and you are actively walking with God, how many of you, I know you’re not perfect, and if you think you are, you’re not. So, how many of you, you honestly, you know you’re not everything you need to be, but you are endeavoring as best as you know how to spend time with God. You’re walking with God.

Can I see your hand? I mean, you’re trying. Okay, good.

Lost a few of you there. That’s okay. And you’re actively walking with God and, here’s the next blank, living for God.

So, I’m saved. I’m walking with God. I have a personal relationship with Him.

And now I’m living for God. I’m trying to make personal choices every day to honor and please Him. Here we go.

You can’t expect a battle. And that’s what the book of Ephesians is all about. Here it is, young person.

You come to the revival conference this week. You get on your face before a holy God after last service, and you say, God, I want to do this. I want to live for you.

I want to honor my parents. I want to do what’s right. I want to get rid of the junk.

I want to honor you. I want you to be first. Listen, the moment you do that, you just declared war.

And when I see young people, and I’ve been preaching at camp now for several years. This is my fifth year working at one camp all summer. I preach to literally thousands of teenagers every year.

And so I know what’s going on. I see them. I talk to them.

I counsel with them. I hear them talk, and I listen, and I put it all together, and I realize what’s happening. I was sitting with a 19-year-old boy that just graduated from high school, came to camp a few weeks ago.

And on Friday afternoon, he sat down in my office and he said, Brian, right before I came to camp here this summer, on Saturday night, I went out to a party and I got drunk with my friends. And he said, I’m just not sure if I can do what God’s expecting me to do. And I said, why?

He said, I’ve been coming to camp here since I was in seventh grade. And he said, every single year I come here, I make decisions, I leave, and at two or three weeks into these decisions I’m trying to keep, I fall flat on my face. And here I am, a 12th grader, just graduated from high school, and I’ve been to camp five years in a row, and Brian, I’m telling you, I just got drunk this weekend.

Now, here’s a guy that is living in a dilemma, okay? Here’s the dilemma. I’ve been to camp.

I’ve made decisions. I’ve prayed. I’ve even cried.

You’ve been there? I’ve felt bad, right? I’ve been emotional.

I’ve went home and they gave me the Bible verses and I stuck them on my mirror and I tried to memorize them and I tried to do my best. And Brian, it just doesn’t work. That’s what he said.

And it all came back to a head to me as I was studying through this passage. No, it’s not that you can’t do it. It’s that you’re not ready for it.

Here’s the difference. If you go home from this conference and you are not expecting Satan to attack you and you’re not expecting that now that you’re saved, now that you’re walking with God, you’re not expecting that Satan is going to put his bullseye right on your heart and come after you, then as soon as you get home and try to implement this stuff, you aren’t ready for the satanic attack and he’s going to knock you right off your horse.

but if you would leave this conference fully aware that whenever I am living my life to honor God Satan doesn’t like that and he’s going to come after me then in turn you can be prepared for what’s ahead and so what I’m going to try to do over the next few moments is try to help you be prepared for the inevitable battle that’s definitely going to wage in your soul okay Alright, let’s go to number two and this will help us get started.

Number two here is the possibilities for the war. I’d like to set you up by giving you a little bit of hope here so that you can see that it is possible. Notice chapter 6 verse number 10.

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Notice this. Put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

So, the apostle comes in And he says, guys, there’s going to be a battle Okay In this battle, I want you to draw some encouragement first That if you are strong in me and in the power of my might You may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil Now, I’m not going to try to be too technical here First of all, because I can’t be Because I’m not that smart, okay Second of all, I don’t want to confuse you But there is a

point of grammar here That will help you understand what’s going on, okay Now, if you think you struggle with English, okay, I grew up in West Virginia, and I went to a West Virginia public high school, okay?

So I know all your problems, all right? I spent four years of Bible college studying speech, trying to help myself not say stupid things that don’t make any sense. And I had to learn Greek to learn English, and so that’s kind of where I’m at, okay?

So if I lose you, don’t worry about it. But in Greek, okay, the language that the Bible was written in, there are different moods of verbs, okay? Now, not like you have pity parties for yourself and not girls, you open up the chocolate box because you’re having a bad day.

That’s not what I’m talking about. But a mood is the type of verb we’re doing. For instance, does anybody know what an imperative is?

What’s that? It’s a commandment, okay? That’s a mood in the Bible.

That’s an imperative. It’s a commandment, okay? There is the indicative mood, which simply means it is the mood of action.

It’s ongoing. It’s something that’s occurring. There’s another mood called the subjunctive mood, okay?

Now, the subjunctive mood is what the Bible teaches us. It is the mood of potentiality. And many times in the Bible, when that mood is translated, it is used, for instance, in verse 11, these words are used.

You may be able. And the idea is this. When you see something like that, what God is saying is it is possible for you to do what I’m asking you to do.

See, subjunctive mood teaches me there’s potential. It’s possible. It’s not inevitable, but it’s possible.

And so what God is saying here is this. The first outset principle that you have to understand is it is possible for you to win. God said, thanks be to God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ.

The Bible says, thanks be to God that always giveth us the victory. And the wonderful thing is here, and I know they’re going to talk a lot more about this tomorrow in the meeting, but I think it’s pertinent for us to understand, you are already a winner. I mean, Christ has won the battle for you.

You realize that when Jesus Christ was on the cross, he said, it is finished. Now that word, it is finished, is a beautiful word. A painter would sometimes use that word.

He would get done with his painting. He would put the final touch on, sign his name, and he’d step back and he’d say, It’s finished. A servant would get a task list from his master.

His master would say, I want you to go into town and do these certain things. As the servant would do it, he would check them off. When he would check the final one off, he’d give it back to his master and say, It’s finished.

A soldier in battle, as a captain would win the battle, he would stand up on top of the defeated enemy as they were fleeing back to their place and they had lost, he would stand up on the battlefield and say, it’s finished, we won. A craftsman would be working on a project. He’d get done with it, he’d carve the final detail, and he’d step back and say, it is completed.

Now, at Calvary, Jesus Christ won the ultimate victory over Satan. And what the Bible says is if you’re strong in Him and in the power of His might, then you can win the battles yourself. They’re already won.

And so, young person, don’t you hear this all the time? I don’t know if you’re familiar with this or if you hear this. Some of you, maybe not from great families, and so you may have heard this yourself from your own parents.

You may have heard stuff like, well, they’re just going through their teenage years. You know what that is? It’s an excuse for rebellion.

Or how about this one? Boys will be boys. As if, because you are a male, M-A-L-E, you had some kind of special license to do stupidity.

Hey, listen, those are all fleshly statements. Hey, just because you’re a boy doesn’t mean you have to be an idiot spiritually. Amen?

And not every teenager has to go through a stage of rebellion. those are worldly philosophies it does not have to be true why?

because if you’re strong in the Lord and the power of His might the victory is yours so listen young person you don’t have to leave this conference going well man the reason I didn’t go forward in this afternoon service is because I’ve done this a hundred times and I’ve fallen on my face hey that’s a defeated attitude the right attitude is this hey if I do what God wants me to do and I’m strong in Him we’re going to find out what that means here in

just a minute I can win the victory and you should win the victory let me ask you a question can you imagine standing at the judgment seat of Christ ok let’s just imagine this we’re all going to be there you’re going to give a personal account of your life before God every one of you let’s say you die when you’re 18 now God forbid I hope that doesn’t happen or let’s say Jesus comes tomorrow and you know you’re all teenagers ok alright if Jesus Christ comes

again I believe from the book of Revelation that we’ll be at the beam of seat immediately.

Okay? Now, let’s imagine that Jesus Christ comes again, or you die, and then you’re standing at the beam of seat after the rapture. Okay?

Now, you do that. You are standing in front of Jesus Christ. Nobody else is there.

You and God alone. And God is asking you, why didn’t you live for me as a teenager? No, no.

Let’s make it more personal. Why didn’t you get right with me at the revival conference? You raised your hand.

But then when invitation time came, you kind of stood there like you’re a pillar of salt or something. I mean, you know. Now, God asks you, why didn’t you get right with me at the revival conference?

And can you just imagine this? Well, I’m a teenager. I mean, God, boys will be boys, you know.

Can you imagine that? You think how stupid that sounds in front of God? That’s how stupid it sounds right now.

That’s not the issue. You can win.

now let’s go quickly to number three and obviously we’re just scanning some highlights here but number three is the reason that there are possibilities to win the war is let is because number three is is because of the power for the war okay now the notice back in verse 10 finally my brethren be strong in the lord and in the power of his might and so letter a there tells me something about this power it is awesome power okay the battle the i mean excuse me

the power for the battle is His power.

Now folks, let me ask you a question. Is there anything too hard for the Lord? Okay, is there any sin that God can’t get victory over?

Of course not. Is there any heart that God cannot break? No.

I mean, when God said in Luke 1.37, with me, nothing shall be impossible. Does anybody know what he was talking about there? Something that was really impossible.

Yeah. Yeah. The Virgin birth of Jesus Christ?

Now folks, I know not everybody may be up on human anatomy. That’s impossible, okay? And what the Bible is saying is you take the most impossible situation and it’s not impossible with me.

And so what the Bible is saying here is you’re not focused on your own power because when it comes to fighting the spiritual victory, you’re fighting it in my power and that’s awesome power. And then it brings me to letter B and this is the exciting truth. It’s available power.

you ever thought about this you have access to God’s power on your life you now I’m going to get technical again for a moment but you have to see this okay now you say well preacher how do I access this power okay it’s available to me how do I get it now again I’m going to be technical here but if you can grab a hold of this it will change your life okay Here, look at this. Verse 10, be strong in the Lord.

There’s two amazingly interesting things about this verb, be strong, okay? Number one, it is in the imperative mood, which means what? It’s a command, okay?

Okay, if there’s a commandment, what is our responsibility with commandments? We’re to follow or obey, right? Okay, now what’s even more interesting about this particular commandment is that it is a passive voice commandment.

Now, let me get technical again, but this will open your eyes if you see this, okay? An active voice command is like this. Johnny, hit the ball.

Okay? That’s active. Johnny, the subject, is performing the action on the ball, right?

Okay. Now, this is passive voice. Johnny was hit by the ball.

Okay? Johnny was still the subject, but he was receiving the action. Okay?

Now, you explain this to me, how this makes sense. I am commanded to do something, but it is someone else doing it for me. Now, I know that’s deep for a second, but now you’ve got to think about this.

God tells me to do something, and then when I do it, it’s not me doing it. It’s somebody doing it for me. Now, you know what that means?

Here, listen. Listen. Now help me.

Don’t miss this. Listen now. The access to God’s power on your life, don’t miss this, is obedience.

Now the reason some of you will miss this is because you’ve thought things like this. I would witness if God would strengthen me. You know what?

That’s nonsense theology. Okay. Okay.

Here I am. Let’s see. God help the flowers to grow in my garden while I stand here.

Now you can be, you can think whatever you want to think about God and sovereignty and whatnot, but I’ll tell you this. You’re not going to grow any flowers unless you get down on your hands and knees, dig up a trench, plant some seeds, and water them. Amen?

Now who gave forth the flowers? You or God? Be careful now.

Who? God, of course. but did God give them without you getting down and planting them and watering them?

Answer, no. This illustration is given to us in the Old Testament when God said to the priests at the river of Jordan He said, when your feet hit the water with the ark of the covenant I will divide the water. They walked up to it with the ark, did they not?

They stepped on the water when they stepped on the water the water parted. Question, who parted the water? God, who stepped in the water?

The priest. Okay? Naaman was told by God to dip seven times in the muddy waters of the Jordan to be cleansed from his leprosy.

He got dunked, baptized, man, seven times. He went down, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Question.

Who cleansed the leprosy? Who dunked in the water? I can do all things through Christ.

you see I am obeying he is strengthening the bible says in Romans chapter number 8 it says the spirit makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered who prays I pray but who prays for me the Holy Spirit but he doesn’t pray for you when you don’t pray even when you don’t know what to say he’ll pray for you but you gotta pray even if you don’t know what to say Galatians 2.20 I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet, not I.

But Christ lives in me. Who’s living? Well, I’m living, but who’s living through me?

Christ. And see, what the Bible teaches us, young person, is this. So many young people are waiting for God to give them some kind of supernatural, weird, fuzzy zap from heaven that somehow empowers them to do a task.

That’s not the way it works. When you make a decision to serve Jesus Christ, let’s say, for instance, about your parents, okay? I figure some of us made decisions about that in last service.

Now, you made a decision to honor your mom and dad, or to obey your mom and dad, or something like that. When you go home, it’s not like all of a sudden, you’re just going to be zapped with love and ishy-gushy, nice ways to talk to your parents, okay? Especially while you’re sitting in your room with your iPod jammed in your ear playing video games, not even talking to them.

It’s not going to be transmitted somehow through you. But as you endeavor to go and apologize, first of all, get things right, second of all, and then endeavor to actively have a proper relationship with your parents while you’re endeavoring to do that, when you’re even thinking this is hard, this is unbelievably difficult, but as you take the steps to mend that relationship, that’s when God does it through you. but not until you go and until you work.

For instance, let’s say that you really, truly struggle with your thought life. And most guys, and sad to say, even girls in this day and age, it’s unbelievable some of the garbage that’s going on. You have the access to the internet.

You have unlimited access to all the garbage in the world you’d ever want to get to. Now, we’re going to talk more about the mind tomorrow and tomorrow afternoon’s workshop. So if that’s something you’re struggling with, I invite you to come.

I hope it will be a help to you. But I have learned this. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word?

With my whole heart have I sought thee. O let me not wonder from my commandments. Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.

Now, the Bible is explicitly clear that the way to conquer sin is through the word of God. Now, let me ask you a question. If you don’t wake up tomorrow morning with a specific focus of sin in your life that you’re trying to get the victory over, and you don’t actively take God’s Word and hide it in your heart, you know what that would require?

Here’s what it would require. It wouldn’t just require you today saying, I need to memorize some verses. No, it would require you to get up tomorrow, grab an ink pen, grab a three-by-five card.

On the lying side of the card, write out a memory verse. On the blank side of the card, write the reference. Go throughout the day and read it and study it and meditate on it.

And then by the end of the day, you have a verse in your memory. Then when you get up on the next day, get up and review it again so that the next time you’re tempted to do what’s wrong, you have God’s Word in your heart. And as you’ve hid it in your heart, God then will give you the grace to do what you ought to do.

That’s how God works. So you’re strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, but the access is obedient. You’ve got to obey the commandment.

You’ve got to be strong. You’ve got to take the stand. Now, the way the rest of the passage will unfold, and this is where we’re going to have trouble getting through, is that there is a posture for the war.

Okay, that’s number four. Okay, you’re saying, preacher, I understand this. I’ve got to be active in my obedience to the Lord.

As I’m obeying the Lord, He will give me the strength that I need to do His will. That’s exactly what God teaches us. Now, this is how it all comes together.

And the posture for the war, I want you to see this, and if you’re in the habit of marking your Bible, I’d like to have you mark your Bible in a few places here, because I think this will really be a help for you in the future. Okay, verse 11. Put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand.

Would you circle that word or underline it, whatever you’re most comfortable doing there. Stand against the wiles of the devil. Go down to verse number 13.

Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that ye may be able to withstand. there’s the same word with a prefix on it, with, stand, okay? In the evil day, and having done all to, there’s the word again, stand.

Circle that word again. Now look at verse 14 and look at the very first word in the verse. Stand.

The posture for the war is to stand, okay? Now, I love to run. And I run, depending on the week, somewhere between 15, 23, 24 miles a week.

And I just, it’s my release in life. I go out and I listen to preaching and I run and sometimes I get lost in running. I just love to do it.

It’s something I enjoy. But every once in a while, I like to cross train too. You know, do some, and I don’t really do a lot of weights.

I’ll do push-ups and stuff like that. But every once in a while, I’ll run across somebody else that does something cool, Some kind of sport. Now, I love basketball.

And so I play a lot of basketball. But I was in Eagle Pass, Texas in a revival meeting. And I was trying to find somebody to cross-train with a little bit.

And you know what cross-train is, right? You run most of the time, but then you do something else to kind of build your muscles and things like that. Okay.

Anyways, just making sure. There was a guy in the church. And this is Spanish-speaking.

Well, not really Spanish-speaking, but on the Mexico border down in Texas. And he was a boxer. Now, I thought, oh, no big deal, okay.

He wanted me to come to his gym and train in boxing. Now, he had his own gym in his house. I mean, this guy was serious business, okay.

He had a heavy bag. He had a speed bag. He had the little bag that he had little strings coming out of with tennis balls so that when you hit it, the ball started flying around your head, and it was trying to teach you how to duck and slip punches and things like that.

So, I mean, I’m in there and I’m thinking, oh, this is no big deal, man. I run three or four miles a day. This will be no problem.

I get in there. He’s got his little clock. And he says, okay, okay, we’re going to do a three-minute round right now of jump rope.

I said, okay, three minutes of jump rope. He said, go. I’m counting in my mind.

That’s how I jump rope. I’ll count how many times I’ve skidged. Man, I got to about 50.

Man, I’m burning. My legs are burning like crazy. I’m going, man, is this time almost over?

Well, I hit my leg the first time and I looked and I said, How much time’s left, man? He’s like, we’ve been doing this for 45 seconds. I’m going, are you kidding me?

So, man, I started skipping again. And we got done three minutes. He said, okay, one minute break.

That’s what they do in boxing. You fight for three minutes. You sit down for one minute.

So I said, oh, man. And boom, as soon as I thought I was getting just a breather, we jumped right back in. Another round of three minutes right back to back.

We did three rounds of three minutes of jump rope in a row. And then we started punching the bags. Now, I’m telling you, folks, I was about to die, okay?

I jumped on the speed bag first. Now, anybody ever has a speed bag? Has anybody ever done that?

Okay. A speed bag is the little one that hangs from the ceiling, and you just kind of do this number with it. Well, it’s trying to teach you a little bit of speed with your hands, but also to build endurance up here in your shoulders.

Because you have your… I’m so short, obviously. That for me, my elbows were like above my head.

Well, man, you just hold… All you got to do is just stick your hands up and hold them in the air for three minutes and your arms are going to get tired, let alone doing this number the whole time. I mean, I did that for three minutes.

Then I got over to the heavy bag and he was teaching me how to, you know, jab and then cross and then hook. And for three minutes I had to do three punch combos. For three minutes I just had to stand there and jab with one arm.

Three minutes I did the other arm. Three minutes I did what he called just a flurry. And a flurry was just you just go nuts, hitting the back.

I had, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, you know, no breathing. And man, I’m telling you, I was so wore out. And then he wanted to spar.

I was thinking, man, I’m about to die here. So when we got to sparring, we really didn’t hit each other very much. I kind of stood there and he said, no, no, no, whoa, whoa, whoa.

He said, if you stand like that, I would knock you down in one punch. I’m thinking, oh, yeah, right, yeah. Well, he showed me how to stand.

And he said, Brian, you can’t stand like this. He said, you’re right-handed, right? He said, yes, so you’re going to lead with your left hand.

I said, yeah. He said, you’ve got to lead with your left foot. He said, your feet have to at least be shoulder-length apart, and your lead foot needs to be in front of your back foot so that you have some leverage.

That way, when someone hits you, you don’t fall down. You’re braced for it. And then it started making sense.

He said, Brian, in fact, it doesn’t matter how strong you are, how fast you are. If you don’t stand right, you’re going to get beat. Don’t miss this.

If you don’t stand right in the Christian life, you’re going to get beat too. The most important thing about you fighting the devil in this battle is learning how to stand. Now, there’s several ways to stand.

You’ve got four blanks there, and I’m not sure how far we’re going to get, but we’re going to do everything we can. Okay, number one, letter A, stand against. You find that in verse number 11.

Put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Now, here’s the first part of standing. In order to stand for God, you have got to understand, no pun intended, what it means to stand against.

Stand against what? Stand against the wiles of the devil. Hey, the first person you’ve got to stand against is the devil.

That’s a pretty big job, isn’t it? Stand against the devil? No, actually, not stand against the devil, stand against his what?

Wiles. Let me explain to you real quick what wiles are, and then we’re going to teach you a little bit how to stand against it. Wiles, the word, means strategies.

In fact, it has almost a slithery, crafty, cunning connotation with it. It literally means trickeries that have the intention of tripping you up and causing you to fall.

now Satan has wiles against you and the way to not get defeated in this battle is if you’re going to stand against his wiles you have to understand what his wiles are right now I’m going to simplify this and then you’re going to have to study a lot more for yourself because I don’t have the time to get into this but if Satan has trickeries you better bet this in 2 Corinthians God says we are not ignorant of his devices so what the Bible teaches us

is this it is possible for you as a teenager to not be ignorant of God’s devices so if we’re not to be ignorant of his devices that means we’re not to be non-understanding of his ways and did you know that in the Bible God exposes Satan’s ugly head for what it is so you can go to the Bible young person you can learn Satan’s strategy and therefore you cannot fall.

Now, let me make this statement and then I’m going to explain it and then I’m going to get into a little bit of details and we’re going to have to move on. Satan’s number one strategy, whatever it is, it is always an attack on your faith, your basic faith in God. For instance, you heard this this morning, so I’m not going to take time to do this.

You heard clearly this morning in Genesis chapter 3, Satan’s attack on Eve was an attack on his word. It was an attack on the consequences of sin. And it was an attack on the goodness of God.

It was a basic attack on her faith. In fact, let’s go down to the text a little bit further here. And I want you to see this again in verse number 16.

Notice this. Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. Now, the preposition, or excuse me, whatever those things are called, definite articles, The the wicked speaks to the wicked one.

So the fiery darts in verse number 16 are specifically, hear me now, they are the attacks of the evil one. Now notice, in the armor, what piece of armor are you to use to fight off the attacks of the evil one? The shield of what?

Oh. So whatever his attacks are, they can be conquered by faith.

for instance in Luke the Bible says that Simon had told the Lord that he wasn’t going to turn against him but the Lord looked at Simon and said Simon, Simon Satan hath desired thee that he may sit thee as wheat but then the Lord said but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not so young person here’s the bottom line you have got to have rock solid confidence and faith basic belief in God or Satan will trip you up and you will stumble.

What does that mean? That means that you cannot have a casual attitude towards your relationship with the Bible because if you don’t know your Bible you’re going to get hammered. How in the world can you stand against the attacks of Satan on your faith when you don’t know the Bible enough to have the right kind of faith in it to understand what he says.

I mean, it cracks me up. I’m not going to get through everything anyway, so I’m just going to start throwing some stuff out here to you. I hope it helps, and God bless you if it doesn’t.

I was in a Christian school in Myrtle Beach. It was quite a sacrificial trip, I must admit. I preached all day and played golf every afternoon.

It was pretty and kind of fun. But anyways, I was there, and the administrator asked me to specifically come and preach a series of sermons on music. Now I thought, oh brother, oh man.

I mean, are you wanting me to get my head ripped off or what? Because I knew the school. And this wasn’t a very good school.

I mean, they had kids from every denomination. They even had some Roman Catholic kids. They had all kinds of new evangelical, I mean, just every gamut of type of believer or unbeliever or whatever that you could ever imagine.

And I knew they had some faculty that were from Church of God backgrounds. I knew that I was walking into a Den Alliance, man, preaching on music. You want to get people mad at you?

Preach on music. I’d get you mad at me, probably, if I preached on it long enough. The fact of the matter is, in this room, there are probably about as many people as there are in this room, probably about as many different philosophies of music.

I mean, seriously, it’s just amazing how many different people have different philosophies of music. But I was preaching the basics. I mean the basics.

By the way, did you realize, this is a side note on Satan and his attacks, Satan is the God of this world, right? God says, love not the world. Amen?

So if the world has music, which I believe it does because Satan is also musical. Did you know that? He was created with pipes and tabrets which are a woodwind instrument and a percussion instrument.

I believe that before Satan fell, he was the worship leader in heaven. So, let me ask you a question. Do you think it’s possible that if Satan is musical and Satan is a deceiver, that Satan could be deceiving believers through music?

Okay, and if that’s true, then could we identify Satan’s music? Well, if we’re going to identify Satan’s music, we have to know what Satan’s all about. We know what he’s all about because he’s the God of this world and his world has a message, does it not?

Live for the pleasure of the flesh, live for the lust of the eyes, and live for the pride of life. So there’s basically two things here. If Satan has music, then his music will teach you one of two things.

Number one, live for pleasure. Antinomian. Do whatever you want to do, man.

Number two, live without restraints or rules. Rebellion. Anarchy.

Antinomianism and anarchy. Now, it would not take a rocket scientist to prove to you today that rock and roll music in every form teaches those two things explicitly. So this is what I’m preaching.

Now, if you’re upset with me now, that’s probably because a mosquito could stand on your nose and kick your eyeballs out. I mean, you’re not thinking, okay? I mean, folks, the fact of the matter is music, in some regards, is so black and white.

I mean, I had kids. I mean, I am preaching this, okay? And I mean, kids are so mad.

I mean, because I’m calling their stuff out. I mean, I told him, I said, Snoop Dogg’s an absolute pervert and wicked. I mean, I just blasted it.

And I told him why. He talks about smoking weed, getting drunk, and having illicit relationships with multiple women. That’s ungodly, is it not?

Well, sure it is. I mean, is that not just simple? That’s basic, right?

And I mean, man, after the session was over, I said, now, if you have, and this was a mistake, if you guys have questions, you can stick around. I was literally there all day long in the chapel talking about questions. And man, I had a guy stand up and he said, he said, well, I don’t, I listen to Snoop Dogg and I like him and da-da-da-da-da.

And I said, that’s fine. Tell me why. Well, I mean, yeah.

I said, no, no, no, no. No, tell me from the Bible why it’s okay to listen to Snoop Dogg. And then I even took a step further and said, let me ask you a question.

Have you even ever taken the time to, instead of just running your mouth, and I did say that, instead of just running your mouth to sit down and read your Bible about music? Uh. Uh, no.

I said, until you have even taken the time in your spiritual life to study the Bible on your own, please don’t argue with me because I’m using the Bible. You say you’re mean. I’m not being mean.

I’m just trying to prove a point that if you don’t have your faith in the Word of God, Satan is going to have a heyday kicking you off your spiritual horse every single day of your life. Don’t go making decisions about music until you know what God says. Don’t go making decisions about your Christian life and what you want to do with your Christian life unless you have certain things about God you believe.

And if Satan knows you don’t have any faith in God, you don’t have any basic fundamental beliefs about God, He’s not worried about you. He’s just going to have a heyday with you. Guys, listen.

You have to stand against the wiles of the devil. The only way to do that is to have faith in God. Okay.

Is that fair? All right. Good.

Anybody disagree with me? Not too bad. It doesn’t matter.

All right. Number two. You ought to stand alert.

Stand alert. Okay? Notice, if you would, verse 13, Wherefore, take unto you whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day.

Now, no doubt every day is an evil day because the world hates God. Okay? But notice again, we stand in what?

The evil day. I believe we’re dealing specifically here with a specific evil day. In other words, an evil day that would be tailor cut for you.

And when I say stand alert, I mean this. You’ve got to be prepared for your weaknesses. There are days of more particular temptation.

And by the way, there are sins of more particular temptation for you than there are for me. By the way, there are different ones tailor-made that girls struggle with more than guys, and there are definitely ones that guys struggle with more than the girls. There are some that older teenagers struggle with more than younger teenagers struggle with.

By the way, there are some that you struggle with that nobody else in your youth group struggles with. And you know what? You have to understand where you are spiritually.

And you have to have the spiritual hear me guts to identify where you’re weak. Because if you’re not ready, if you’re not alert in your evil day, Satan is just going to bump you out of the way and you’re not going to be ready for it. I’ll just be frank and honest with you here, okay?

I have made two major decisions in my ministry that I believe have changed the face of my personal integrity. Number one, I told you I was a runner. I love to read Runner’s Magazine.

I love it. Runner’s World. I mean, I just, I like talk, you know, reading about all the, you know, tree bark you can eat to make you strong and all those sort of things.

I love it. I love to learn about, I’m just kidding, learn about endurance. And every time I would travel in the airport, which I do frequently, I would always go to the little newspaper stand and buy a runner’s magazine.

Every time. And I, honestly folks, I did it with the most innocent intention, honestly. But when I would walk into the newsstand in the airport all by myself, which I travel when I fly, I travel by myself, I was tempted to look at things I shouldn’t look at.

Now I’m letting my hair down a little bit for you, okay? But you know what I did? When I fell hard, I said, that’s it.

No more Runner’s Magazine. In fact, no more bottles of water from the newsstand. In fact, I’m not even walking in there.

Now you say you’re nuts. No, I know my weakness. And until you’re honest enough to get honest about your weakness, you’re going to get kicked on your backside over and over again by Satan.

Second major decision came a few weeks ago. I was in Oshkosh. I don’t even know where it is from here, but anyways, wherever it is.

And I was on my way to Northland. I was in a hotel room by myself. Again, I was flying.

I was traveling by myself. And I was tempted by, I was watching Fox News, but a commercial came on Fox News and it tempted me so hard. And I decided from that moment on, I would not even so much as turn on a TV in a hotel room by myself without my wife.

You say you’re a legalist. I say you’re nuts. I’m trying to live for God.

You know why I did that? Not because I’m a standards freak. Hello?

I don’t want to ruin my life. now until another guy in this room is willing to get as honest with God as that you’re going to lose every single time you say I can go play on the internet if I want to yeah you’re going to lose some of you you can’t handle being there you know what none of us can and the person that goes on unfiltered unsupervised you are a spiritual maniac you’re asking for trouble.

Because if I know most red-blooded men in this room you can’t handle it and you don’t even put yourself in that position. Joseph, what did he say? When Joseph was tempted by Potiphar’s wife he said he hearkened not to lie with her or to what?

Be with her. He didn’t even go around her. You say Joseph is a legalist.

No, Joseph loved God. That’s what Joseph did. So wherever you’re at I don’t know girls it might be that you struggle you’re so tempted to gossip.

you’re so tempted to worry you’re so tempted with just the desire honestly to have attraction from people of the opposite sex and you’re overcome with that hear me, if you don’t understand that’s a weakness you’re going to fall because Satan knows just who to bring your way to give you a little bit of attention to get you to compromise if you’re looking for attention you’re going to get it by some dummy oh she’s cute she’s cute and you know as soon as some guy says that

it’s over for some of you you know why?

I’m just going to be honest with you that’s a God for you you can’t handle it so you know what you need to do? you need to say get lost you’re a loser I mean that’s what you need to say I’m not interested because you know you can’t handle it Now, the evil day, listen, you’ve got to understand that. The evil day means I’ve got to be aware.

I’ve got to be alert. I’ve got to know where Satan is attacking and my time is running out. So let me say, C, you have to stand adamantly.

I don’t even know how to spell it, but I know how to pronounce it. Adamantly. So whatever you come up with is probably better than mine.

Adamantly. And that’s in the verse number 13. Having done all to stand.

What’s that mean? It means when it’s all said and done, I’m still determined to stand. Does that mean you never fall?

Of course not.

it means when you do fall you get up, dust the seed off your britches and get back in and fight some more you’re not determined to never fall you’re determined that when it’s all said and done you’re not laying down, you’re standing that takes adamant it requires for you to be dogmatic it requires for you to do as the book of Psalms says a just man falls seven times and rises up again hey listen guys one of the ways the reasons that young people struggle so

much with stuff I’m talking about you don’t know how to handle a fall.

You know today when I said something I shouldn’t have said? You want to know what Satan tempted me to do? Sit in my seat and not make it right.

Maybe somebody kissed me. No, you know what? That’s stupid.

The minute I fell, it’s time to get it right and go on. What do you think I was going to do? Not preach my workshop this afternoon because I said something I shouldn’t have said?

No! Neither should you. Right?

I mean, that’s the parallel, right? Oh man, I messed up when I was preaching one time. That joined the party.

That wasn’t the first time, nor the last time, nor ever will it be, that I might say something I shouldn’t say in the poll. But you know what am I going to do? Quit preaching?

You said that’s ridiculous. Not as ridiculous as you, when you fall watching something you shouldn’t watch, decide, well, I might as well just give up. Hey, might as well just turn friends back on.

Might as well just watch another season of American Idol. I mean, oh no! Or you miss your Bible reading one day.

No, that’s it. I’m not going to read it for the rest of the year. I mean, it’s over.

Now listen, folks, it’s crazy, but listen. You are a flesh-filled human. Listen, I don’t care who you are.

I don’t care what church you’re from. I don’t care who your dad is. And I don’t care if you’re the president of your youth group.

You are flesh. You are a depraved, sinful, wicked human being with an evil heart that only by the grace of God you ever do anything right. Ever.

And we can live for God by His power, but we can expect that every once in a while we’re going to mess up. Okay? And when you do, you’ve just got to be adamant and say, I’m not going to stay down, I’m going to keep fighting.

Okay? Now, final thing here is that you must stand armed. Okay?

Twice in the text, he says that we are to take on the whole armor of God. Verse 11 and verse 13. Now, there’s several things here about being armed.

Number one, the whole armor must be taken or it’s ineffective. In other words, the armor cannot be just selected. You can’t just say, well, I’m going to take one piece and leave off the other.

God says take on the whole armor, God, because the area that you’re not covered in is the area you’re going to be vulnerable in. You go out there with your sword and you’re going, yeah, man, oh, yeah, let’s go. And you don’t have a helmet on, somebody’s going to cut your head off.

if you’ve got a helmet on but you don’t have a breastplate somebody’s going to tag you in the ribs so it’s important that you have all the armor the second thing that’s important to understand is that the armor is actually putting on Christ Romans chapter 13 says put on the Lord Jesus Christ here it says put on the whole armor of God listen, the armor is Christ and as you, listen, as you are becoming like Christ you are putting him on therefore you’re putting on the

armor therefore you’re ready for battle.

Now I am going to run through this list so fast I don’t even know if you’re going to be able to understand what I’m saying, okay? But I’m going to give you the highlights, okay? Of what these pieces mean.

And you’re going to have to go study it on your own, okay? Number one. Alright, here we go.

Ready, set, go. Okay, verse 15. No, I’m sorry.

I don’t even know where I’m at. Verse 14. Stand therefore, your standing arm, the first piece of armor is the girdle of truth, okay?

I know the truth is not the word of God. Does anybody know why? Because it’s another piece.

Very good. It’s the sword. So what is truth?

Another word for truth is honesty or sincerity. You gird up the loins of your truth by being honest with God. That’s the first piece of the armor.

That means you’re transparent. That means you’re not a hypocrite. The very first step in winning for Jesus Christ is being honest about where you’re at, being honest about who you are, and being honest about your weaknesses, and opening yourself up and saying, God, search me, try me.

If there’s anything in the way of me fighting, I give it up. Okay, alright, good enough? Okay, let’s go on.

And have it on the breastplate of righteousness. We know that the righteousness spoken of here is not salvation. You know why?

Because this is a Christian soldier. We know that it is not glorification because that is what verse 17 is talking about when it says take the helmet of salvation. So what is the breastplate of righteousness?

It is your daily choice of personal sanctification. Go to Romans chapter 6 and study it. It means this.

You’re daily deciding to put off sin, to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you are not taking steps of sanctification to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Christ, your heart is open for attacks. Okay, that’s what that means.

Go to verse number 15. Your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Again, this cannot be salvation.

This is a Christian soldier. So what is the gospel of peace? It’s the peace that the gospel brings.

First of all, I think unquestionably, it is dealing with someone having the assurance of their salvation. Again, it’s on the helmet, right? Dealing with the mind, perhaps.

And so one thing that is unquestionably clear is that if you struggle with the assurance of your salvation, you can never win the Christian battle because you’re always worried about where you’re going to spend eternity. The only way to get victory in this life is, first of all, settle the victory at the cross that Jesus won for you. The person that doubts their salvation can never win the battle, ultimately, because you’re struggling about your faith.

Then I believe the peace also is peace that the gospel brings in relationship to people. You realize that once you’re saved, you can actually live in harmony with other people? You can be at peace with one another?

Hey, this is what we’re talking about. We’re talking about your relationship with your parents and your siblings. You can’t have peace because Jesus is with you.

He lives inside of you. Well, let’s go on. Again, I’m just highlighting.

We’ve already talked about verse 16, so I’m not going to highlight that one. That’s the shield of faith. Verse 17, the helmet of salvation.

This is actually one that is actually interpreted for us over in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. And it says, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. That’s why I know that this is speaking of glorification.

In other words, I fight the battle because I know ultimately I win. Hey, there’s hope in Jesus Christ, guys. And this helmet that I keep on, this helmet of salvation keeps my mind focused that one day I’m ultimately glorified in Christ.

And then the final one is the sword of the Spirit. Of course, it explains itself, the Word of God. But quickly let me whet your appetite for a further study on this.

Two types of swords in the Bible. One is the long sword that you may have seen in a sword fight. Other is more like a two-foot-long dagger.

Okay? The two-foot-long dagger is the Greek word that is used here, sword. A smaller sword.

There are two Greek words for the word word. Okay? One is logos.

That Greek word refers to the whole word. Okay? The second Greek word for word is rhema.

Rhema speaks of a specific statement of Scripture within the Logos. Okay, I’m not losing you, am I? The Greek word, translated word here, is rhema.

Here’s what it means. In the heat of the battle, where you’re in close fighting position against the evil one, against his attacks, you’ve got to take out your little sword, which is the rhema of God, which means that in the specific battle, there are specific weapons, there are specific words from God for you to use. That is exactly why that we are so major on you memorizing Scripture.

You want to know why? Because there are specific Scriptures that you can use to help you in the battle. In other words, just carrying around your Bible, and what do you think you’re going to do?

Like wave it in Satan’s face? No, you’ve got to have it in your heart. and you’ve got to know specific statements of the battle or you’re going to get in the middle of the battle and you’re going to start flipping in trying to find something that is too late.

If you struggle with lust you’ve got to have Matthew chapter 5 right on your heart. If I look at a woman who loves Job, I made a covenant with my eyes how then shall I look upon a maid? Psalm 19 verse 14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in my sight O Lord my strength and my redeeming You’ve got to have it right there!

Because when you’re that close in battle, it’s too late to go digging for something. You’ve got to have it. And so the sword is that for that close battle, those specific statements of Scripture.

Now, I said so much. I’m way over time limit here. We’ve got ten minutes to get in service.

And I hope that in some way, even if one truth helped you, it did just that. It truly helped you. Okay?

Let’s have a word of prayer, and we’ll be dismissed. Heavenly Father, I thank you so much for your word. There’s so much more that I could have said.

Lord, you know the time restraints. And so I pray that you’d be glorified above all things in what was said and done here. In Jesus’ name, amen.

God bless you.