Engaging in Spiritual Warfare as Kingdom Citizens
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Bible Study Guide
Sermon Clips
### Quotes for Outreach
1. "Have you ever fought for something? Have you ever had to fight for something? And I don't mean just like you know a little argument or a dispute but where you really had to like kind of dig in your heels pull your resources together and you knew like this this was going to take everything that you had to be able to accomplish this or do this. I have a friend that was in an abusive relationship for quite a few years and was finally able to get the strength and the courage and ability to remove himself from that relationship and then realized that in some ways the real battle started because as a man with children the system tends to kind of favor the spouse in situations like that in terms of custody and he knew that it was not a good situation with his previous wife and so he had to go through the legal battle of trying to get full custody of his kids which eventually he was able to do but it took years of dedicating his mental space every spare moment that he had a lot of his financial resources to be able to make it through that battle. When we're fighting for something that really matters that's what it takes right?" [24:13]
2. "If we work for peace in our lives, in our homes, in our communities, without being submitted to the Prince of Peace, we're actually getting sucked into the powers and structures of darkness in this world. And Paul doesn't just say pray in general, right? He gives a specific way that we pray. He says pray in the spirit. Again, there's a lot that could be said here, but I'm going to keep it short. Our prayer, there's a lot of things that can motivate prayer, right? We can pray in obligation. We can pray in desperation. We can pray in arrogance. Actually making our prayers making us feel better about ourselves in some way or thinking that we're good enough to do this. But Paul says pray in the spirit. Even our prayers themselves are submitted to Christ as Lord." [34:37]
3. "When you pray, are you going to war? When you pray, do you see yourself standing in full armor pulling down the strongholds of Satan? Pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests for all God's people. We prepare with the full armor that we can pray at all times with all kinds of prayers. We are at war. It requires our whole person. It requires all of our time and our mental faculties. It's the one thing that should be the underwriting thing that influences every other choice you make in life." [36:20]
4. "There is a depth to prayer in communion with God in his spirit. In active participation in the spiritual battle that Jesus has won but has invited us to partner in. That I guarantee you you have not discovered yet. Why can I say that? Because throughout the history of the church, the greatest prayer warriors, those who have dedicated their life to prayer, who have written. And ways that God has connected with them or brought victory or response to their prayers are all in agreement that the more they prayed, the more they found there was to learn about prayer." [34:37]
5. "Our battle is not against flesh and blood. It's against the powers and principalities of this dark and evil world. And so we don't wage war the way that the kingdoms of this world do. Instead we prepare with the armor of Christ, right? We prepare with the armor of Christ. A lot can be said about this armor and a lot has been said. And you can go and look at each of the individual pieces and what they mean. And there's a place for that. But this morning we're going to kind of look at the armor as a whole component." [27:50]
### Quotes for Members
1. "Paul says, put on the full armor from head to toe. Pay attention to the details. It requires our whole person, our whole self. Put on the full armor. But you know too often I think in this passage we stop with the armor. It can kind of, this passage can come off as there's this spiritual battle going on out there. And so put on this armor so you can be safe in here. And wherever the in here is, whether that's for you personally, whether that's churches, that kind of try to protect themselves from some ways, from the evils out there. And then it's so we're safe in here. That's not what Paul's talking about at all. Because he doesn't end with the armor. The armor is actually just preparation and then he continues on in verse 18. And pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests." [31:32]
2. "Paul says just as you pray for everyone else don't think I've arrived or that I don't need prayer anymore I need prayer as well just as you do in your work of proclaiming the gospel with boldness without fear. God we just pray that you would pour your spirit out upon each one of us. God that we would not be so become so comfortable in our pursuit of the things that matter to us in this life that we forget what's most important. God we each need to be reminded that we are in a spiritual battle that there's spiritual warfare going on we pray that you would help us to proclaim the mystery of the gospel fearlessly." [42:16]
3. "There's a practice for this ongoing maintenance that we need to do. Let's mention throughout scripture and there's strong history throughout the history of the church this practice of confession. Right in confession is both confessing what's true. So confessing what we believe about God confessing how we live as as followers and confessing sin. Confessing those areas that we fall short. Throughout the history of the Catholic church confession became this thing that was done with the priest with the individual would go to the priest and confess their sins as a representative of God. And then through the Protestant Reformation there was different ways that confession was understood and still practiced as a community but not with a priest. And as an abaptist we had this understanding that confession was meant to be done in community." [46:27]
4. "And so this year we're trying to recapture that confession, that communal confession in some way. And so we're asking that as you sign your covenant you not only just put your name but that you actually write what's something you want to grow in this coming year. Right and acknowledgement of this is an area that I am weak, this is an area that I am in sin that I'm not faithfully following Jesus and I'm committing myself not just to resigning the covenant as an idea but to engaging in a practice of repentance of actual real change." [46:27]
5. "And so my commitment this year is to is to return to that to repent and I don't know I can't name any specific things that I look at that I'm like this particular activity needs to change but it's more this under writing of everything I do making sure that I'm remaining in prayer that I'm actually praying in the spirit that I'm not just making my own decisions but I'm being fully submitted to Jesus. That in all occasions for all things in all forms of prayer that I'm submitted and committed to Jesus that's my confession that's my commitment." [49:23]
6. "Paul ends with grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love. There is a danger for each one of us that our love for Jesus as we go throughout our lives and slowly grow cold and die. There is a danger for churches that our love for Jesus grows cold and dies. Ephesus is a church mentioned in Revelation that if they don't continue faithfully serving Jesus their lampstand might actually be removed. Grace to those who serve Jesus with an undying love. It's some of the reason that every year we do this practice that we're about to engage in of recommitting ourselves to walking with Jesus as individuals end as a church." [44:33]
Ask a question about this sermon
1. "Have you ever fought for something? Have you ever had to fight for something? And I don't mean just like you know a little argument or a dispute but where you really had to like kind of dig in your heels pull your resources together and you knew like this this was going to take everything that you had to be able to accomplish this or do this. I have a friend that was in an abusive relationship for quite a few years and was finally able to get the strength and the courage and ability to remove himself from that relationship and then realized that in some ways the real battle started because as a man with children the system tends to kind of favor the spouse in situations like that in terms of custody and he knew that it was not a good situation with his previous wife and so he had to go through the legal battle of trying to get full custody of his kids which eventually he was able to do but it took years of dedicating his mental space every spare moment that he had a lot of his financial resources to be able to make it through that battle. When we're fighting for something that really matters that's what it takes right?" [24:13]
2. "If we work for peace in our lives, in our homes, in our communities, without being submitted to the Prince of Peace, we're actually getting sucked into the powers and structures of darkness in this world. And Paul doesn't just say pray in general, right? He gives a specific way that we pray. He says pray in the spirit. Again, there's a lot that could be said here, but I'm going to keep it short. Our prayer, there's a lot of things that can motivate prayer, right? We can pray in obligation. We can pray in desperation. We can pray in arrogance. Actually making our prayers making us feel better about ourselves in some way or thinking that we're good enough to do this. But Paul says pray in the spirit. Even our prayers themselves are submitted to Christ as Lord." [34:37]
3. "When you pray, are you going to war? When you pray, do you see yourself standing in full armor pulling down the strongholds of Satan? Pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests for all God's people. We prepare with the full armor that we can pray at all times with all kinds of prayers. We are at war. It requires our whole person. It requires all of our time and our mental faculties. It's the one thing that should be the underwriting thing that influences every other choice you make in life." [36:20]
4. "There is a depth to prayer in communion with God in his spirit. In active participation in the spiritual battle that Jesus has won but has invited us to partner in. That I guarantee you you have not discovered yet. Why can I say that? Because throughout the history of the church, the greatest prayer warriors, those who have dedicated their life to prayer, who have written. And ways that God has connected with them or brought victory or response to their prayers are all in agreement that the more they prayed, the more they found there was to learn about prayer." [34:37]
5. "Our battle is not against flesh and blood. It's against the powers and principalities of this dark and evil world. And so we don't wage war the way that the kingdoms of this world do. Instead we prepare with the armor of Christ, right? We prepare with the armor of Christ. A lot can be said about this armor and a lot has been said. And you can go and look at each of the individual pieces and what they mean. And there's a place for that. But this morning we're going to kind of look at the armor as a whole component." [27:50]
### Quotes for Members
1. "Paul says, put on the full armor from head to toe. Pay attention to the details. It requires our whole person, our whole self. Put on the full armor. But you know too often I think in this passage we stop with the armor. It can kind of, this passage can come off as there's this spiritual battle going on out there. And so put on this armor so you can be safe in here. And wherever the in here is, whether that's for you personally, whether that's churches, that kind of try to protect themselves from some ways, from the evils out there. And then it's so we're safe in here. That's not what Paul's talking about at all. Because he doesn't end with the armor. The armor is actually just preparation and then he continues on in verse 18. And pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests." [31:32]
2. "Paul says just as you pray for everyone else don't think I've arrived or that I don't need prayer anymore I need prayer as well just as you do in your work of proclaiming the gospel with boldness without fear. God we just pray that you would pour your spirit out upon each one of us. God that we would not be so become so comfortable in our pursuit of the things that matter to us in this life that we forget what's most important. God we each need to be reminded that we are in a spiritual battle that there's spiritual warfare going on we pray that you would help us to proclaim the mystery of the gospel fearlessly." [42:16]
3. "There's a practice for this ongoing maintenance that we need to do. Let's mention throughout scripture and there's strong history throughout the history of the church this practice of confession. Right in confession is both confessing what's true. So confessing what we believe about God confessing how we live as as followers and confessing sin. Confessing those areas that we fall short. Throughout the history of the Catholic church confession became this thing that was done with the priest with the individual would go to the priest and confess their sins as a representative of God. And then through the Protestant Reformation there was different ways that confession was understood and still practiced as a community but not with a priest. And as an abaptist we had this understanding that confession was meant to be done in community." [46:27]
4. "And so this year we're trying to recapture that confession, that communal confession in some way. And so we're asking that as you sign your covenant you not only just put your name but that you actually write what's something you want to grow in this coming year. Right and acknowledgement of this is an area that I am weak, this is an area that I am in sin that I'm not faithfully following Jesus and I'm committing myself not just to resigning the covenant as an idea but to engaging in a practice of repentance of actual real change." [46:27]
5. "And so my commitment this year is to is to return to that to repent and I don't know I can't name any specific things that I look at that I'm like this particular activity needs to change but it's more this under writing of everything I do making sure that I'm remaining in prayer that I'm actually praying in the spirit that I'm not just making my own decisions but I'm being fully submitted to Jesus. That in all occasions for all things in all forms of prayer that I'm submitted and committed to Jesus that's my confession that's my commitment." [49:23]
6. "Paul ends with grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love. There is a danger for each one of us that our love for Jesus as we go throughout our lives and slowly grow cold and die. There is a danger for churches that our love for Jesus grows cold and dies. Ephesus is a church mentioned in Revelation that if they don't continue faithfully serving Jesus their lampstand might actually be removed. Grace to those who serve Jesus with an undying love. It's some of the reason that every year we do this practice that we're about to engage in of recommitting ourselves to walking with Jesus as individuals end as a church." [44:33]
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