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Armour of God Series
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Connected by scripture or shared themes.
Armour of God Series
Continue exploring
Connected by scripture or shared themes.
We are beginning a new series called From Battle to Breakthrough. We're going to be looking at living victorious in a world at war. This means you are not meant to cope and survive—you are meant to conquer and thrive.
The word of God is very clear that we do live in a world where there is warfare and there are battles. But you are not meant to get to a battlefield and just survive. You are meant to actually have breakthrough and victory over every enemy—not some enemies, but every enemy. We are believers, and as believers, we get to enforce the devil's defeat in our lives, which brings glory to Jesus.
I want to equip our church to walk in victory so that when you are faced with a battle, you know exactly what to do, how to do it, and to see yourself emerge victorious. You are a conqueror in Christ. In fact, the Bible calls you more than a conqueror.
It's a powerful illustration because we do not need to fight the devil. We need to enforce his defeat. Scripture is so clear in equipping us for battles. Over these next few weeks, every week you are going to be equipped with the armor of God, with the strategies of the Lord to overcome every attack of the enemy, every lie, every deceit.
Many of you right now might be in a battle, or you might have an area in your life where you've never seen victory. I pray and I truly believe God is going to equip you to not only come out of this series knowing about truth, but by knowing truth as revelation, it will set you free. Every area in your life that is bound right now, that is in defeat right now—God wants to bring victory and turn around and breakthrough in that area.
How do you know if something is bound? It's in defeat. How do you know if it's in defeat? It looks different to the word of God. If something in your life right now is different to the word of God—if it's a counter reality to what the word of God says—it is a battleground right now.
Whether that's your health, your relationships, your mental health, your finances, or even just an identity issue where you might say or see yourself as someone who never has victory in that area. "Oh, I could never do that. I've never been able to achieve that. That's not something I ever accomplish. I always lose. I always fail."
Listen, if any part of your life does not align with the word of God and its victory and its declared conquering, it is not something God wants to leave in defeat. Jesus did not come to give you a partially abundant life. He came to give you a life and a life abundant. Everything that Christ had, you have access to.
We are going to be kicking the devil in—well, he doesn't actually have teeth. We'll be kicking him in the gums today because as a believer, he cannot actually bite you. He has been disarmed by Jesus. He can just make noise, and you're going to see his strategies. But any area in your life right now that is in defeat—any area, no matter how far gone—God wants to bring victory, turnaround, and breakthrough in that area so that you become a testimony and that you give glory to Jesus.
You can stay defeated. I can't force you into victory, but I'd like to invite you into victory today.
We're going to live in Ephesians chapter 6, which is all about the armor of God. Let's read it together from verse 10 through to 18:
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, the rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, having done all to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, above all, taking the shield of faith which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication of the spirit, being watchful to this end and with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.
As we embark on this text and look into scripture, I want you to write down and make notes of the things that come alive to you, the revelation that comes through this. There are a lot of things that we think involve warfare that's not warfare. There are a lot of things that we think are not important that are super important.
What you think is not warfare is often warfare. What you think is warfare is often not warfare. Why? Because when we look at this and the description of our enemy, our adversary, the devil—your enemy is not a person. Your enemy is not a people. Your enemy is the devil.
Now at times spirits are behind people in operation, but you need to have revelation to see the bigger picture: you're not fighting people. You're fighting principalities, powers, spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
The devil's goal is to get you not to see clearly, not to understand the word of God, and to not have clarity. Because with clarity, you can understand the devil's strategies, God's answers, God's plans, God's purposes, God's weapons. With clarity, you are able to beat him, to actually stand on his head.
You know, the language of scripture doesn't say you sit eye to eye with the devil. The language of scripture is that he's under your feet. But you can take your ear all the way down to the ground, bend down, and put your face in the ground and give him an eye-to-eye perspective. You can come down from the place of victory where God has positioned you in Christ Jesus and give the devil the ability to speak to you eye to eye.
But scripture says you are seated in heavenly places and it under your feet right now.
How many of you right now are working so hard? You're not working so hard. You're seated. You're chilled. You're relaxed. God wants you alert, awake, aware. Being awake and alert is God's idea, not the devil's idea. Everything that is God's idea, the devil perverts.
The bottom line is: God wants you awake and alert so that you can see your enemy for who he truly is—defeated under your feet.
Recently pastors were asking ChatGPT: "If you were the devil, how would you conquer Christians? What would you do? What would be your strategy?" The answer is revealing:
I wouldn't waste my time trying to get you to worship me. I just convince you not to worship God at all. I would tell you that truth is relative—your truth, my truth—until nobody knows which way is up. I'd whisper, "As long as you're happy, it's right." I'd keep you busy. Too busy for prayer, too busy for church, too busy to ask eternal questions. I'd fill your hands with a phone so you would never fold them in prayer. I'd break families with absent fathers, bitter marriages, confused children. If I can fracture the home, I can fracture the future. I would divide the church with petty arguments, comparison, offense, and celebrity culture. If I can keep Christians fighting each other, they'll never have time to fight me. I would desensitize you. I would glamorize sin in movies, normalize it in music, get you to laugh at it in comedy, and celebrate sin in culture until the sin that once shocked and disgusted you now entertains you. I'd attack your identity, make you question who you are, where you belong, and whether you matter at all. I'd whisper shame so loud in your ear you would never be able to hear God's voice. And through it all, I would never even try to prove to you that I exist. My greatest trick would be to convince you I'm not real at all. If you don't believe I'm real, you'll never recognize I exist.
Thank you, ChatGPT, for summarizing the world we live in and the chaos that ensues. But how many of you know that the devil is defeated?
When you listen to that summary, many of us heard things going, "Wait a second. I can see the devil's strategy in my life. I can see how he is trying to bring defeat into our lives, how he is trying to bring destruction into our lives." But that's okay because now we know what his game plan is.
If you don't believe that the devil is real, that evil is real, and that darkness exists, then the truth of the matter is you will accept everything it throws at you as normal, as part of life. The devil is not our friend. He is our foe. He is our adversary, and he will give you the desires of your heart as long as it destroys your life, as long as it destroys the plan God has put in motion for you.
The first thing we realize is: we don't fight against people. We don't fight against people. Our battle is not against people. It is against all spiritual principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this age, hosts of wickedness.
That is why we need to stop fighting people. We need to stop fighting people and start fighting spirits.
One of the things that blew my mind is when you live your life being just taken by your emotions, your feelings, your flesh, your desires—when you pursue the things of this world that have no eternal value, you're left alone. People will be okay, especially people in your life, certain friends—you'll be fine.
The moment you shift to God's plans and purposes, you'll start to recognize, "Hang on a second. Why are you so upset with me? Why are you so annoyed by me? What is your issue? What is your problem?" What's happened is the person isn't the issue. But the person was a vehicle, a vessel. There was something dormant that now has been activated. What's been activated is the spiritual principality that functions through that person.
You'll have people that will phone you to gossip with you all the time. Gossip is evil. Gossip is not godly. Gossip is not from the Lord. The moment you say, "Listen, I actually—this is not fruitful talk. This is not profitable for me," all of a sudden they don't say to you, "Oh, cool. We're not going to be talking. We're not going to be gossiping." They'll get offended. They'll get angry. They'll get annoyed. They'll gossip about you. Why? Because you've shut the door on a vessel.
God uses people. So does the devil. It's very simple: people are the vessels, but you have to look beyond the person to see what's functioning, what's taking place.
Here's a bigger truth: If people are functioning with the wrong spirit in your life, I'm not saying to you send them to hell, but certainly don't give them a seat at the table. Don't give them an influencing voice. Don't give them the ability to speak into your life.
How do you know if someone speaks into your life? If when they speak, you listen. You can ignore people, but the moment you're listening, they're speaking into your life. If I'm not speaking, you're not hearing. So it's nothing to say if someone comes up to you at work and you go, "La la la." That's not what I'm saying. Let them talk. Just do not listen. Do not feed. Do not receive. When they're speaking, hear this: Lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies.
It's really that simple. If you want to summarize the devil in one word, it's liar. When the devil is talking, he is lying. How do you know he's lying? He's talking. How do you know he's lying? His lips are moving.
It's the same for the devil working through people. When Peter challenged Jesus and said, "You cannot fulfill the prophecy that God has said for your life. It's not right that you should die," Jesus doesn't say, "Let's reason, Peter." Jesus says, "Liar, get behind me, Satan."
Why does Jesus address Peter as the devil? Because that's who was talking.
How do we know the devil was talking? Was Peter completely and utterly all of a sudden possessed by the devil? No. While Jesus was sharing the word of God, Jesus said, "Who do you say that I am?" Peter answered: "You're the Christ, the son of the living God. You're the one." Who is he hearing? He's hearing God. And he answers Jesus's question with the words of God.
Jesus says, "Hey, flesh and blood haven't given you this answer, Peter, but my father in heaven, you were listening to him speak. On the revelation that I am the Christ, the risen one, listen, I will build a church and the gates of hell cannot prevail against that church."
Then Jesus goes on to tell Peter, "But I must go. I must die. I must be crucified." While Jesus is talking, the devil is saying in Peter's ear, "This is a bad idea. This is not going to work."
Why was it a bad idea in Peter's ears? Because all of the heroes of the Jewish faith up until then were believed to be a potential Messiah or a potential hero—they got killed and they stayed dead. Nobody before nor since has ever been raised from the dead through the power of God in them. So when Jesus says, "I'm going to die," what Peter is hearing is the devil saying, "Peter, this is a bad idea. You're going to lose Jesus. There must be another way. You need to convince him not to follow the words of God, not to follow the prophecy. There must be a better manmade way for him to accomplish this without dying."
And so Peter says, "Jesus, this is not the way to do it." He wasn't possessed by the devil. He was influenced by thoughts.
Every thought you have is not your thought until you own the thought.
What the devil does is he says, "You failed, right?" But he doesn't say it. He says the words, and you take it on: "I failed. I'm suicidal. I'm suicidal." What he does is he personifies thoughts.
But do you know where your thoughts come from? No. That's the fascinating thing. Your thoughts come from all over.
That's why when I'm standing in an airplane, by the grace of God, I walk past the door with the big silver handle that locks the airplane from the outside world at 40,000 feet. Outside of this little bubble I'm standing in, drinking some still water, waiting to go to the toilet, traveling at 700-800 km an hour, outside it is so cold—it's freezing. If you were to breathe the air, it would crystallize. You're traveling so fast that if you put your hand out, it would probably come off. It's so violent outside. But inside, you're standing there waiting to go to the toilet, eating a roll, drinking still water, watching a movie. You still have the thought: "What would happen if I grabbed the big silver handle and pulled it up?"
We would all die. Why am I still tempted to do this? That's not a reasonable thought. It's a foolish thought. But you need to realize: just because you have a thought, it is not your thinking.
Has anybody here ever been driving and thought, "Let me go on the other side of the road and see what happens"? Has anybody here been driving along a cliff and thought, "Let's..."? Do you know you have strange thoughts? I've had very strange thoughts in my life, but they only become my thoughts when I receive them as part of who I am. When I receive it, now it becomes a part of my identity, and now it can impact my behavior. But just because you have a thought doesn't mean it's you.
Because the devil speaks in thoughts.
Eve thought something based on the devil's words. When you see people fighting in a marriage, what are the thoughts at the table? "Oh, this is hopeless. This is helpless. We're done." It is amazing how something that you put your whole life into—and you can argue over something so frivolous and silly, right? All of a sudden the thoughts come in: "Oh, this will never work. This will never last." That's not God speaking. That's not you speaking. Those are thoughts. But it is when you receive them and you start to believe them that you manifest them as truth.
That's how the devil functions. So we need to recognize his primary weapon is getting you to think your battle is against people. It's against him.
And to think that letting people speak into your life is just everyone gets a say. No. I do not give the same amount of weight to a person who believes something ridiculous as to someone who believes something logical. If a person has a crazy thought, they are crazy. Do not take the crazy on board.
I want to talk about something a bit controversial for a moment, just to show something. They're arguing right now to allow children of a very young age to go through sex changes. Okay? We believe it's right that a 9-year-old can decide something.
Go to that nine-year-old. I've seen a nine-year-old who says, "I don't like my legs. They annoy me. They irritate me. I want to cut my legs off." Do you know what the medical community says? Not possible. We're only allowed to amputate any of your limbs legally in the medical profession when your life is at risk because you need that limb. Until it comes to attacking your gender. Then it's fine. A nine-year-old can decide.
Why can't they decide they don't want arms? Help me understand this. And you want to reason with me that that's logical? My kids think that they're Superman. Doesn't mean I say, "Stand on the top of the building and jump off, son. It's 10 stories. We'll find out if your truth is true." No, you're nine. You do not understand the ways of this world. I'm not going to put you up there and allow you to jump because you are not actually understanding things rationally.
I can tell you the devil's running the world based on how people think. Why? Because it's not getting better. It's not working out.
Behind everything in the devil's agenda is an idea. And you know what the agenda is? It's actually not your destruction. The agenda is to attack the word of God. The devil doesn't like you because God made you in his image. He cannot destroy God. He cannot. He is a created, limited being. So the next best thing he can do is attack God's creation. He's not interested in defacing you, destroying you. He's interested in who you represent.
The more you align with God's plan and his purpose for your life, the more you shine with God's face, the more you stand out as the imagebearer of God. And so he comes to attack that because he hates God so much. But he has no authority.
You stand in your armor and in your armor you look like Jesus. You look like Jesus in your armor. And the devil has no ability to destroy you in your armor unless he can convince you with his words to take it off.
As long as he has the ability to speak and you listen, he controls you.
The devil's words are the only way he can work in your life. The same way God's words are the only way he can work in your life. So the rules of the earth are the words you apply. The words you believe release and speak to the behavior and the actions that you will see.
That's how the devil functions with words. I want to encourage you: if anything you realize today as we begin this series, it is to stop taking words and thoughts as not important. Take words and thoughts as everything.
What you are listening to, what you are reading, what you are hearing—I'm not saying you won't be exposed to rubbish. I'm saying you just don't believe it.
If someone came to me on the street and said, "Do you want to get rich? Okay, give me all your money and then I'm going to go and play in the casino and let's see what happens," I'd think, "This is very foolish advice. This is not going to work."
So all you need to do is identify the things you are hearing and the things you are thinking, and you will start to recognize why you believe a certain way and you see things unfold in your life according to what you believe about something.
We are going to see victory in every area because we're going to bring every area under scrutiny. Is this area submitted to the word of God? Believing the word of God? Receiving the word of God? Because that area believing and receiving will see God's hand in that area.
Our scripture doesn't show us great warriors fighting. They didn't fight anything. They didn't enforce anything. They didn't show up and supernaturally do something that we go and say, "I could never do that." How hard is it to show up? Do you know how some of the battles were won? Standing there, blowing a ram's horn, giving a shout of praise. That's not a battle plan. It's not a strategy.
Because we do not fight. We already have the victory. But the devil comes with his words to convince us to stand down.
Now, I will say this: don't be fooled. What I'm going to be teaching over the next few weeks sounds easy, but it's hard. Why is it hard? Because you will fight the flesh. You will find why is it so hard to speak differently about this area, believe differently about this area? You will find words and traumas and actions and beliefs from your youth that have come in to rob you of what God's word says about that part of your life.
When I speak, do you know how hard it is for an effeminate male to receive affirmation from a man? When I say, "You're good-looking. You're a man. You're going to make a woman so proud," why is that so hard to receive? Because their whole life they were told, "You're effeminate. You're weak. You're nothing," bullied, pulverized, often abused by strong male figures in their lives.
You can be creative. You can be all of these things. You can be soft-spoken and affeminate, but still be a man who is good-looking, who is a leader, who is in charge, and who a woman would admire. But we never speak those words. We've given an identity to a child young, counter to the word of God, that tells them, "You were made wrong," when they were made beautiful.
When I speak to men struggling with sexual identity, I say, "Look at you. You're handsome. You're a mighty man." It's like, "What are you saying? This is so hard to hear and believe." That's the words God would speak over your life.
Do you know Tara was a tomboy growing up? Rather than sporty girl. You're going to see the devil's strategies in all of his words. Has anybody here ever said, "I'm living for a slice of cake"? No. "I'm dying for a slice of cake. I'm dying to know." We have such death woven into our language, our ideas as a society.
"We're not smart. We're not this. We're not that. I'm dumb. I'm this. I am that. I have ADHD. I have this. I have that."
No, you don't have ADHD. You have a high processing thought. If you're bored, you get bored easily, right? But you will see the devil's strategies are words and thoughts that you then take—a lie and believe as truth. That's his number-one goal at the beginning: to deliver a lie packaged as truth.
Well, it feels real. It feels real. Yeah. But that doesn't mean it is real.
When the Bible says that they must know the truth and the truth will set them free (John 8:32), think of it this way: "And you will know the truth and the truth will make you free."
Have you ever had anxiety and thought you were dying of a heart attack? "I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I'm going to die." At that time, a lie is presented as truth. Someone rushes you to the doctor. The doctor puts machines on you. The doctor looks at you and now, based on fact, based on evidence, based on understanding and real revelation, says, "You're not dying. Your heart is fine. You're not having a heart attack." And the truth in that moment sets you free of a lie.
We were on holiday as a family in Mauritius. Our middle child, Joel, is a very active boy. Very busy. Lots of energy. He presents fearless. But if he gets scared, he gets affected by his fear.
We are away from the boat snorkeling. Joel can swim—that dude's 13. He can swim. Well, we're away from the boat snorkeling, and you know how snorkeling is: you've got things you're not used to, and it's an unfamiliar environment with goggles and flippers.
The next thing I hear, Tara shouting, "Help!" I look over and she's—it literally looks like someone's drowning. I get there and Joel is sinking like this, paralyzed with fear in his eyes, going down, and Tara is trying to grab him. In the panic, Hannah's there—Hannah at the time is seven and can't swim well—and we're far from the boat.
Joel is lying there panicked, sinking like a stone in the water. But bear in mind, this dude swims all day every day. He can swim, but he is sinking like a stone.
I get to him, I grab him, I pull him up, right? We get him back to the boat to find out that he, in his fear, touched his foot with a coral. It didn't cut him, didn't hurt him, but he thought he might have stood on a sea urchin. He was told in a rumor that if you touch the spike, the poison paralyzes you, and he thought he was dying. And then he began to sink.
Once he realized he didn't pierce his foot on a poisonous urchin and he wasn't paralyzed, 30 seconds later he's swimming completely fine. But for that moment, he's lying there dying because he told himself, "I'm going to die. It's my time."
Tara's drowning. We're all drowning. We get to the boat. What was that? Nothing. He's fine. The people who took us snorkeling, ripping their clothes off, diving in thinking this is an emergency.
He didn't even remember he was wearing flippers. He wasn't even barefoot. But that's exactly how the devil works. If you'll believe it, you'll receive it. If he can speak it, he will say it. And he wants you to believe a lie and hold it as truth.
Let's look at the armor of God. It says, "Put on the whole armor." Again, the whole armor of God, not just one part, that you might be able to stand against attacks. He's not asking for you to fight all day, all night, fighting the devil, fighting the devil. No, the armor fights the devil, but you stand in the armor. You stand in victory.
It says, "Take up this whole armor that you will stand in the evil day, having done all to remain standing."
Today we're beginning with the first part. Verse 14 says: "Stand therefore having girded your waist with the belt of truth."
What is the first part of the armor of God? Truth. Not power, not might, not faith. Truth. Because if you believe a lie, you're done.
It's fascinating that the belt of truth was to hold weapons, but it's actually to keep everything together. And it is interesting: what is the place the whole world is attacking as truth?
I'm not getting political, conservative, liberal. I'm speaking scripture. If you're a Christian, the words of God should supersede anybody else's words. It's the honest truth.
And if the word of God can't correct you, Jesus is not your Lord. Jesus is not following you. You're not walking in all authority and might and knowledge and wisdom. He is.
If you cannot surrender that, you will live your life under somebody else's control. The world is not neutral. Neither are your emotions. The world is not good. The world is not moral.
When you say, "Oh, well, you know, I'll just take my risk with the world," that's fine. Just take your risk with evil. Just know who's in charge: good and evil.
If you don't believe in good and evil, let me ask you something. No one here would love me to take a child up here and murder a child in front of everyone. Your instincts say that's bad. But if there's no good and evil, why is that bad? If nothing has consequence, why does anything have consequence?
But the devil wants to convince you he is not behind the outside world. Because the moment you recognize him, you are now confronted with truth. Is he my lord or is somebody else my lord? Am I serving darkness or light? Whose agenda am I being controlled by?
Truth is the number-one starting point because if we will accept this as truth, we can then build the armor around it and your dignity is strengthened. Your identity is strengthened.
Everything around truth—which is why the devil comes. And the Bible doesn't call the devil the evil one. The Bible calls him the father of lies.
Whether that person steps as a news anchor, a medical doctor, a politician, a leading thought provoker—if they come counter to God's word, this is what you should hear: Lies. Lies. Lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies. It's not another opinion. It's a lie. It's not another perspective. It's a lie.
I know I'm standing on some toes. Well, I'm not. The word of God is. And it corrects me all the time. All the time. This corrects me: "Nope, nope, nope, nope." But the beauty is you recognize I have a flesh, and that's what I need to go and say every day: "Be put to death. My opinion, my ideas—that's not fair, that's not right, that's not this." No, no, no. Lies, lies, lies. But if I can accept what is truth, everything else is set up for victory.
If I cannot get truth right, everything else is set up for failure. If the devil can get you to believe a lie, he already has you defeated.
In Isaiah 42:3, it says to us: "A bruised reed he will not break. A smoking flax he will not quench. He will bring forth justice for truth."
That same scripture is quoted in the New Testament, but one word is changed. In Matthew 12:20, it says: "A bruised reed he will not break. A smoking flax he will not quench till he sends forth justice to victory."
The Old Testament uses the word truth. The New Testament uses the word victory. God's truth is your access to victory.
Doesn't mean it's easy. The flesh kicks and screams.
You know, there is an f-word in the Bible. Do you know what the f-word is? Forgiveness. It's the only thing the disciples said to Jesus: "We have no faith for that."
"Raise the dead? Fine. Heal everyone? Fine. Pay all of our taxes with a fish out of the sea? Fine. Feed 5,000 people with a little bit of bread? Fine. But forgiveness? Jesus, talk about forgiveness. 70 times 7 in a lifetime—in a day!"
That means the person is not sorry because they are repeating the offense. Have you ever said to a child, "Stop saying sorry. Start changing. Sorry doesn't mean anything to you. Don't break something, say sorry, break it again, say sorry, break it again, say sorry." Jesus says 70 times 7 in a day. That is a person unrelenting in offense.
And Jesus's answer is forgive them.
The disciples were honest. "There's no way we have faith for that. There's no way. There's no way."
Because the honest answer with that is it's the hardest thing to do—to forgive someone who isn't sorry. But you want to know something interesting? We don't truly believe people are sorry because if they offend us 20 years ago, we keep it in the corner and say, "I'll forgive you until you do it again. But if you do it again, I'm going to bring back that offense plus the new offense."
Do you know what forgiveness is? It's not—oh, you're forgotten. It's like it never happened. But that's supernatural. The thing is, truth upsets people, but they don't understand that truth believed and received will give you victory over offense.
When you're offended by someone, you are controlled by something. When you are offended, your behavior is impacted. Your belief system is impacted. But forgiveness sets you free.
You will know the truth, and that truth applied sets you free. Sets you free.
Your freedom is what God is after. Your victory is what God is after, and his word will give you that victory.
We're going to go over the armor of God over the next few weeks. Today we're focusing on truth. The armor consists of:
And the seventh? Prayer. The seventh part is revealed in the instructions where it tells us "pray." So the devil wants the believer standing there in the armor—belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, helmet of salvation, shield of faith, shoes of peace, sword of the spirit—but silent. Don't be praying.
Now, can I tell you something about people? We are never silent. So when the devil says "don't speak," it's not that you won't speak. He's saying "don't speak according to the word of God."
The seventh weapon is here, everybody. And if he controls this—prayer—he controls everything. It's the rudder. It's the direction of the ship.
You can be standing there and you go, "I am a loser. I am a failure. I'll never have victory. I'll never conquer this. I'm suicidal. I'm depressed. I'll never find love. I'll never find happiness. I'll never be blessed. I'll always be sick." Defeat, defeat, defeat, defeat, defeat, defeat, defeat.
You've lost. As humans, we are never silent. We're speaking based on what we're hearing, what we're believing, what we're receiving. But God is saying, "Now that you have this on, speak. Pray according to the spirit. Pray in tongues. Speak my word."
Then all of a sudden you start to enforce defeat on the enemy based on the words that you have.
Here's the thing: Where is truth not ruling in your life? Where there is fear, where there is anxiety, where there is pain, where there is worry, where there is torment—that's where fear is ruling. The more people veer off of God's word, the more confused they get, the more needy they become.
Do you want to know what a believer looks like? Someone who needs nothing from people. You walk into a room that hates you, you bless them. You walk into a room that's in chaos, you serve them. You can walk into a place and need nothing from any person ever, because you have everything from God.
You know what a defeated person looks like? "I need your opinion. I need your affirmation. I need your like, your tick, your comment, your subscription. I need you to believe in everything I say. Affirm everything I do because I have nothing without you. I am nothing without you."
Because they don't have an identity. They're waiting for everyone to assign to them their value and their importance.
But when a believer who knows who they are in Christ walks in, you are a different person. You don't need anything from anyone. You do not need people to pay. You do not need money because my God supplies all my need. And I don't need you. I don't need you.
You are blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus. You have every single thing you could ever need. And when you stand in the armor of God, you look like Jesus.
I'll never forget—our kids love superheroes and stuff. And you know, certain superhero outfits are terrible, but I'll never forget growing up when I saw that Batman suit. The Batman suit looked the coolest. It was like that plastic, rubber kind—the six-pack, the chest, the biceps, the bulge, the triceps, the face—everything.
And you could take the weakest, wimpiest, most skinny, most fledgling, never having accomplished anything, fought anything, done anything—a child who maybe lived their entire life behind a computer screen—and put them in the Batman suit and you're like, "That's a killer superhero right there."
You know, because that's what the armor of God makes you look like. You stand. But you know how the devil knows? How does the devil know that he's got an adversary that's got him by his number?
Three things God is that the devil is not. God is omniscient—he knows everything. God is omnipotent—he has all power. And God is omnipresent—he is everywhere.
The devil does not know everything. The Bible even tells us he would never have crucified Christ if he did because it destroyed everything he ever had. All his authority, all his power, everything was taken. He is not all knowing. He is not all powerful. He is limited. He is a created being. He has not got authority where he has not been given authority.
And he is not everywhere at all times. How the devil knows what's going on with you is by what you say. What you say.
Speak to the mountain and it will be moved. Resist the devil by telling him to flee and he must go. What do you say? What do you say? And that is why people will not have a problem with you until you speak the word of God.
All hell breaks loose when you start to speak the word of God. The devil is like, "Silence that person. Switch them off. Shut them down." Because when you start to speak the word of God, you start to take authority over principalities and powers and darkness.
The world will sit by while some fumbling fool will stand there and tell us a 5-year-old can cut themselves for the rest of their life based on their feelings. And we'll all sit in silence.
But when someone gets up and says, "You were born in the image of God. The gender that God gave you, he gave you with a purpose. He made you beautiful in your image. He made you with a plan," shut him down. Hate speech. Hate speech. Hate speech. Yes, it's hate speech to the devil. Because every principality and power, wickedness is going, "We're losing ground. We're losing ground. Shut them up. Shut them up. Shut them up. Silence them. Silence them."
So in your life, when the devil comes with a lie, you speak the truth—God's word. When your child is rebelling, you say, "Look at them rebelling. In the name of Jesus, my child will not go down that path and be destroyed. God, I place them in your hands. Angels, I assign them. You stay around."
Yes. If they go out and they get drunk in a nightclub, I pray that the angels of God are present. That there will be a supernatural intervention. You start to speak over that situation, over that assignment.
When you're at strife in your home, "God, I thank you. My marriage is blessed, not cursed. My spouse is from God. We will find peace. This will not be our normal. This will not be our story." You start to speak the watch the atmosphere change.
Speak truth and you'll see victory in Jesus name.
Can you stand to your feet? I'm going to hand the service back to the pastors. There are two types of people in this room right now. There are people who have never bowed their knee to Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. There are people in this room today, I don't know if this is your first time or your hundredth time in a church building, but you have never with your mouth confessed Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior.
The Bible says that we must pray and confess by our mouth and believe in our heart that Jesus died for our sin and rose again for our eternal life. When we do that, our eternity is now shifted from our own ability—which gets us to hell—to God's ability in Christ Jesus, which purchased for us eternal life.
The question I'm asking you today is not: are you a good person? It's: Is Jesus your personal Lord and Savior?
Every single person is not good. We can try, but it's not good enough. Every single person is born a sinner and needs to be born again in Christ Jesus.
If you're in this place and you have never prayed that prayer, if you're watching right now and you've never with your heart believed and your mouth confessed Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, today is your day. This is your moment. You're not going to leave this moment the same way that you came in Jesus' name.
There's another group of people in this place today. You might have prayed that prayer a very long time ago. But if you reflect right now, you might be your first time in church in months, if not years. Your life is a complete mess today.
Jesus gave the illustration of the prodigal son. One son got his full inheritance, left the father's house, went into a far away land, and blew everything on sinful living. He found himself with nothing in a desperate place with nothing, no value. Jesus said all that son had to do was return to the house of the father so that the dad could completely restore what the son had blown.
There are some people here today and your life has been a mess. Today needs to be a turning point. A moment where you come back to the commitment that Jesus is your Lord and Savior. A moment where you come back to that decision to let him be the Lord of your life and say, "From this day forward, I'm changing. I'm not going back. Today is my day. I'm coming home in Jesus' name."
We are beginning a new series called From Battle to Breakthrough. We're going to be looking at living victorious in a world at war. This means you are not meant to cope and survive—you are meant to conquer and thrive.
The word of God is very clear that we do live in a world where there is warfare and there are battles. But you are not meant to get to a battlefield and just survive. You are meant to actually have breakthrough and victory over every enemy—not some enemies, but every enemy. We are believers, and as believers, we get to enforce the devil's defeat in our lives, which brings glory to Jesus.
I want to equip our church to walk in victory so that when you are faced with a battle, you know exactly what to do, how to do it, and to see yourself emerge victorious. You are a conqueror in Christ. In fact, the Bible calls you more than a conqueror.
It's a powerful illustration because we do not need to fight the devil. We need to enforce his defeat. Scripture is so clear in equipping us for battles. Over these next few weeks, every week you are going to be equipped with the armor of God, with the strategies of the Lord to overcome every attack of the enemy, every lie, every deceit.
Many of you right now might be in a battle, or you might have an area in your life where you've never seen victory. I pray and I truly believe God is going to equip you to not only come out of this series knowing about truth, but by knowing truth as revelation, it will set you free. Every area in your life that is bound right now, that is in defeat right now—God wants to bring victory and turn around and breakthrough in that area.
How do you know if something is bound? It's in defeat. How do you know if it's in defeat? It looks different to the word of God. If something in your life right now is different to the word of God—if it's a counter reality to what the word of God says—it is a battleground right now.
Whether that's your health, your relationships, your mental health, your finances, or even just an identity issue where you might say or see yourself as someone who never has victory in that area. "Oh, I could never do that. I've never been able to achieve that. That's not something I ever accomplish. I always lose. I always fail."
Listen, if any part of your life does not align with the word of God and its victory and its declared conquering, it is not something God wants to leave in defeat. Jesus did not come to give you a partially abundant life. He came to give you a life and a life abundant. Everything that Christ had, you have access to.
We are going to be kicking the devil in—well, he doesn't actually have teeth. We'll be kicking him in the gums today because as a believer, he cannot actually bite you. He has been disarmed by Jesus. He can just make noise, and you're going to see his strategies. But any area in your life right now that is in defeat—any area, no matter how far gone—God wants to bring victory, turnaround, and breakthrough in that area so that you become a testimony and that you give glory to Jesus.
You can stay defeated. I can't force you into victory, but I'd like to invite you into victory today.
We're going to live in Ephesians chapter 6, which is all about the armor of God. Let's read it together from verse 10 through to 18:
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, the rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, having done all to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, above all, taking the shield of faith which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication of the spirit, being watchful to this end and with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.
As we embark on this text and look into scripture, I want you to write down and make notes of the things that come alive to you, the revelation that comes through this. There are a lot of things that we think involve warfare that's not warfare. There are a lot of things that we think are not important that are super important.
What you think is not warfare is often warfare. What you think is warfare is often not warfare. Why? Because when we look at this and the description of our enemy, our adversary, the devil—your enemy is not a person. Your enemy is not a people. Your enemy is the devil.
Now at times spirits are behind people in operation, but you need to have revelation to see the bigger picture: you're not fighting people. You're fighting principalities, powers, spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
The devil's goal is to get you not to see clearly, not to understand the word of God, and to not have clarity. Because with clarity, you can understand the devil's strategies, God's answers, God's plans, God's purposes, God's weapons. With clarity, you are able to beat him, to actually stand on his head.
You know, the language of scripture doesn't say you sit eye to eye with the devil. The language of scripture is that he's under your feet. But you can take your ear all the way down to the ground, bend down, and put your face in the ground and give him an eye-to-eye perspective. You can come down from the place of victory where God has positioned you in Christ Jesus and give the devil the ability to speak to you eye to eye.
But scripture says you are seated in heavenly places and it under your feet right now.
How many of you right now are working so hard? You're not working so hard. You're seated. You're chilled. You're relaxed. God wants you alert, awake, aware. Being awake and alert is God's idea, not the devil's idea. Everything that is God's idea, the devil perverts.
The bottom line is: God wants you awake and alert so that you can see your enemy for who he truly is—defeated under your feet.
Recently pastors were asking ChatGPT: "If you were the devil, how would you conquer Christians? What would you do? What would be your strategy?" The answer is revealing:
I wouldn't waste my time trying to get you to worship me. I just convince you not to worship God at all. I would tell you that truth is relative—your truth, my truth—until nobody knows which way is up. I'd whisper, "As long as you're happy, it's right." I'd keep you busy. Too busy for prayer, too busy for church, too busy to ask eternal questions. I'd fill your hands with a phone so you would never fold them in prayer. I'd break families with absent fathers, bitter marriages, confused children. If I can fracture the home, I can fracture the future. I would divide the church with petty arguments, comparison, offense, and celebrity culture. If I can keep Christians fighting each other, they'll never have time to fight me. I would desensitize you. I would glamorize sin in movies, normalize it in music, get you to laugh at it in comedy, and celebrate sin in culture until the sin that once shocked and disgusted you now entertains you. I'd attack your identity, make you question who you are, where you belong, and whether you matter at all. I'd whisper shame so loud in your ear you would never be able to hear God's voice. And through it all, I would never even try to prove to you that I exist. My greatest trick would be to convince you I'm not real at all. If you don't believe I'm real, you'll never recognize I exist.
Thank you, ChatGPT, for summarizing the world we live in and the chaos that ensues. But how many of you know that the devil is defeated?
When you listen to that summary, many of us heard things going, "Wait a second. I can see the devil's strategy in my life. I can see how he is trying to bring defeat into our lives, how he is trying to bring destruction into our lives." But that's okay because now we know what his game plan is.
If you don't believe that the devil is real, that evil is real, and that darkness exists, then the truth of the matter is you will accept everything it throws at you as normal, as part of life. The devil is not our friend. He is our foe. He is our adversary, and he will give you the desires of your heart as long as it destroys your life, as long as it destroys the plan God has put in motion for you.
The first thing we realize is: we don't fight against people. We don't fight against people. Our battle is not against people. It is against all spiritual principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this age, hosts of wickedness.
That is why we need to stop fighting people. We need to stop fighting people and start fighting spirits.
One of the things that blew my mind is when you live your life being just taken by your emotions, your feelings, your flesh, your desires—when you pursue the things of this world that have no eternal value, you're left alone. People will be okay, especially people in your life, certain friends—you'll be fine.
The moment you shift to God's plans and purposes, you'll start to recognize, "Hang on a second. Why are you so upset with me? Why are you so annoyed by me? What is your issue? What is your problem?" What's happened is the person isn't the issue. But the person was a vehicle, a vessel. There was something dormant that now has been activated. What's been activated is the spiritual principality that functions through that person.
You'll have people that will phone you to gossip with you all the time. Gossip is evil. Gossip is not godly. Gossip is not from the Lord. The moment you say, "Listen, I actually—this is not fruitful talk. This is not profitable for me," all of a sudden they don't say to you, "Oh, cool. We're not going to be talking. We're not going to be gossiping." They'll get offended. They'll get angry. They'll get annoyed. They'll gossip about you. Why? Because you've shut the door on a vessel.
God uses people. So does the devil. It's very simple: people are the vessels, but you have to look beyond the person to see what's functioning, what's taking place.
Here's a bigger truth: If people are functioning with the wrong spirit in your life, I'm not saying to you send them to hell, but certainly don't give them a seat at the table. Don't give them an influencing voice. Don't give them the ability to speak into your life.
How do you know if someone speaks into your life? If when they speak, you listen. You can ignore people, but the moment you're listening, they're speaking into your life. If I'm not speaking, you're not hearing. So it's nothing to say if someone comes up to you at work and you go, "La la la." That's not what I'm saying. Let them talk. Just do not listen. Do not feed. Do not receive. When they're speaking, hear this: Lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies.
It's really that simple. If you want to summarize the devil in one word, it's liar. When the devil is talking, he is lying. How do you know he's lying? He's talking. How do you know he's lying? His lips are moving.
It's the same for the devil working through people. When Peter challenged Jesus and said, "You cannot fulfill the prophecy that God has said for your life. It's not right that you should die," Jesus doesn't say, "Let's reason, Peter." Jesus says, "Liar, get behind me, Satan."
Why does Jesus address Peter as the devil? Because that's who was talking.
How do we know the devil was talking? Was Peter completely and utterly all of a sudden possessed by the devil? No. While Jesus was sharing the word of God, Jesus said, "Who do you say that I am?" Peter answered: "You're the Christ, the son of the living God. You're the one." Who is he hearing? He's hearing God. And he answers Jesus's question with the words of God.
Jesus says, "Hey, flesh and blood haven't given you this answer, Peter, but my father in heaven, you were listening to him speak. On the revelation that I am the Christ, the risen one, listen, I will build a church and the gates of hell cannot prevail against that church."
Then Jesus goes on to tell Peter, "But I must go. I must die. I must be crucified." While Jesus is talking, the devil is saying in Peter's ear, "This is a bad idea. This is not going to work."
Why was it a bad idea in Peter's ears? Because all of the heroes of the Jewish faith up until then were believed to be a potential Messiah or a potential hero—they got killed and they stayed dead. Nobody before nor since has ever been raised from the dead through the power of God in them. So when Jesus says, "I'm going to die," what Peter is hearing is the devil saying, "Peter, this is a bad idea. You're going to lose Jesus. There must be another way. You need to convince him not to follow the words of God, not to follow the prophecy. There must be a better manmade way for him to accomplish this without dying."
And so Peter says, "Jesus, this is not the way to do it." He wasn't possessed by the devil. He was influenced by thoughts.
Every thought you have is not your thought until you own the thought.
What the devil does is he says, "You failed, right?" But he doesn't say it. He says the words, and you take it on: "I failed. I'm suicidal. I'm suicidal." What he does is he personifies thoughts.
But do you know where your thoughts come from? No. That's the fascinating thing. Your thoughts come from all over.
That's why when I'm standing in an airplane, by the grace of God, I walk past the door with the big silver handle that locks the airplane from the outside world at 40,000 feet. Outside of this little bubble I'm standing in, drinking some still water, waiting to go to the toilet, traveling at 700-800 km an hour, outside it is so cold—it's freezing. If you were to breathe the air, it would crystallize. You're traveling so fast that if you put your hand out, it would probably come off. It's so violent outside. But inside, you're standing there waiting to go to the toilet, eating a roll, drinking still water, watching a movie. You still have the thought: "What would happen if I grabbed the big silver handle and pulled it up?"
We would all die. Why am I still tempted to do this? That's not a reasonable thought. It's a foolish thought. But you need to realize: just because you have a thought, it is not your thinking.
Has anybody here ever been driving and thought, "Let me go on the other side of the road and see what happens"? Has anybody here been driving along a cliff and thought, "Let's..."? Do you know you have strange thoughts? I've had very strange thoughts in my life, but they only become my thoughts when I receive them as part of who I am. When I receive it, now it becomes a part of my identity, and now it can impact my behavior. But just because you have a thought doesn't mean it's you.
Because the devil speaks in thoughts.
Eve thought something based on the devil's words. When you see people fighting in a marriage, what are the thoughts at the table? "Oh, this is hopeless. This is helpless. We're done." It is amazing how something that you put your whole life into—and you can argue over something so frivolous and silly, right? All of a sudden the thoughts come in: "Oh, this will never work. This will never last." That's not God speaking. That's not you speaking. Those are thoughts. But it is when you receive them and you start to believe them that you manifest them as truth.
That's how the devil functions. So we need to recognize his primary weapon is getting you to think your battle is against people. It's against him.
And to think that letting people speak into your life is just everyone gets a say. No. I do not give the same amount of weight to a person who believes something ridiculous as to someone who believes something logical. If a person has a crazy thought, they are crazy. Do not take the crazy on board.
I want to talk about something a bit controversial for a moment, just to show something. They're arguing right now to allow children of a very young age to go through sex changes. Okay? We believe it's right that a 9-year-old can decide something.
Go to that nine-year-old. I've seen a nine-year-old who says, "I don't like my legs. They annoy me. They irritate me. I want to cut my legs off." Do you know what the medical community says? Not possible. We're only allowed to amputate any of your limbs legally in the medical profession when your life is at risk because you need that limb. Until it comes to attacking your gender. Then it's fine. A nine-year-old can decide.
Why can't they decide they don't want arms? Help me understand this. And you want to reason with me that that's logical? My kids think that they're Superman. Doesn't mean I say, "Stand on the top of the building and jump off, son. It's 10 stories. We'll find out if your truth is true." No, you're nine. You do not understand the ways of this world. I'm not going to put you up there and allow you to jump because you are not actually understanding things rationally.
I can tell you the devil's running the world based on how people think. Why? Because it's not getting better. It's not working out.
Behind everything in the devil's agenda is an idea. And you know what the agenda is? It's actually not your destruction. The agenda is to attack the word of God. The devil doesn't like you because God made you in his image. He cannot destroy God. He cannot. He is a created, limited being. So the next best thing he can do is attack God's creation. He's not interested in defacing you, destroying you. He's interested in who you represent.
The more you align with God's plan and his purpose for your life, the more you shine with God's face, the more you stand out as the imagebearer of God. And so he comes to attack that because he hates God so much. But he has no authority.
You stand in your armor and in your armor you look like Jesus. You look like Jesus in your armor. And the devil has no ability to destroy you in your armor unless he can convince you with his words to take it off.
As long as he has the ability to speak and you listen, he controls you.
The devil's words are the only way he can work in your life. The same way God's words are the only way he can work in your life. So the rules of the earth are the words you apply. The words you believe release and speak to the behavior and the actions that you will see.
That's how the devil functions with words. I want to encourage you: if anything you realize today as we begin this series, it is to stop taking words and thoughts as not important. Take words and thoughts as everything.
What you are listening to, what you are reading, what you are hearing—I'm not saying you won't be exposed to rubbish. I'm saying you just don't believe it.
If someone came to me on the street and said, "Do you want to get rich? Okay, give me all your money and then I'm going to go and play in the casino and let's see what happens," I'd think, "This is very foolish advice. This is not going to work."
So all you need to do is identify the things you are hearing and the things you are thinking, and you will start to recognize why you believe a certain way and you see things unfold in your life according to what you believe about something.
We are going to see victory in every area because we're going to bring every area under scrutiny. Is this area submitted to the word of God? Believing the word of God? Receiving the word of God? Because that area believing and receiving will see God's hand in that area.
Our scripture doesn't show us great warriors fighting. They didn't fight anything. They didn't enforce anything. They didn't show up and supernaturally do something that we go and say, "I could never do that." How hard is it to show up? Do you know how some of the battles were won? Standing there, blowing a ram's horn, giving a shout of praise. That's not a battle plan. It's not a strategy.
Because we do not fight. We already have the victory. But the devil comes with his words to convince us to stand down.
Now, I will say this: don't be fooled. What I'm going to be teaching over the next few weeks sounds easy, but it's hard. Why is it hard? Because you will fight the flesh. You will find why is it so hard to speak differently about this area, believe differently about this area? You will find words and traumas and actions and beliefs from your youth that have come in to rob you of what God's word says about that part of your life.
When I speak, do you know how hard it is for an effeminate male to receive affirmation from a man? When I say, "You're good-looking. You're a man. You're going to make a woman so proud," why is that so hard to receive? Because their whole life they were told, "You're effeminate. You're weak. You're nothing," bullied, pulverized, often abused by strong male figures in their lives.
You can be creative. You can be all of these things. You can be soft-spoken and affeminate, but still be a man who is good-looking, who is a leader, who is in charge, and who a woman would admire. But we never speak those words. We've given an identity to a child young, counter to the word of God, that tells them, "You were made wrong," when they were made beautiful.
When I speak to men struggling with sexual identity, I say, "Look at you. You're handsome. You're a mighty man." It's like, "What are you saying? This is so hard to hear and believe." That's the words God would speak over your life.
Do you know Tara was a tomboy growing up? Rather than sporty girl. You're going to see the devil's strategies in all of his words. Has anybody here ever said, "I'm living for a slice of cake"? No. "I'm dying for a slice of cake. I'm dying to know." We have such death woven into our language, our ideas as a society.
"We're not smart. We're not this. We're not that. I'm dumb. I'm this. I am that. I have ADHD. I have this. I have that."
No, you don't have ADHD. You have a high processing thought. If you're bored, you get bored easily, right? But you will see the devil's strategies are words and thoughts that you then take—a lie and believe as truth. That's his number-one goal at the beginning: to deliver a lie packaged as truth.
Well, it feels real. It feels real. Yeah. But that doesn't mean it is real.
When the Bible says that they must know the truth and the truth will set them free (John 8:32), think of it this way: "And you will know the truth and the truth will make you free."
Have you ever had anxiety and thought you were dying of a heart attack? "I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I'm going to die." At that time, a lie is presented as truth. Someone rushes you to the doctor. The doctor puts machines on you. The doctor looks at you and now, based on fact, based on evidence, based on understanding and real revelation, says, "You're not dying. Your heart is fine. You're not having a heart attack." And the truth in that moment sets you free of a lie.
We were on holiday as a family in Mauritius. Our middle child, Joel, is a very active boy. Very busy. Lots of energy. He presents fearless. But if he gets scared, he gets affected by his fear.
We are away from the boat snorkeling. Joel can swim—that dude's 13. He can swim. Well, we're away from the boat snorkeling, and you know how snorkeling is: you've got things you're not used to, and it's an unfamiliar environment with goggles and flippers.
The next thing I hear, Tara shouting, "Help!" I look over and she's—it literally looks like someone's drowning. I get there and Joel is sinking like this, paralyzed with fear in his eyes, going down, and Tara is trying to grab him. In the panic, Hannah's there—Hannah at the time is seven and can't swim well—and we're far from the boat.
Joel is lying there panicked, sinking like a stone in the water. But bear in mind, this dude swims all day every day. He can swim, but he is sinking like a stone.
I get to him, I grab him, I pull him up, right? We get him back to the boat to find out that he, in his fear, touched his foot with a coral. It didn't cut him, didn't hurt him, but he thought he might have stood on a sea urchin. He was told in a rumor that if you touch the spike, the poison paralyzes you, and he thought he was dying. And then he began to sink.
Once he realized he didn't pierce his foot on a poisonous urchin and he wasn't paralyzed, 30 seconds later he's swimming completely fine. But for that moment, he's lying there dying because he told himself, "I'm going to die. It's my time."
Tara's drowning. We're all drowning. We get to the boat. What was that? Nothing. He's fine. The people who took us snorkeling, ripping their clothes off, diving in thinking this is an emergency.
He didn't even remember he was wearing flippers. He wasn't even barefoot. But that's exactly how the devil works. If you'll believe it, you'll receive it. If he can speak it, he will say it. And he wants you to believe a lie and hold it as truth.
Let's look at the armor of God. It says, "Put on the whole armor." Again, the whole armor of God, not just one part, that you might be able to stand against attacks. He's not asking for you to fight all day, all night, fighting the devil, fighting the devil. No, the armor fights the devil, but you stand in the armor. You stand in victory.
It says, "Take up this whole armor that you will stand in the evil day, having done all to remain standing."
Today we're beginning with the first part. Verse 14 says: "Stand therefore having girded your waist with the belt of truth."
What is the first part of the armor of God? Truth. Not power, not might, not faith. Truth. Because if you believe a lie, you're done.
It's fascinating that the belt of truth was to hold weapons, but it's actually to keep everything together. And it is interesting: what is the place the whole world is attacking as truth?
I'm not getting political, conservative, liberal. I'm speaking scripture. If you're a Christian, the words of God should supersede anybody else's words. It's the honest truth.
And if the word of God can't correct you, Jesus is not your Lord. Jesus is not following you. You're not walking in all authority and might and knowledge and wisdom. He is.
If you cannot surrender that, you will live your life under somebody else's control. The world is not neutral. Neither are your emotions. The world is not good. The world is not moral.
When you say, "Oh, well, you know, I'll just take my risk with the world," that's fine. Just take your risk with evil. Just know who's in charge: good and evil.
If you don't believe in good and evil, let me ask you something. No one here would love me to take a child up here and murder a child in front of everyone. Your instincts say that's bad. But if there's no good and evil, why is that bad? If nothing has consequence, why does anything have consequence?
But the devil wants to convince you he is not behind the outside world. Because the moment you recognize him, you are now confronted with truth. Is he my lord or is somebody else my lord? Am I serving darkness or light? Whose agenda am I being controlled by?
Truth is the number-one starting point because if we will accept this as truth, we can then build the armor around it and your dignity is strengthened. Your identity is strengthened.
Everything around truth—which is why the devil comes. And the Bible doesn't call the devil the evil one. The Bible calls him the father of lies.
Whether that person steps as a news anchor, a medical doctor, a politician, a leading thought provoker—if they come counter to God's word, this is what you should hear: Lies. Lies. Lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies. It's not another opinion. It's a lie. It's not another perspective. It's a lie.
I know I'm standing on some toes. Well, I'm not. The word of God is. And it corrects me all the time. All the time. This corrects me: "Nope, nope, nope, nope." But the beauty is you recognize I have a flesh, and that's what I need to go and say every day: "Be put to death. My opinion, my ideas—that's not fair, that's not right, that's not this." No, no, no. Lies, lies, lies. But if I can accept what is truth, everything else is set up for victory.
If I cannot get truth right, everything else is set up for failure. If the devil can get you to believe a lie, he already has you defeated.
In Isaiah 42:3, it says to us: "A bruised reed he will not break. A smoking flax he will not quench. He will bring forth justice for truth."
That same scripture is quoted in the New Testament, but one word is changed. In Matthew 12:20, it says: "A bruised reed he will not break. A smoking flax he will not quench till he sends forth justice to victory."
The Old Testament uses the word truth. The New Testament uses the word victory. God's truth is your access to victory.
Doesn't mean it's easy. The flesh kicks and screams.
You know, there is an f-word in the Bible. Do you know what the f-word is? Forgiveness. It's the only thing the disciples said to Jesus: "We have no faith for that."
"Raise the dead? Fine. Heal everyone? Fine. Pay all of our taxes with a fish out of the sea? Fine. Feed 5,000 people with a little bit of bread? Fine. But forgiveness? Jesus, talk about forgiveness. 70 times 7 in a lifetime—in a day!"
That means the person is not sorry because they are repeating the offense. Have you ever said to a child, "Stop saying sorry. Start changing. Sorry doesn't mean anything to you. Don't break something, say sorry, break it again, say sorry, break it again, say sorry." Jesus says 70 times 7 in a day. That is a person unrelenting in offense.
And Jesus's answer is forgive them.
The disciples were honest. "There's no way we have faith for that. There's no way. There's no way."
Because the honest answer with that is it's the hardest thing to do—to forgive someone who isn't sorry. But you want to know something interesting? We don't truly believe people are sorry because if they offend us 20 years ago, we keep it in the corner and say, "I'll forgive you until you do it again. But if you do it again, I'm going to bring back that offense plus the new offense."
Do you know what forgiveness is? It's not—oh, you're forgotten. It's like it never happened. But that's supernatural. The thing is, truth upsets people, but they don't understand that truth believed and received will give you victory over offense.
When you're offended by someone, you are controlled by something. When you are offended, your behavior is impacted. Your belief system is impacted. But forgiveness sets you free.
You will know the truth, and that truth applied sets you free. Sets you free.
Your freedom is what God is after. Your victory is what God is after, and his word will give you that victory.
We're going to go over the armor of God over the next few weeks. Today we're focusing on truth. The armor consists of:
And the seventh? Prayer. The seventh part is revealed in the instructions where it tells us "pray." So the devil wants the believer standing there in the armor—belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, helmet of salvation, shield of faith, shoes of peace, sword of the spirit—but silent. Don't be praying.
Now, can I tell you something about people? We are never silent. So when the devil says "don't speak," it's not that you won't speak. He's saying "don't speak according to the word of God."
The seventh weapon is here, everybody. And if he controls this—prayer—he controls everything. It's the rudder. It's the direction of the ship.
You can be standing there and you go, "I am a loser. I am a failure. I'll never have victory. I'll never conquer this. I'm suicidal. I'm depressed. I'll never find love. I'll never find happiness. I'll never be blessed. I'll always be sick." Defeat, defeat, defeat, defeat, defeat, defeat, defeat.
You've lost. As humans, we are never silent. We're speaking based on what we're hearing, what we're believing, what we're receiving. But God is saying, "Now that you have this on, speak. Pray according to the spirit. Pray in tongues. Speak my word."
Then all of a sudden you start to enforce defeat on the enemy based on the words that you have.
Here's the thing: Where is truth not ruling in your life? Where there is fear, where there is anxiety, where there is pain, where there is worry, where there is torment—that's where fear is ruling. The more people veer off of God's word, the more confused they get, the more needy they become.
Do you want to know what a believer looks like? Someone who needs nothing from people. You walk into a room that hates you, you bless them. You walk into a room that's in chaos, you serve them. You can walk into a place and need nothing from any person ever, because you have everything from God.
You know what a defeated person looks like? "I need your opinion. I need your affirmation. I need your like, your tick, your comment, your subscription. I need you to believe in everything I say. Affirm everything I do because I have nothing without you. I am nothing without you."
Because they don't have an identity. They're waiting for everyone to assign to them their value and their importance.
But when a believer who knows who they are in Christ walks in, you are a different person. You don't need anything from anyone. You do not need people to pay. You do not need money because my God supplies all my need. And I don't need you. I don't need you.
You are blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus. You have every single thing you could ever need. And when you stand in the armor of God, you look like Jesus.
I'll never forget—our kids love superheroes and stuff. And you know, certain superhero outfits are terrible, but I'll never forget growing up when I saw that Batman suit. The Batman suit looked the coolest. It was like that plastic, rubber kind—the six-pack, the chest, the biceps, the bulge, the triceps, the face—everything.
And you could take the weakest, wimpiest, most skinny, most fledgling, never having accomplished anything, fought anything, done anything—a child who maybe lived their entire life behind a computer screen—and put them in the Batman suit and you're like, "That's a killer superhero right there."
You know, because that's what the armor of God makes you look like. You stand. But you know how the devil knows? How does the devil know that he's got an adversary that's got him by his number?
Three things God is that the devil is not. God is omniscient—he knows everything. God is omnipotent—he has all power. And God is omnipresent—he is everywhere.
The devil does not know everything. The Bible even tells us he would never have crucified Christ if he did because it destroyed everything he ever had. All his authority, all his power, everything was taken. He is not all knowing. He is not all powerful. He is limited. He is a created being. He has not got authority where he has not been given authority.
And he is not everywhere at all times. How the devil knows what's going on with you is by what you say. What you say.
Speak to the mountain and it will be moved. Resist the devil by telling him to flee and he must go. What do you say? What do you say? And that is why people will not have a problem with you until you speak the word of God.
All hell breaks loose when you start to speak the word of God. The devil is like, "Silence that person. Switch them off. Shut them down." Because when you start to speak the word of God, you start to take authority over principalities and powers and darkness.
The world will sit by while some fumbling fool will stand there and tell us a 5-year-old can cut themselves for the rest of their life based on their feelings. And we'll all sit in silence.
But when someone gets up and says, "You were born in the image of God. The gender that God gave you, he gave you with a purpose. He made you beautiful in your image. He made you with a plan," shut him down. Hate speech. Hate speech. Hate speech. Yes, it's hate speech to the devil. Because every principality and power, wickedness is going, "We're losing ground. We're losing ground. Shut them up. Shut them up. Shut them up. Silence them. Silence them."
So in your life, when the devil comes with a lie, you speak the truth—God's word. When your child is rebelling, you say, "Look at them rebelling. In the name of Jesus, my child will not go down that path and be destroyed. God, I place them in your hands. Angels, I assign them. You stay around."
Yes. If they go out and they get drunk in a nightclub, I pray that the angels of God are present. That there will be a supernatural intervention. You start to speak over that situation, over that assignment.
When you're at strife in your home, "God, I thank you. My marriage is blessed, not cursed. My spouse is from God. We will find peace. This will not be our normal. This will not be our story." You start to speak the watch the atmosphere change.
Speak truth and you'll see victory in Jesus name.
Can you stand to your feet? I'm going to hand the service back to the pastors. There are two types of people in this room right now. There are people who have never bowed their knee to Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. There are people in this room today, I don't know if this is your first time or your hundredth time in a church building, but you have never with your mouth confessed Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior.
The Bible says that we must pray and confess by our mouth and believe in our heart that Jesus died for our sin and rose again for our eternal life. When we do that, our eternity is now shifted from our own ability—which gets us to hell—to God's ability in Christ Jesus, which purchased for us eternal life.
The question I'm asking you today is not: are you a good person? It's: Is Jesus your personal Lord and Savior?
Every single person is not good. We can try, but it's not good enough. Every single person is born a sinner and needs to be born again in Christ Jesus.
If you're in this place and you have never prayed that prayer, if you're watching right now and you've never with your heart believed and your mouth confessed Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, today is your day. This is your moment. You're not going to leave this moment the same way that you came in Jesus' name.
There's another group of people in this place today. You might have prayed that prayer a very long time ago. But if you reflect right now, you might be your first time in church in months, if not years. Your life is a complete mess today.
Jesus gave the illustration of the prodigal son. One son got his full inheritance, left the father's house, went into a far away land, and blew everything on sinful living. He found himself with nothing in a desperate place with nothing, no value. Jesus said all that son had to do was return to the house of the father so that the dad could completely restore what the son had blown.
There are some people here today and your life has been a mess. Today needs to be a turning point. A moment where you come back to the commitment that Jesus is your Lord and Savior. A moment where you come back to that decision to let him be the Lord of your life and say, "From this day forward, I'm changing. I'm not going back. Today is my day. I'm coming home in Jesus' name."
