S6 .E8 -Spiritual Warfare

[00:00:00] Well, hey everyone. Welcome back to the Leadership Lessons Podcast. My name is Daniel Williams. I'm excited that you're with us once again on another episode talking about leadership principles to help us equip us and encourage us at things that got us called us to do for

[00:00:19] him in his church. It is awesome being able to serve Jesus, being able to serve his church. And as we've been sort of rolling through and talking about just the progression of the season last

[00:00:29] episode, which was actually episode 7. I think in the intro I said 8. This is episode 8. But last episode with Eddie Copeland we've been talking about sort of unity and the power of unity. Psalm 133 says

[00:00:42] that God commands a blessing when we walk in unity. We're experiencing that at Calvary Chapel the Palm Beach as a redemption church and Calvary have united to merge. Now listen, there are always preferences, there are always things that don't go your way or opposition to any good

[00:00:58] work. But man God is really blessing the unity that's coming together with our church is merging and united for the gospel. And as we do that not just in the church, but my experiences as churches walk in unity they were not only blessing but there will be spiritual

[00:01:15] opposition because as you get more impact, more blessing, more favor from the Lord and the spirits moving in your life. You're going to have opposition. We know that we wrestle man, not against flesh and blood, but the principalities, the heirs and powers we have the enemies

[00:01:29] of our soul, the world, the flesh and the devil. And today I want to talk to you about spiritual opposition. I've asked a couple of people to share some wisdom on that. We're going to actually

[00:01:38] have two leadership lessons today focusing on spiritual warfare. This is real, this is a part of ministry. And if you've walked with God you're to understand that. In fact Ephesians chapter four and six talks about that. In Ephesians chapter four verse four it's hean. It says

[00:01:55] that we're to no longer be tossed to and fro, right? By the ways and carried by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning and by craftiness and deceitful schemes. There are schemes, deceitful

[00:02:07] things to try to get us tripped up and off course. And we have not only the enemy of our soul, ourselves and the world's screaming at us, but there is a devil roaring like a lion trying

[00:02:21] to devour and destroy us. Now this is not to bring up fear, but this is to bring up awareness. We need to be aware beyond guard. And this is what Ephesians chapter six tells us to do in

[00:02:33] the spiritual warfare. Ephesians chapter six verse 11 says put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. So what I want to do is I want

[00:02:44] you to be aware of spiritual warfare. And I have two leadership lessons by two distinctive different people from different coasts. One, the first one, my buddy Eric Susan from Calvary, Chapel and up in Reach Calvary, Jacksonville, Reach Jacksonville, Man. I love this guy we were

[00:03:02] hanging out hanging out with his family. Haven't dinner went to a Wednesday night service. He was teaching through I believe second kings and he just had a little snippet in there that he was

[00:03:10] teaching his body about how Nebuchadnezzar sort of lined up and walked the ways that the enemy works. Satan works. And I thought that was great. I was like, listen, you need to speak

[00:03:20] about this and teach us on how the lies of the devil are active and how they get played out like Nebuchadnezzar and these type of things. And so anyways, I thought it would be awesome for him

[00:03:33] to share. And so this is Eric Susan from Reach Jacksonville, sharing on that leadership lesson. And then afterwards after his leadership lesson I'll give you an introduction to another guy

[00:03:45] from the West Coast, Washington State, Joel Diaz and set that up for you as well. But man, I hope that you are being filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit. I hope that this episode continues to encourage

[00:03:59] you to let you be aware and equip you in the schemes of the enemy. And that is a blessing to you. So here's my friend Eric Susan and we'll talk to you after his leadership lesson.

[00:04:13] Hey guys, my name is Eric Susan. I'm the senior pastor of a church up in Jacksonville called Reach Church. I've been pastoring that church specifically for almost 12 years now and it's just been a

[00:04:25] huge blessing. I'm a real good friends with Daniel and so he's asked me to share some insight of the Lord's been recently giving me from his word. So for that we turn to second kings chapter

[00:04:37] 24. There in second kings 24 the nation of Judah, the last remaining group of God's people is being slowly taking captive by the Babylonians. They've tried everything they can. They try to make

[00:04:51] allies with the world that didn't work. We try to do that all the time. We don't know what to do and so we try to make allies with the world rather than trusting in the Lord. And so now we see

[00:05:03] Nebuchadnezzar's coming in and he's slowly just taking over all of Judah. And so it tells us in verses 13 through 16 that Nebuchadnezzar comes in. He takes all the gold from the palace. He takes

[00:05:16] all the gold from the temple. He takes all of the capable people. He takes the craftsmen, the Smiths. He takes all the mighty men of valor. He just comes through and does a clean sweet.

[00:05:32] He even takes the kings family and the king himself, the king at the time, Jehoyechen and all of his family takes them all captive. And as we're reading it when we start thinking of the enemy of Judah naturally our minds have to then go to the enemy

[00:05:49] of our soul. And so we see actually similar strategies that Satan uses that Nebuchadnezzar used. So I want to give you five today. I hope I'm talking to leaders. I hope I'm talking to people who are

[00:06:01] interested in doing the things of the Lord. If so then these five things I think will be very helpful for you. I think they're obvious in a lot of ways but I hope that you get to hear

[00:06:11] maybe with fresh ears. So the first thing that we notice about Nebuchadnezzar that we can link to Satan is like Nebuchadnezzar Satan is willing to take his time. Nebuchadnezzar came in to Judah

[00:06:24] and he takes over and you can read those small set of verses and think it all happened in one cataclysmic event but it didn't happen over a 19-year period. And Satan too is committed

[00:06:38] to the long game. He's fine with a little bit of compromise here and there. He's okay to have bitterness slowly do a work in your heart. So as you are looking to your spouse and she or he

[00:06:52] are not treating you the way that you want them to. They're saying those things that are just erking you, you wish that they would do certain things. You've made it. So obvious to them why

[00:07:00] can't they just get it? And they don't slowly, the seeds of bitterness are sewn, Satan is happy to sit back and wait for the harvest even if it's ears down the road. So we have to do our

[00:07:14] part right now to not give in, to uproot any seed that has been sewn. It's not just bitterness. It can be envy, it can be jealousy, whatever. He's committed to the long game. He wants us to just

[00:07:27] slowly bring our standard down. If you're a pastor God has given us a very high standard that we see in 1st Timothy 3 and Titus chapter 1. It's a very high it's above what would be required for just a

[00:07:38] normal Christian. And what Satan wants us to do is just slowly move that down. Again he's committed. He's fine if you slowly bring it down over the course of 25 years. Like Nebuchadnezzar, he's willing to take his time second. Like Nebuchadnezzar, Satan will. He'll always target

[00:07:57] that which is valuable. Now that which is valuable is that which provides us with comfort, that which provides us with security. The things that we look to protect us, that is what's valuable to us. Now there's a lot of different things but if you're a leader, no doubt,

[00:08:12] one of the things that you experience it, that you derive comfort, peace, safety from is your ability. That's why you're a leader. You've got a lot of different abilities. You are very gifted and so it's easy

[00:08:26] to turn to those things. Well it's amazing how Satan can then try to attack it for however much power he's been given. He will attack you will target our abilities. So the athlete will get injured,

[00:08:43] he or she will get old, the artist will lose motivation, the teacher will lose his voice or even lose his heart. If it's not your abilities within it's definitely your aspirations, your goals and

[00:08:53] your dreams, the things that give you hope in life. I'm a church planner. I know what it's like, man, I plan to church and I would never have said this to anybody because you know I'm a good

[00:09:03] coverage Apple. I never would have said that when I plan to the church I hoped it would grow to 300 people in a year but that's what I wanted. And so when our church did not grow, I mean,

[00:09:14] didn't grow at all for the first years. Very, very small. This is very, very tiny growth. I grew unbelievably discouraged because my aspirations were set very high. Now the reality is is that we can grow unbelievably discouraged when our aspirations or when our abilities are affected.

[00:09:34] Satan is going to want to use that to discourage us. He's going to want to use that to bring us down, but I want to encourage you that what Satan meant for evil, God meant for good. So even when your

[00:09:49] ability is being diminished or even outright taken away, we can look at that and we can grow unbelievably discouraged because we no longer can do the thing that we before could so easily do. But again,

[00:10:02] what Satan meant for evil, God can turn that and God can actually use it for your good. The weakness that you feel can actually be a feather that is binding you to the Lord,

[00:10:15] that you are spending more time and prayer, you're spending more time at his feet, that you are more humble than you've ever been before. Now third, like Nebuchadnezzar, Satan will not just take

[00:10:26] that which is valuable. It might feel like a slight shift, but he will also target that which is most precious. But listen, that which is valuable is that which we turn to for protection,

[00:10:36] but that which is precious is the very thing that we turn to protect. I mean there's several examples but there's none better than your family. If you are a family person, you will turn naturally

[00:10:48] to protect your family. I will start with the spouse, right? If he that Satan doesn't have the authority to bring death to your spouse, he will work tirelessly to bring death to your marriage. He'll use anything to do so. He used disagreements over finances, over holiday schedules.

[00:11:09] I mean over healthcare strategies, a thousand different things he's going to use. He uses these things to become constant disagreements that will result in a judgmental attitude that you constantly carry. It will result in anger towards your spouse or result in impatience and even what we've

[00:11:24] already talked about bitterness. He intends to enter the marriage so badly that one spouse eventually says the only option I have is to get out. I'm going to look for satisfaction outside of this marriage, whether that's another person or maybe it's a hobby. It's a business, whatever. There's

[00:11:43] some mistress that is providing for that spouse what their spouse is not. But again, again, it is all the the same lesson that we've learned. It's all about the Lord. He can use that

[00:11:57] which the enemy meant for evil and he can turn it for his good. All the trials of your marriage feel like they can break you but through the strength of the Lord, they can make you and your spouse

[00:12:09] significantly stronger if you trust him in it. If it's not your spouse that you turn to to protect, well then most certainly, most certainly it's your children. Satan will want to do two things.

[00:12:22] He's going to want to take you into captivity through your kids. Guys, we see this happen all the time. We have these precious little babies that got us given us and so what do we do? We idolize these things.

[00:12:35] We try to derive all of our meaning in satisfaction and life from these precious kids. When we do, we are asking them to do what only God can do. We're asking them to give us what

[00:12:48] only God can give us. So we idolize our kids and in so doing, we find ourselves in bondage. Not only that, he accomplishes us being in bondage through our kids by having constant anxiety that surrounds

[00:13:01] the kids. We're stressed over their homework. We're stressed over their health. We're stressed over whatever they're going through in life. Constant anxiety constantly thinking about the kids we are now in bondage. He also accomplishes this through perhaps maybe you're an older parent.

[00:13:17] Maybe your kids are out of the home or they're growing. He accomplishes this through despair as we think back on our past and we think back on all the failures that we had as a parent.

[00:13:29] Second, though, he doesn't just want to take you into captivity through your kids. He wants to take you or your kids in a captivity too, which is why we have to be on guard as parents to make sure

[00:13:40] that we are raising our kids in a godly way, training them, teaching them about the Bible. But far more than all of that, that we are showing them the Bible, that we demonstrate to them what a joyful,

[00:13:51] peaceful, patient, kind, godly Christian looks like. That we are willing to be vulnerable, that we're willing to show them. Hey, when I don't get it, this is what I do. I turn to the Lord. I seek

[00:14:04] him in prayer that we are authentic in our faith in front of them. Now, fourth, like Nebuchadnezzar, Satan targets those who are useful in the kingdom. You heard me say that that Satan or that Nebuchadnezzar

[00:14:17] was targeting the craftsmen. He was targeting the Smiths, he was targeting the mighty men of valor. He's targeting all those who are capable of fighting in war because he didn't want anybody to oppose him. Now, Nebuchadnezzar, when after the mighty men of valor, we'll so too Satan

[00:14:34] goes after those who are busy in kingdom work. Now, to imagine you're watching this right now, because you're one of those people that you are serving the Lord regularly or at least you

[00:14:43] would like to serve the Lord regularly. You want to do more with the gifts that God has given to you, understand that he's going to attack you. And if you don't believe me, all you guys do is open

[00:14:52] up your Bible and read it. The saint after saint, after saint, after saint is heavily attacked, maybe none more so than the apostle Paul who gave his life completely for the church, for Jesus' bride. He finds himself constantly in prison, constantly beaten, left for dead twice,

[00:15:09] shipwrecked often, and perils often. I mean, you guys know the passages. He was physically beat down, he was emotionally beat down, he was highly targeted by the enemy. Why? Well, because he was being useful for the kingdom. So what does Satan do? He sent a messenger

[00:15:29] to buff it him. But what did God do? God did what he does. God redeemed even a messenger of Satan. The very thing that was supposed to discourage and cause Paul to despair, God said, I can use that.

[00:15:42] It's not going to be an instrument of abuse. I'm going to use it as an instrument of learning. And I'm going to use Paul's affliction to bring him closer to me. I'm going to use Paul's affliction

[00:15:54] to humble him and it cause him to be more dependent upon me to where when he cries out to be healed, I'm going to say to him, my grace is sufficient for you. For in your weakness, I am strong. Fithely and finally, like Nebuchadnezzar, Satan also targets leaders.

[00:16:13] Now to imagine that the vast majority of you are watching this because God has called you to some sort of leadership. Nebuchadnezzar, he took the king away. Well, the enemy wants to take the leader

[00:16:25] away from the group that he's leading because as the leader goes, so goes the vast majority of all of the followers. So what is it that we have to do? Well, if you're a leader, I encourage

[00:16:36] you to be vulnerable to be transparent to those that you're leading and to do something very humble, to ask them to pray for you, to ask them to pray that you have wisdom in leading God's people,

[00:16:49] to ask them that the Lord would make you in sustain you as someone who is humble, to ask them to pray for you that you would live with a conscious fear of the Lord because we know

[00:16:59] that if we fear the Lord, the fear of man is driven far from us. That you would ask them that the Lord would give you endurance and longevity in your leadership and in your ministry. Understand,

[00:17:10] the enemy is going to target you. So we see throughout the Bible every time, every time we crack the pages of the Bible open, it's incredible that we see the strategy of Satan is just

[00:17:21] laid out before us. He doesn't come up with new tactics but we need to make sure that we stay on constant guard against the wilds of the devil. So, leader, I pray for you. I ask you to pray for me.

[00:17:34] Let's stay steady. Let's stay strong by keeping our eyes on Jesus. God bless you and thank you for watching this whole video. Well, like I said, I love Eric. It's awesome to be able to spend time with

[00:17:47] them. Anyway, I can. I was blessed to be able to go to Turkey and to Greece with him in the beginning of this year on a footsteps of Paul Torr. We've been pastoring pretty much the same age,

[00:18:01] same state, same region and love to be able to learn and grow with one another and have that friendship and commonality together. And so it was awesome having him share spending time with

[00:18:12] him and his family and just being encouraged and being reminded of this is what I think that we need. We need a lot of reminders of spiritual truths. I think it was second Peter chapter 2, Paul.

[00:18:22] Our Peter says, hey, nothing you don't know these truths but I'm just writing these things to remind you. This next leadership lesson is to remind you but it's from a different type of

[00:18:31] saint, a season saint and older saint, one that I respect, a guy that has walked with Jesus for many years and Joel Diaz actually now pastors, Calvary Chapel of Tacoma. Calvary Chapel de

[00:18:43] Tacoma was an emin, you may have heard that name before because my dad, after 41 years, retired and turned his church over to his associate pastor, Joel Diaz. When I recorded this, Joel was just the

[00:18:54] associate but we all knew that this guy was anointed called and really the one that was going to be succeeding my dad and so he introduces himself as a associate pastor but now he's serving as the senior

[00:19:09] pastor at Calvary Chapel of Tacoma. Be praying for him, be praying for that fellowship. Calvary Chapel of Tacoma will always be like my family. I grew up in that church. I love those people.

[00:19:19] They've always been so supportive of us and their prayers and their finances helping us plant redemption church and so I only was on vacation but I had just one single camera with me and I said,

[00:19:30] Joel, can you just share from your heart? He used no notes. He just opened up and went through that passage in Ephesians, a spiritual warfare putting on the armor of God. What does that look like?

[00:19:42] And I think that you may know some of these truths but I think it's important for us to be reminded of these truths. I want you to know that I take this podcast seriously and I don't know all the time

[00:19:56] who's listening but I do know that I view pray for you and I do care about this online community, whether you're watching on video on YouTube or listening online, are through the podcast while you

[00:20:08] work out while you drive. It's nice to know that you can pray for people and God hears those prayers and it's effective and it works and so what I think I love about that is Ephesians chapter six

[00:20:19] passage about putting on all these different armors or one armor but all these different pieces in the end of it it says man but everything just pray just pray and I just wanted to let you know

[00:20:31] I'm praying for you. You're not alone there are people that are praying for you, that your ministry matters and I think that you just need to be reminded of that sometimes and so this episode on spiritual warfare

[00:20:42] two leadership lessons I made because I just want to just realize how important the work that we do is church leaders there's great eternal impact so much so that the devil he's out to get us and

[00:20:55] so we need to make sure we put on the full armor of God, gleaning wisdom and being reminded of the schemes of the enemy and how he works and just battling. Do not give up you do not

[00:21:06] labor in vain what you do matters and as the enemy notices you can fight and have victory in Jesus and so here is Joel Diaz as he shares his leadership lesson just on the full armor of God.

[00:21:21] Hello my name is Joel Diaz I'm a system pastor here in Tacoma Washington and Calvary Chapel of Tacoma Daniela asked me to share some things that the Lord has been doing concerning helping pastors in India. I shared a message with the pastors concerning spiritual warfare

[00:21:48] because it's very important to be conscious and aware of that in India I was asked to myself and pastor Joe Daniel's father were asked to share with pastors in India concerning leadership and some problems they were encountering and I asked the pastor there a senior pastor

[00:22:14] he kind of like an overseer he oversees probably 50 pastors in India. I asked him what is the greatest need what do the pastors need help with and he said there is a lot of discouragement among the

[00:22:32] pastors because of COVID-19 and also because of the persecution from Hindus. So I began to do some research concerning persecution and to my amazement there are well over close to 50 nations in the world right now experiencing where Christians are experiencing persecution.

[00:23:01] I really got focused on persecution and what we can do or what we need to do when persecution comes. Persecution comes as a result of spiritual warfare and we'll see that as we breathe in second

[00:23:17] Timothy chapter two will see how that happens you know as Paul shares with Timothy a young pastor who also becomes a overseer over emphasis in that region there will learn some valuable lessons from what Paul shares with Timothy but one of the greatest and most important things I

[00:23:42] taught them was the armor of God so we'll talk a little bit about that. Let's go to if you have your bibles or if you're following me I'm going to be a reading from second Timothy chapter two

[00:23:59] and as I always do I always invite the spirit to help me teach because it's him who does the teaching so I'm going to pause right here and just pray Father I pray that your spirit would speak to us

[00:24:14] today what it is we need specifically as leaders and pastors to be effective in ministry concerning spiritual warfare and persecution in Jesus name I pray amen another thing that kind of comes to my mind is many people are speaking of

[00:24:34] persecution possibly coming to this nation as our values begin to descend and we see them descending quickly on a national level and so perhaps even for pastors in this country the reality of spiritual warfare is important and we need to pay attention to a

[00:24:59] Paul says to Timothy and so Paul reads in second Timothy chapter two verse one says there though therefore my son be strong and the grace that is in Christ Jesus and the things that

[00:25:14] thou has heard of me among many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others so just in those two verses some things kind of stand out to me one is

[00:25:29] our strength comes from the grace of grace of God and also what's really important as a Paul instructs Timothy that he should teach the doctrines, the Apostles doctrines to other men that they may teach others what is important here is mentoring other people

[00:25:50] Chuck Smith said he would gather with a group of men in the church and take him through in a two-year period and teach him the entire Bible and then say now it's your turn that you teach others

[00:26:06] in your home and the church grew just from that because salvation would occur as these people would invite friends who didn't know Christ to their Bible studies people would meet Christ accept them

[00:26:19] and receive salvation and so forth in the church with grow. Now what I see in this especially specifically in the second verse, grace is important and we get our strength from God's grace

[00:26:33] but what I see is the importance of raising a man especially as we get older raising a man who will grab the torch and take it on, grab the baton and run with it continue on with the message

[00:26:50] the Word of God and teach them correctly the Word of God that's very important so then he goes on to read or to say the Timothy in verse theory, they'll therefore enter hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Now therefore in their hardness I think in the

[00:27:17] new King James says now therefore enter hardship instead of hardness so hardship as a soldier of Jesus Christ. This is where now Paul is beginning to talk about spiritual warfare and the importance here of spiritual warfare, Paul is actually writing this from a point of being in prison

[00:27:45] and he says therefore in their hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, Paul was expecting his execution and was in a way telling Timothy as a soldier we enter hardship when we see

[00:28:01] hardships happen when we lose comrades or people get blown up in front of you. That's physical warfare but it's spiritual warfare the same thing can happen someone that you know well could be

[00:28:18] going through something very hard and we endure a force we pray for that individual but we endure through it because we know that it's spiritual warfare. A soldier of Jesus Christ is going to

[00:28:31] experience hardship because the work that we do is spiritual and the enemy is out there the enemy is going to do whatever he can to stop what it is he opposes what it is he doesn't agree with.

[00:28:47] So Paul is almost saying here you can almost expect spiritual warfare to happen and it doesn't always have to be as direct and as strong as persecution it can be things people come in against you

[00:29:04] from no reason people disagreeing with you from no reason people showing you hate that is spiritual warfare the enemy trying to discourage you on a personal level even within our congregations within a country where we experience as much freedom as we do here we still have spiritual warfare

[00:29:30] and it's something that we have to be prepared for. Now I know one of the most important things that we learn and Ephesians is the armor of God and if we really think about the armor of God

[00:29:47] will Paul is saying in order for us to endure and overcome spiritual warfare put on the armor of God but if we really evaluate the armor of God Jesus is the same put on Christ. You know we have a choice

[00:30:03] we can live in the flesh or we can live in the spirit when we put on the armor of God we're putting on Christ and we're living in the spirit. We have our minds attuned to the spirit rather than

[00:30:18] the flesh so as we look at the armor of God that the belt is truth Jesus says I am the way the truth in the life so obviously the belt of truth is Jesus. Yes the way the truth in life

[00:30:35] no man goes on to the father but through me and as you look at the breastplate of righteousness you know we hear as ministers that righteousness is imputed to us another word it's not our righteousness it is the righteousness of Jesus Christ we put that righteousness on

[00:31:00] we look at the element of salvation it is Christ who gives us salvation is Jesus we look at the gospel of peace the shoes shot with the gospel of peace Jesus is the Prince of peace he came to bring us true peace through victory over sin

[00:31:23] as we look at the shield of faith it is faith in Christ that we are victorious we look at the sword of the spirit the sword of the spirit is the word of God

[00:31:35] and one thing I recall concerning Jesus when he was tempted for 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness he defeated the enemy always responded to Satan by the word of God everything he spoke to him

[00:31:53] you can you can reference our go back and find in the word of God so Jesus defeated Satan past the test in the wilderness by the word of God we must do the same but this whole

[00:32:06] armor of God if we think about it is really putting on Christ and being in that place because we don't wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities rulers evil demons if you will

[00:32:25] in high places so you know principalities rulers over over regions we wrestle not against flesh and blood so this gives us a different perspective that when we are in spiritual warfare don't get angry with

[00:32:42] them when it comes against you because it's not really them it is the enemy or demonic influence using them to come against you and try to for lack of better words try to trip you up

[00:32:57] try to discourage you try to take your mind off of what God is calling you to do now in India I shared with the pastors they are that you must realize even though this persecution is happening

[00:33:14] you must remember that greater is he that's in you than he this in the world so it's very important to remember that we're walking with the spirit that has greater authority than any other

[00:33:29] spiritual entity in the world it's one will lose sight of the authority that we possess and Christ and that's what the enemy tries to do it this practice enough to forget the authority we

[00:33:42] haven't begin to respond and the flesh that we run into problems we must always remember what we have authority we must remember we are victorious we must remember this in order to be effective

[00:33:58] so my whole teaching out of second Timothy and out of Ephesians concerning the armor God for these pastors in India was to really encourage them on how to be victorious how to overcome spiritual warfare how to overcome this persecution that's coming at them but most important is that

[00:34:24] Jesus said bless those who persecute you show them love it's interesting I was driving with my wife you recently in our car and we stopped close to a bank and I accidentally went in a one way

[00:34:41] in a parking lot I didn't you have never experienced a one way in a parking lot and this one guy just went you went on and yelling and I I lowered my window I said you know it's a mistake mistakes happen

[00:34:57] and he continued on and on and I said yes I know you're upset but it's a mistake and God bless you I was so when I said God bless you he just he just he didn't know how to respond to kindness it almost disarmed him

[00:35:13] so we have to realize that we come against evil with good not evil with evil or come against evil with anger you know under is such a thing righteous anger but human anger

[00:35:33] of illness not much so we must not try you must strive live in self control not get angry but yes you can find spiritual warfare even driving in a parking lot the enemy tries to discourage or

[00:35:49] tries to attack you in some way and it wasn't the individual nor was it at the real eyes of my own it's not the individual that I am dealing with but there's a spiritual entity behind that individual

[00:36:05] who is coming against me we need to realize that and not hate people because once we start hating people were definitely in the flesh were not in the spirit and that's why Jesus said

[00:36:17] we must love even those who persecute us those who would who would come against us just said love them we overcome evil by love it's counterintuitive in this world but we don't live or not

[00:36:37] from this physical world or from we're going back our homes is not here we're going to have a spiritual world or a future awaits us and that's where we need to keep our minds focused on

[00:36:56] so with that I'm going to go ahead and close I hope this is a value to you open encourages you if our nation does experience persecution one thing that persecution does do is it it kind of removes separates the non-believers in the church from the true believers,

[00:37:25] the weaton that shaft the goats and the sheep there's a division and the reason why the church grows is you really have true strong Christians pursuing and going forward so persecution creates a separation in the church where what is left is true and the church grows what is

[00:37:46] left is real and the church grows there is nothing unreal in the church hindering it and that's why persecution causes growth but if persecution comes to this nation and many are saying

[00:38:01] it is I don't know God knows if it does it be an opportunity for growth if it doesn't we still have to persevere push through even spiritual warfare on different levels so with that all

[00:38:17] close and I pray that you're blessed with this teaching or this this message or this experience I'm going to go ahead and close and pray and just pray that I'm going to pray for the countries experiencing persecution and everyone who's experiencing spiritual warfare father I pray that in

[00:38:38] Jesus name you give us the tools the abilities the mindset the understanding of the reality of spiritual warfare and that we are overcomers or victorious we're not defeated we are warfare is fought in a different way but it is powerful and effective and it's tier glory

[00:39:01] Jesus name my pray amen well hey if you made it all the way through that was episode number eight on spiritual warfare and just some perspective from both coast of the United States

[00:39:16] from a young man to an older man and just guys that love Jesus and want to remind us to follow the truth of God's word and who he is the devil is a liar let me remind you that

[00:39:29] he comes a kill still in destroy and it's important for us to make sure that we are equipped in God's word especially his church leaders in the opposition that we have to recognize that and

[00:39:38] have victory in Jesus and through his word where to test all spirits through God's word so maybe be filled with God's word this week thank you for allowing me to share these truths with you I

[00:39:48] always love learning from leaders especially when I can couple those thoughts and put it into the episode like this and be able to host for you I think with the enemy in spiritual warfare

[00:39:58] sometimes there could be too much of an emphasis on the devil but then other times in many camps there's just no talking about how we truly have a real enemy and so we talk a lot about

[00:40:08] these type of things in these episodes because these are real issues that we all face and I hope as we talked about these real issues today speaking of spiritual warfare the devil the lies

[00:40:18] that he tries to deceive all this different stuff that it wasn't a bummer but an encouragement because we can find victory in Jesus and so man I'm praying for you I'm glad that you're able

[00:40:28] to take a listen in we'll be back with another episode we do it every other week and man if you find this content helpful would you leave us a review on iTunes on podcasts whatever you listen your podcast

[00:40:41] stitcher you know Spotify I think I found Amazon playlist Google like I always surprised of who listens but I'm always surprised of who hasn't even heard of these resources you can find

[00:40:55] all of these resources on our YouTube page these videos ee leaders or just go to eeleaders.com you can reach out to me Danieliteelaters.com I appreciate all your support your love and it's always

[00:41:07] a privilege to be able to host these episodes for you we'll catch you in the next episode.