Speaker 1: Good morning.
Speaker 1: We are in the new month, the month of September, the ninth month of the year.
Speaker 1: They call it the month of bathing, the ninth month, and in the ninth month new things are bathed and we are grateful and thankful to God for bringing us into this ninth month of the year.
Speaker 1: Our theme for this month is Open Door Advancement, uplifted Kingdom Warfare.
Speaker 1: Open Door Advancement, uplifted Kingdom Warfare.
Speaker 1: And this morning we are going to take our reading from the book of Ephesians, chapter 6, from verse 10 to verse 18.
Speaker 1: Ephesians, chapter 6, from verse 10 to verse 18.
Speaker 1: Ephesians, chapter 6.
Speaker 1: From verse 10 to verse 18.
Speaker 1: And this is what the Bible says.
Speaker 1: It's about the armor of God.
Speaker 1: It says, finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
Speaker 1: Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand, the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand, so that you can take your stand against devils, the devil's schemes, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Speaker 1: Verse 13 says when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground and, after you've done everything to stand, stand firm then, with a belt of truth buckled around your waist, with a breastplate of righteousness in place and with your feet fitted with a readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
Speaker 1: With a readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
Speaker 1: In addition to this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil.
Speaker 1: One.
Speaker 1: Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, and pray in the Spirit in all occasions, with all kinds of prayers and requests.
Speaker 1: With this in mind, be alert and always, always, keep on praying For all the Lord's people and keep on praying for all the Lord's people.
Speaker 1: Do you know?
Speaker 1: We are at war.
Speaker 1: We are at war and we are at war with the kingdom of darkness.
Speaker 1: We are called as children, we are known as children of the light, but there is another kingdom at work in this world, the kingdom of darkness.
Speaker 1: Therefore, we are waging war against Satan, we are waging war against the world and you are waging war against Satan.
Speaker 1: We are waging war against the world and you are waging war against the flesh, and as we do that, we are going to look at three things Number one, the enemy, who is the devil, and we are also going to look at the weapons we use in our warfare and we are going to look at the battle position.
Speaker 1: So we are going to look at number one, the enemy.
Speaker 1: Number two, the weapons we use.
Speaker 1: And number three, the battle position.
Speaker 1: Number one the enemy.
Speaker 1: Our enemy is the devil.
Speaker 1: We have to keep fighting this battle because we have an enemy, and this enemy is Satan.
Speaker 1: The Bible says in John 10, 10, the thief comes only to steal, to kill and to destroy, but Jesus has come that we may have life and have it more abundantly.
Speaker 1: We have this enemy who comes to steal our destiny, whose agenda is to kill and whose agenda is to destroy.
Speaker 1: Therefore, we are waging war against Satan.
Speaker 1: The Bible also says in 1 Peter 5, 8, be alert and sober in mind, because you have the enemy, the devil, who prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for whom to devour.
Speaker 1: There is an enemy, his name is Satan.
Speaker 1: We must resist him, we must put him on his feet running, and therefore we must take our stand against the enemy.
Speaker 1: Number two, the weapons.
Speaker 1: We are in a warfare, we are in battle, we need to have weapons.
Speaker 1: And again, this battle is not a physical battle, it is a spiritual battle.
Speaker 1: Therefore, we need spiritual weapons.
Speaker 1: We are not fighting people, we are not fighting flesh and blood, we are fighting against principalities and powers, just like we read from Ephesians, chapter 6.
Speaker 1: Therefore, our weapons must be spiritual weapons because we are dealing with a spiritual enemy and therefore, the Bible is reminding us, from 2 Corinthians 10, verse 4, that the weapons of our warfare are not of this world.
Speaker 1: The weapons we fight with are not of this world, they are not worldly weapons like guns, like bombs.
Speaker 1: They are not worldly weapons.
Speaker 1: The Bible says they have divine power, spiritual power, spiritual weapons to deal with a spiritual enemy and therefore, to overcome the enemy using the spiritual weapons.
Speaker 1: And in Ephesians, chapter 6, the one we just read in verse 12, says we do not wage war against flesh and blood.
Speaker 1: It's not against people, it's against spiritual forces, it's against a spiritual kingdom of darkness.
Speaker 1: Therefore, we are taking authority using spiritual weapons.
Speaker 1: And finally, the battle position.
Speaker 1: We have a battle position.
Speaker 1: You see, when you are advancing against an enemy, you must be tactical, you must be strategic.
Speaker 1: We have a battle position.
Speaker 1: Our battle position is not a retreat position.
Speaker 1: Our battle position is the position of advancement.
Speaker 1: We are advancing against the enemy, we are advancing against the kingdom of darkness and therefore we are more than conquerors in Christ.
Speaker 1: Therefore, we are not an army that is at warfare and retreating.
Speaker 1: No, we are advancing.
Speaker 1: We are an army that is overtaking, overthrowing the kingdom of darkness, because Jesus has defeated the enemy.
Speaker 1: Therefore, we are standing.
Speaker 1: You know, we stand and we take our position in the Lord.
Speaker 1: We take our stand and we affirm because God has given us his promises.
Speaker 1: We take a stand together as one body against the schemes of the evil.
Speaker 1: One Ephesians, chapter 6, verse 11, says put on the full armor of God.
Speaker 1: God has given us an armor.
Speaker 1: Therefore, we are putting on this godly armor because, again, we are taking a position after we put on this armor.
Speaker 1: And it says this put on the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm.
Speaker 1: Our position is the position of standing firm and after we are put on this weapon of our welfare, we are standing firm, and standing firm in the Lord.
Speaker 1: And in Matthew 18, 19, the Bible says that whatever two or three agree on earth is agreed in heaven.
Speaker 1: Therefore, we are standing together, standing together against the enemy, because what we agree on earth is even agreed in heaven, and also we are standing for the nation, second Chronicles, 7, 14.
Speaker 1: If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear them from heaven, forgive their sins and heal the land.
Speaker 1: Therefore, we are taking a position, we are taking a stand.
Speaker 1: Once more, again, we are in a warfare against the world, against Satan and against the flesh.
Speaker 1: Therefore, we have an enemy, we have weapons, but we have a position, and our position is the position of advancement, because we are more than conquerors and we are a victorious army.
Speaker 1: We are on the winning side.
Speaker 1: May the Lord bless you as we engage in this season of warfare.
Speaker 1: Remember, we are on the winning side.
Speaker 1: We are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus, and the devil is under our feet.
Speaker 1: The devil's position, remember, is under our feet.
Speaker 1: May you have a victorious month, knowing that you are more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus.
Speaker 1: May the Lord bless you and have a great month, the ninth month of the year.
Speaker 1: Shalom, shalom.