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Welcome to the War

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This week our church suffered a trauma in the sudden and unexpected death of one of our young leaders. All that knew and worked with him are in a state of shock. Some are living in fear. For many it has been a week of thinking about life in a little different way. Even if you eat right, exercise, and take care of your body there are no guarantees. Life is fragile, there is no promise of another hour, life is to be valued daily. It is God’s gift to us, life and death is in the hands of God.

 

It is most important that we live ready at any given moment to meet the Master. We have no promise of the next breath. We are to live with an expectancy but God does not want us to live in fear. He wants us to live in courageous faith. So what should we do when it seems the sky is falling? God says be courageous in the face of fear. Your courage encourages others to be courageous. Your courage exalts Christ, and it displays God's supremacy.

 

 

 

WELCOME TO THE WAR
Ephesians 6:10-12

 

Series: Meet Me on the Mountain – part 1

 

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." 1 Pet.5:8 KJV,

 

I. Our Struggle in Spiritual Warfare (v. 12)

 

A. Our Struggle is Real

Ideas about Satan usually fall in one of two extremes.

1. Those who do not believe in the supernatural

2. Those who blame the devil for everything

 

B. Our Struggle is Personal

 

C. Our Struggle is Supernatural 

 

D. Our Struggle is Against Powerful Enemies

 

"walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air." Eph 2:2

 

E. Our Struggle has Serious Implications

"We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway [control] of the wicked one." 1 Jn.5:19 NIV

 

Jesus called him "the ruler of the world" in John 12:31 NIV

 

"the god of this age" who has "blinded [those] who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ… should shine on them." 2 Cor 4:4 NIV

 

"to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God." Acts 26:18 NIV

  
Satan is terribly powerful, terribly evil, and terribly cunning.

 

Three of his schemes are… DIVERSION  -  DIVISION  -  DECEPTION

 

Satan doesn’t always attack our weakness he gets us to rely on our strengths instead of God.

 

II. Our Power in Spiritual Warfare (v. 10)

A. The Enemy defeats us when we rely on our own Power.

 

B. We defeat the enemy when we rely on God’s Power.

 

"…He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world." 1 John 4:4

 

III. Our Protection in Spiritual Warfare (v. 11)

 

A. Our Protection Requires Putting on the Armor of God.

 

B. Our Protection Requires Making a Stand

 

Three keys to making a stand against the evil one:

 

• Remember we have been delivered.
• Remember we can’t just send demons away.
• Remember we are strongest when we are weakest

 

 Meet Me on the Mountain