We're going to continue through Ephesians 6 this morning and we're going to read from Ephesians 6 verses 10 through 13. We're going to continue our sermon series through Ephesians looking at spiritual warfare this morning. Ephesians chapter 6 verses 10 through 13. We're going to focus on this passage. I'm going to focus on two main parts of it. the schemes of the devil, particularly the schemes of the devil against Christ's corporate church and the evil day. We're to stand, we're to withstand in the evil day. How do we do that? What do we need to be aware of? That's what we're going to focus on. Ephesians 6, 10. If you're able, let's stand for the reading of this short scripture. In Ephesians 6, beginning in verse 10, Paul says under the inspiration of the Spirit infallibly before God and man. He says, finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand firm. Thus ends the reading of God's Word. Let's pray. Our Father, our God, give us ears to hear, hearts to receive, minds to understand your passage today. Help us to be equipped and alert and watchful, help us to anticipate that which we should be anticipating and expecting in this present age. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. We'll continue looking for the next few weeks at the spiritual warfare. Lord willing, next week looking at the actual pieces of the armor We want to understand, as we've looked at in the past few weeks, that our confidence is in Christ Jesus. The Bible says to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, not in ourselves. The Bible tells us that the gates of hell will never prevail against Christ's church. In Jesus we're more than overcomers in Him. We can be confident. We can be strong. We can stand in the evil day. The decisive victory against evil has been won on the cross by Jesus Christ in weakness. He's disarmed the evil powers. He's conquered them. He's destroyed them. He's defeated our ancient foe. But we're called now to be the church militant. We're the church on the march. We're the church in battle. We're the church in warfare. And so that's why Paul says in verse 11, to put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. We need to constantly be focused on Christ by being aware of the devil's schemes. This word schemes means, and often times is, translated wiles. It's his trickery. It's his way of trying to scheme methodically against Christ's people. We've learned that evil is complex. It's not just merely The devil made me do it. But that evil is inside us in our own hearts. Evil is outside us in society and evil is above us in the spiritual realm. We're learning here. We're learning through this series more specifically that we're up against not flesh and blood, but spiritual powers. cosmic rulers. Those who are once angels of light, who are now condemned to judgment, but who wreak havoc on Christ's church. And so this evil is complex. It's also personal. It's a very personal evil. It's the devil. It's Satan. It's the dragon. It's the accuser. The world, the flesh, and the devil act in concert against individuals who call upon the name of Christ. The world, the flesh, and the devil act in concert upon the corporate church of Christ. And so not merely one of these three things need to be emphasized, but all three. That evil is in concert through world, flesh, and devil. We'll look today at particularly the devil's schemes in his bullying the church, in his bullying the church through persecution, in his bullying of the church, one of his schemes to discourage, to hurt, to harm, to disarm, to cause us to fail in our endurance. How in bullying the church, the devil will bring persecution and tribulation through the world. Now something I need to say, because I'm not an ascetic, and I'm not an anti-materialist or agnostic in any way, material things are good. We're not to leave this world, we're not to draw ourselves away from this world, this world is created good! And I'll talk more about this in a moment. When I use world, I mean the world as it is an anti-God, world-organized, world-evil system that is against God's Word and His will. The world I don't mean as creation. Creation is good. All things are to be received with thanksgiving. It's very good, God says, but our sin the devil, the world, I'm speaking of world in the sense of the world as that anti-God power that opposes God's Word and God's purposes. And as we looked at earlier, in our first Sermon on Spiritual Warfare, we were taught that the Christian life was one of struggle, it was one of wrestling. That's how Paul uses his language, it's hand-to-hand combat. You don't wrestle against flesh and blood. Quit fighting with one another merely. That's not what it's about. You'll win no battles that way. But through humility, you're fighting hand-to-hand using the armor of God. You're wrestling. The Christian life is one of conflict. It's one of wrestling. It's one of knowing that our foe has been defeated, decisively defeated by the death and resurrection of Jesus. And yet, as a chained, ferocious lion, he still tries to devour us. He can only get to us through permission from God's will. But he seeks, during this time, this evil day, to hinder us, to harm us as his people. Verse 13 says, be able to stand in the evil day. Look at what he says, therefore take up the whole armor of God, and again I'm going to look at the armor of God in a few weeks, beginning next week, Lord willing, but take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand, withstand in the evil day, withstand in the evil day. This evil day is a time period. It's not merely a really bad day of temptation, although it can be that personally. But for the church corporately, and that's what I want to focus on today, is not just merely individual Christians, I want to focus on the church as a corporate organism of Jesus Christ in this world. The church corporately needs to understand that the evil day is the entire time period. between the first and the second coming of Jesus Christ. It's an evil period. It's characterized by evil, by conflict, by struggling, by wrestling. And so the evil day is not merely, individually speaking, a bad day. I had a really bad, tempting day. That is an evil day. And you need to be watchful and alert. But the evil day, more specifically, is what Revelation, the book of Revelation, calls the great tribulation. The tribulation, the time period characterized by tribulation between the first and the second coming of Jesus. Listen, the tribulation is what Jesus said in some of his last words to his disciples in John 16, 33. In this world, you will have tribulation, that that's what you're to expect. But be of good cheer. I've overcome the world to live with tribulation and to live with victory, to live with tribulation and victory. Paul says, as we read those who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. And so the question might be asked, why does the devil persecute the church corporately? Why does he do that? The devil schemes against the corporate church because he can't get his hands on Christ. And the most important reason why the devil schemes against the corporate church, the organization of the church, is because the church is identified with Jesus Christ. The church is identified with Jesus Christ. That's our first identity as those united with Jesus and as those who have given up our lives to follow him. Now, anyone who is part of the true church. And when I say church here, I need to define my terms here. When I say church, I'm talking about those who truly believe the gospel and who are truly believers in Jesus Christ. Now, for time's sake, that's the best I can do. But that's what I'm looking at here is true believers, true believers who stand for the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's all that time will allow me. The devil persecutes the church. He gives the church tribulation. Through this, God brings about good, as we've looked at. God brings about all things good through even this tribulation. But because the church is identified with Jesus Christ, we should expect to suffer. You see, when Paul, when Saul, actually, of Tarsus, was seeking to persecute the church, remember in Acts 9, he's going on the road to Damascus and he's persecuting the church. He's looking for blood. And Jesus, when he reveals himself to him, he says, Saul says, who are you? Who are you, O Lord? And he says, I am Jesus, whom you're persecuting. Jesus is so identified with his church that to persecute the church is to persecute Jesus or to attempt to persecute Jesus. That's our common bond, don't you see? That's how much he loves you. That's how much you're loved by him, is that you would be considered part of him, part of his body. He's the head. You're his body. And so, of course, the devil's going to persecute you. So we're identified with Jesus. In Colossians 1, Paul says something that's that's amazing. In verse 24, he says, I rejoice in my sufferings for you. Now, that's pretty amazing. But he goes on to say, I rejoice in my sufferings for you. And in my flesh, I'm filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church filling up that which is lacking in Christ's afflictions. What does that mean? First of all, we're amazed that he's thankful in his sufferings, right? That's a very difficult thing to do. But he knows why he's being persecuted. But the second thing is, notice he says that I'm filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions. What does that mean? Well, it has nothing to do with the once and for all finished work of Jesus Christ. It has to do with this, that as Jesus's body, he's privileged us to suffer with him, that through that suffering, he will make us more like him. and that through that suffering as a corporate people, he actually is leaving some of the suffering for us. Some of the affliction until the last day. Some of the trouble for Jesus is granted to us so that we might be privileged to suffer with him as his children. Sounds like a paradox to the world, but to a Christian that is very good news. It may be strange at first, but that we would be part of God's ordained, sovereign plan to fill up what's lacking in Christ's afflictions should bring us great joy. Remember in John 17, 15, as I pray, Jesus prayed. He says, Father, I don't ask you to take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. And this is where I want to point your attention to the way the world is used by the devil, the world as an organized system of evil against the organized church of Jesus Christ. God's people are to live in the world and Jesus is praying for their protection. Not that we be taken out of the world, but that we understand what we're up against. That's why later Jesus says in John, they're not of the world even as I am not of the world. They're no longer part of this place. They're part of a new community. They're heavenly citizens. Their hope is in heaven. It's not here on this earth, not in this world. That's why James says that friendship with the world is enmity with God. It's being an enemy of God to be in friendship with the world. How could that be? Again, the world system as it is opposed to God's word, the world system as it's opposed to God's will, and the world is organized by the giant intellectual genius of the devil. He was a great angel. He fell because of pride. He fell very far but he was a great intellectual angel and he's no match for us apart from Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ we know he's defeated foe. But think of the way he organizes evil in the world. This is what I want you to understand. You're not to be fearful, you're not to ever be dismayed, but to understand that the organized evil, as the devil uses it, is organized against the Church of Jesus Christ. You've got three categories of organized evil. Unbelief, statism, and false religions. Those are at least three. There's many more, but those three come to mind. Unbelief. Statism. Statism, what is that? It's when a state has taken the place of God. Where a state rules and reigns over a people as if that state was God himself. So, unbelief, seen throughout the history in paganism and atheism. Statism, seen particularly in the Roman Empire and other Roman and other empires throughout history. false religions such as Islam and the papacy. You have unbelief, you have statism, you have false religions. And so Jesus tells us, be prepared that this is your war. This is how the devil schemes against us. The world hates you. The world hates you with a passion. The world hates you because it hates the Lord's Word and His will. And if the devil can't get Jesus, he'll try to get us. The world says to Christians, give us what we want and no one gets hurt. The world says to Christians, join us. The world says to Christians, resistance is futile. The world says to Christians, surrender. Become like us. The world says to Christians, give up. The world says to Christians, break them if they don't join us. And so we can look around ourselves, we can look in the media, we can turn on the news and we can be overwhelmed sometimes as the Church of Jesus Christ, wondering if we're making any progress whatsoever. And we're to take courage. The gates of hell will never prevail. The devil is scheming against the church to try to hurt us, to try to harm us, to try to discourage us. But we can take great courage in knowing that the Lord is God and it's to Him we owe our service. But we're to be aware of this. We're to be aware that when we see these things, these world systems, when we see false religion getting more attention than the true one, when we see the world making progress, We need to remember that the devil's a defeated foe. We need to remember that we're not to be driven to cynicism or to despair. We're to be driven to pray. We're to be driven to courage. We're to be driven to hope. We're to realize that all of the judgments of God will come upon the unbelieving. But not on the courageous in Jesus. And so because The world opposes and bullies the church. We need to know how to stand. In the book of Revelation, chapter 12, the devil is described as dragon. And that's a very important image with regard to the bullying. A dragon. What started as a serpent has grown into a great dragon of force. Fierce. Ferocious. To change the imagery, a ferocious lion. The strength, power of a lion. Well, that's the point of a dragon. He's a bigger lion. He's greater. He's much more supernatural. That's the image. He's no match for us. He can, with one move of his tail, Revelation 12 tells us, he can make the stars fall from the sky, giving us images of his greatness, of his power. But he's a bully. And in Revelation 12, 5, it says very shortly, if you ever want to see just a in a nutshell, the whole of redemptive history, the whole of God's salvation from beginning to end, you can look at Revelation 12, 5, where it says that she gave birth to a male child, one who's to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. But her child was called up to God and to his throne. So here we have a woman who is on the one hand Eve, who is on the other. She is Mary. The woman in another way of looking at it is the church. And so through Israel, through the church, Jesus is born. And Jesus is the one that the devil's been waiting on to snuff out, to put to death, to use all the power of false religion and great empires and unbelief to fight against him. And he is safe and sound. In fact, he continues his work for us. resisting all temptations of the devil, and he is seated on God's right hand. It says so briefly, so concisely. I know you wish I could preach like this. Here's the way you'd really want me to preach. She gave birth to a male child, one who's to rule the nations with a rod of iron. But her child was called up to God's throne. That's it. That's what happened. So the devil can't get to him. He can't get to him. The devil has been cast down. Revelation 12 says he has no place in God's court as a an accuser. He can't accuse you before the Brethren day and night. He's been thrown down to the world. Why? This is great news. Why can the devil not have access to God's heavenly throne room? Because your advocate, your mediator, your king is seated at God's right hand in the heavenly throne room. No more accusations that'll stick because Jesus has died for you. Rejoice! Your advocate, your defender, your mediator is God's right hand. He's the one. You come to Him when you're accused and seek His forgiveness, His grace. But the dragon, it goes on to say in chapter 12 of Revelation, becomes furious. The incarnation slips out of his hands. The death that was to be Jesus was for us. The death that was for Jesus to silence his word, to stop God's will, to make his rule and reign forever became his end. He was destroyed on the cross. Jesus was raised. He can't get his mitts on him. So what does it say in Revelation 12, 17? He goes ferociously after those in the church, the seed of the church, the seed of the woman. Verse 12 says he knows his time is short. When he realizes he's been thrown down to earth, the dragon became furious with the woman, verse 17, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring. That's spiritual warfare. He's making war on you and me. He's making war because we're identified with Jesus Christ. The devil's been thrown down. He knows his time is short. We know from other passages, although he's a roaring lion, he's one on chains. He can only do what God gives him permission to do and allows him by his sovereignty. But people, God, what does this teach you? Listen, it teaches you that the world, although attractive at times, the world can be very attractive But you have to look at what's behind the world and its system. The world can look powerful and have all the possessions and look permanent. And yet it's coming to judgment. In the larger book of Revelation, I encourage you to read this if you get time. In chapters 12 through 19, you're going to see two main images of the world, not as we see it, but as God sees it. And the two main images are one, a great prostitute and two, Babylon the Great, a great city. A Babylon prostitute, why? Because it's personified evil. Because it is attractive at first glance, but it's a great prostitute who's under God's wrath. That's the world as it truly is. On the other hand, there's the Babylon the Great. What is that but an organized city? An organized city of false religions, of unbelief, of anything anti-God and anti-Christ. Do not love the world. People of God do not love the world or anything in the world. The world and its desires are passing away. But he who does the will of the father abides forever. Please understand the next time something looks revealing to you in the world, revealing looks attractive to you in the world, look at that thing and say you're a prostitute. Well, not out loud, but you're a prostitute. You're an evil city. You're under God's judgment. I'll not join you. And furthermore, you killed my Lord and you kill my brothers and sisters. People of God, you killed my brothers and sisters. Can you find friendship with the world? Could you find friendship with someone who entered your house and killed in cold blood members of your family? Now we'd be called to forgive them. Would you be friends with them? Would you be companions? Would you desire what they had in their evil? This is an analogous, it breaks down, but the point is, would you? Have you forgot about all the countless martyrs? You've not yet resisted in the shedding of blood. I haven't. We are part of a organized church of righteous people by God's grace, because of Jesus Christ, our brothers and sisters have been killed. The devil wanted to turn things upside down from the very beginning. Jesus said, this is Peter. He's my rock. He's the foundation of church. Next minute. Peter, Simon, the devil has prayed for you. He demands to have you, that he sift you as wheat. The devil would not have even the foundation laid before he was asking Jesus Christ. You notice he's asking permission. He's asking Jesus Christ for permission to shake Peter, to rock his world, as we'd say, a sift, a sieve. He's going to turn him upside down and Jesus says, Peter. I pray for you that your faith may not fail you. And when you return, strengthen your brothers. I'm going to let him have you partially. To know the depths of your sin and the greatness of my grace. But you're going to be shaken. From the very beginning, the church was threatened. What kept it? How did he endure? Peter cried bitterly in the night because he denied his Lord. How? Because Jesus prayed for him. Jesus kept him. Jesus guarded him. He will help us endure as well. But when he's restoring Peter, he says, Peter, you're going to one day go somewhere where you don't want to go. And Peter was killed, crucified upside down, as tradition says, for his Lord. Do you are you ready? To stand in such a way by God's grace to withstand on the evil day that you're willing to go and be led somewhere you don't want to go. Heck, we have a hard time moving. That wasn't meant cold. I know my own heart. I don't want to change. So go somewhere I don't want to go. Go where? Go where? To cross is. Yes. Well, it's a challenge, isn't it? Stephen. He was standing against the false religion of Pharisaism. He's our first martyr that we see in the church. And in Act 7, he's stoned to death and he prays for forgiveness and he gets victory. He gets resurrection. He goes to be with Jesus, his Lord. He even gets this wonderful, beautiful vision of the Lord at God's right hand, reminding him it's the Lord that reigns, not the world. It's the Lord that reigns. And he prayed for those to be forgiven. And I still think I still think that's such a beautiful work of grace. The apostle Paul was saved through that prayer. Saul of Tarsus became a Christian through that murder, through that martyr. There's martyrs listed in Hebrews 11, people sawn in half. People put on Roman gibbets, went about in skins of sheep, killed with the sword. people the world was not worthy of. Polycarp, a disciple of John, second century, a pastor, brought out in the Roman courts. He stood against statism, the Roman Empire. They said, Polycarp, we'll let you go. You're a nice old man if you just honor Caesar. And Polycarp says, eighty and six years have I served him. He never did me any injury. How can I blaspheme now my King and Savior? That's your brother in Christ. Do you want to love the world that killed Polycarp? Martyrs during the Reformation. So many of them. But I mentioned three. John Huss. He stood against false religion and statism in the world. 15th century. He was burned at the stake. They gave him a chance to recant. You got one chance, recant. And he said, no, I'm ready to die. And he was burned. Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley. Latimer and Ridley, I need to remember these two reformed brothers in the 16th century, died under the reign of bloody Queen Mary. They stood against false religion and statism. And Latimer said, be of good comfort, Mr. Ridley, and play the man strong. We shall this day light such a candle by God's grace in England, as I trust shall never be put out. The candle still burns. You just heard it. You just saw the light. These were your brothers in the faith who stood against the world. A lesser known man, policy. Not very good with French accent. Forgive me, you who are. Policy, I believe. was a potter, a Huguenot, one who stood for the reformed faith of Huguenot, where the king of, he was in prison, the king of France came to him and said, all you have to do is deny Christ. All you have to do is give up, recant. He says, or I'll be forced to give you in to your Roman Catholic enemies who'll kill you. And he looked at him and he said, forced, sire? This is not to speak like a king, but they who force you cannot force me. I can die. He knew death was better. He knew death was actually much better because absent with the body, present with the Lord. There's present day martyrs. I could go on and on. I'll just name a few. There's Jim Elliott, 1956, stood against paganism. a missionary to Ecuador. He was evangelizing the Waodani people. He was killed with four others. His journal entry said, he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose. There was Anna Strickwerda, 1974, Orthodox Presbyterian missionary associate in Eritrea, died. First Orthodox Presbyterian martyr. Forgive me if I didn't pronounce her name right. Anna Strickwerda. Her martyrdom led to victory. On August 2nd, 2010, a couple of weeks ago, two Christians are martyred in Pakistan for the denial of Muhammad's teaching. They stood against false religion and named the name of Jesus just two weeks ago. And then recently, martyrs of Nag Hammadi killed by Muslim terrorists because of their faith. Now, how many, how many did I not mention that are on record? How many did I not mention because they have no record? They were courageous. And when the world stormed against them, they didn't love their lives so much that they would deny their Jesus Christ. Their confession was this. In Revelation 12, 11, their confession was this, and it should be ours. They have conquered him, the dragon, by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives, even unto death. It would be easy to ask you, do you love him that much? It's important to ask you that. You'll never love him that much until you see him as your best friend laying down his life for you. Until you see him living for you, you'll not really live for him by faith. Until you see him really dying for you, you won't die for him. You must daily meditate on these truths of Christ life for you, his death for you, his resurrection and his interceding for you at God's right hand, ruling and reigning over heaven and earth. The world is a great threat. The world is organized. And yet we as the church are organized too. And we have on our side the man of God's own choosing. You ask me what his name is? Lord Sabia. He's the great Jesus, the great Christ. One little word will fell all his enemies. And he's the one who's conquered and been victorious over death, hell and the devil and you. He did it for you. He did it for me. He did it for you who believe. And so. We can take confidence to endure. The Book of Revelation several times, and it says this calls for endurance of the saints. We don't know what we're up against in the future. We don't know how unbelief will threaten us, our families. We don't know how organized statism will threaten us. We don't know. We don't know how false religion might affect us. But we can endure knowing that the gates of hell will never prevail against us. Pray. Pray. that you might know and experience the courage that only Christ can give you. Courage to say, my life is not that important to me. I have heaven ahead of me. What could the earth, what could the world provide me that I have not gotten already and much so much more? The world, a prostitute. The world, the great Babylon. Do you want to befriend that, those The devil is called the god of this world, not because he really rules and reigns, but because in 2 Corinthians 4.4 he has, if you will, control over willing pupils. Control over willing, willing control over those who will to follow and serve him because they oppose God in his will and his word. He's called the god of the world with a little g. It's very important to understand that the world is nothing for us. We must endure. We must be courageous. I'm going to ask you, the world is an organized anti-God, anti-Christ system. And it's under judgment. Do you really want to join the world, that system that blasphemes the name of your Lord? Do you really want to be counted cool and important and significant by the world system that killed your brothers and sisters? Do you? Do you want to hear the blood of the martyrs crying out even louder? How long, O Lord? When we befriend the world, the blood of the martyrs cries out from the ground. Because we claim to be their family. They've given up their lives. They're filling up the afflictions of Christ Jesus. And they can only do it. They could only do it because Jesus and His grace. They could only do it because Jesus prayed for them. They're suffering people of God, but be brave. Be courageous. Don't let the world seduce you. It's interesting to note, very importantly, I think, that in Revelation 21.8, those who are destined to hell and are under judgment with no hope in Christ are those first described as The cowardly. The cowardly. Even before the faithless. Cowards. Cowards are under the judgment of God unless they repent. Cowards. Are you a coward? Or in Christ are you more than an overcomer? Courageous in him, knowing that he's prayed for you and he still does, that your faith may not fail you. He has guarded you. He is guarding you. He is guiding you. The glorious thought to know that all the evil that has come against us in our days, the things that we know of and the things we don't know of, what great and glorious thought to know that all those things were working for good. for God's glory and for our being made and conformed to Christ, more precisely. How are you going to live? As I close, live like this. Live standing firm. Verse 13, withstand in the evil day. How do you do it? Stand firm in the armor of God. I'll get into the pieces of the armor. But the most important thing to know right now is if you are in Christ, you are clothed in God's armor. Christ wore God's armor. He is the armor of God. And Paul is giving another image to emphasize our union with Him. So how are you going to overcome? How are you going to stand firm in this evil day? Number one, you're going to remember Jesus' promise that the gates of hell will never prevail. Turn off the news if you have to. It'll do you a world of good. So much fear. Give it 30 days at least to sit back and reflect on it. Take a periodical if you have to. I don't know. Be informed, but don't be deformed in that you allow fear and all kinds of trouble to bother you. It's on all the time. Look, we're going to hell in a handbasket. I told you we were. Oh, religion, false religion. What do you think's getting the coverage? OK, I'm going down a tangent. I call it myself. Stop. The gates of hell will never prevail. Trust in that. Listen. Jesus says, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. And he says, I'm with you to the end of the age. I've sent you into the world and I have prayed for you to be kept from the evil one. Remember, he prays, I ask you not to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. And I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail you. Take courage and stand. Resist. Withstand. This is the evil day, people of God. Are you clothed in Christ alone? In Christ. This is your only hope. Your only hope for salvation. Trusting in Christ alone and His righteousness alone. That's your only hope of salvation. Your only hope for really seeing things as they really are in this world. Do you trust in Christ alone? And understand that Christ is overcome for you if you're a believer. Now, you may be where Peter is. You may have denied the Lord. You may have been sifted. He may have allowed that to happen. At this present time, you could be like Peter in a state of denying the Lord or not trusting the Lord. How did Peter come back? He came back through grace. Realizing the Lord always said, come to me, you who labor, you who are heavy burdened with your sins, come to me, come to me messy, come to me in your sins and I will give you rest. My yoke is easy. My burden is light. Come to Jesus. Come to Jesus and know him and love Christ more than you love your own life. Because he gave up his life for you as your friend. 1 John 5 says, Everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? Hallelujah to the Lamb who sits on the throne. Father, we thank you for your grace and your mercy. Help us to be encouraged, to be strengthened Father, we're not talking here about denial of the world or to removing ourselves out of the world or not making a difference in the world. No, Jesus sent us into the world. He sent us to go right into the epicenter of this great war. Jesus has called us to go into the epicenter of organized evil itself and to stand, stand clothed in Jesus Christ. Oh, Father, we'll fail without you. We'll deny you. Oh, we won't love you enough. to give up our lives if we don't understand that he's loved us and given up his life for us. Father, only by your grace can we change and be transformed. Only by your grace can we understand your love, your love so wonderful, your love so sweet. Let us love and sing and wonder of this great Christ and help us each day to build up our faith. We don't know what we're up against in the future, but we do know this, that you said you'll never leave us nor forsake us, and that you're the same yesterday, today, and forever. Our future is with you, but help us to know the love of Christ like never before, to encourage our faith and our confidence and our courage so that whatever befalls us, we might stand. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.