MS | Spiritual Evil | Josiah Brondyke

Date: March 11, 2026
Series: Spiritual Warfare
Passage: Ephesians 6
Preacher: Pastor Josiah Brondyke

Transcript

All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome in, welcome in. As you are finding your way to your seats, hopefully you grabbed a note sheet, a linear inscriber, and you're ready to dive in because we've got a lot of ground to cover.

Now this has been a series Zach and I have been excited about for a while now. We're starting our new series on spiritual warfare, and tonight we're going to be talking—this is a series about angels, demons, strongholds, and prayer. It's really a worldview series because I think if you're going to live well the Christian life, you need to understand what kind of world you're really living in.

And as I've been a child of the internet for the last little bit here, and I've been surfing, I've honestly seen much ado about demons, but not a lot of truth. A couple years ago, there was a game called Yokai Watch where the game premise was basically you were trying to catch these little spirits. There's an anime that's really popular called Demon Slayer. There are little creatures that you can play in D&D that are based on demon babies called Tieflings. I saw a demon dating sim one time on my suggested games app. There's a weird paranormal romance tradition, and the most popular movie by far this past year on Netflix was something called K-Pop Demon Hunters. And so sometimes the demons look like this, and sometimes they look like this, and it was weird.

So my question is, what is this? We talk a lot about this thing, but demons have made their way into pop culture, into entertainment, but what's the reality there? Because I think that there's actually something behind this because I know that the Bible is true, and in the Bible, there were real creatures called demons, and they were certainly not something for dating. They were incredibly real evil that still faces us in this world. So we're going to be facing in this series questions like, are demons even real? Are they something that we should be worried about? And tonight, I'm going to talk to you about spiritual evil, specifically demons. We're going to talk about them as our opponents as Christians, their origins, the danger that they pose to us, their tactics, and what we should do in response to their tricks.

So let's pray, ask for the Lord's help, because I think you need to think more accurately, more biblically about this topic that's become really common but really convoluted. So let's pray that God would bless and direct and guide in this time, remove distractions, and that we would hear from Him. God, I pray to you now. I ask for your help.

I pray that there's a greater reality here, there's a greater risk here than our students I think often realize, because there is a real battle between good and evil waging war right now over the affairs of men, over the souls of men, and not just some people out there, but over these teens in these rooms. I believe believers and nonbelievers alike, that there's a struggle for their life, for its joy, for its value, for its eternity. And God, sometimes we are so blind and dumb to the battle at hand that we miss it and we find ourselves often losing. But God, I pray that you would glorify yourself in a unique way through the proclamation of your word, for the examination of this truth. What did you say about the spiritual battle, Lord? We want to see it clearly, we want to know how to fight in it, we want to know how to engage with it, we want to think about it accurately, and we pray that you would bless this time of study. We pray it in the name of Jesus, Amen.

So, I thought as we got started in this series, it would be helpful to start out with this quote. There is an individual named C.S. Lewis who I really enjoy. He was very formative in my youth, not much older than you. I actually picked up one of his books that explored the topic of demons a little bit farther. It was called The Screwtape Letters, and it was a fictitious account of two demons trying to tempt a Christian. It gave a good, sanctified imagination look at this topic of demons and spiritual warfare and where it might intersect with our lives in the modern world. But before he got into the text of his book, The Screwtape Letters, he offered this warning in his preface. Because sometimes when we talk about this topic, or when we think about this topic, we fall quickly into a couple different errors.

He put it this way: He said, "There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall when we think about devils [or demons]. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe in their existence and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight."

Now some people, when they think about this, they're like, "Well, that's kids' stuff, that's storybook stuff, that's cartoon stuff. There's no real reality behind spiritual forces that might want to harm me." And they go, "Well, it's all just fiction." That's one error that you can fall into. Other people kind of have this unhealthy, unholy infatuation with the darkness, the macabre, and you can get interested in this topic in a way that's not totally healthy. Lewis discourages us from both and asks us to think carefully about this spiritual force at play. And I thought this final statement was so interesting. He said, "Whether you become a materialist or attempt to become a magician, either way, the demons are pleased with that result."

And I really see our society splitting down the middle in the same way. There are some people in the modern world that are getting very into New Age and occultism, and I hear more and more people identifying as witches and believing that they can channel these forces and engage with the demonic to find powers. And I find at the same time more and more people in society that say there's no soul, there's no spirit, there's nothing beside the material universe. So I don't know what error you're more tempted to, whether it be materialist or magician, but either way, either would be an error that would cause you great harm.

So if you're here and you're a Christian, I want you to think accurately about spiritual evil, because it's a real factor in your world. It's a real factor that can touch your life and that we need to be prepared for. The command of scripture encourages us to prepare for a battle against evil. This is going to be our main text for tonight, simply answering one question... The question is, well, who is this fight with? Who is against it? It's me. I am not who the fight is with. That was just poor timing. They'll get that sorted in the back, but for now, you can see me three times, lucky you.

So we're thinking about this challenge that sometimes I start to think about like, man, the problem in my Christian life is that girl at school that just gets under my skin. And man, my problem is that math teacher that always gives pop quizzes and he ruins my life. And my problem are my parents, and my problem is... and it's very quick to think that as we have problems in this life, that it is the people in our lives that are truly our enemy. That are truly after us. Man, it would be a pretty good place if it wasn't for those people in Hollywood over there that were always making things a problem and making things evil. And it would be a pretty good place if it wasn't for politicians, and if it wasn't for the war, if it wasn't for X, Y, and Z. And we look around at other people and think, there's my enemy. But scripture says it completely different.

I want to encourage you, go ahead and open your Bible to Ephesians 6. That's right, that's what I like to hear. Ephesians 6 we're going to be looking at tonight as our key text. Now this is going to be a study in theology. The theology is called angelology and demonology, and so it's a topical study, so we're going to be bouncing around, but we're going to anchor in this passage in Ephesians 6. I'm so grateful for our reader, she did a fantastic job tonight, and I gave her the wrong verses, but she read the ones that I gave her, which were also so appropriate. But this is our main text here, Ephesians 6, and we are considering this battle that we're called to. Who do we fight against?

It says this starting in verse 12. It says, "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against authorities, against cosmic powers over this present darkness, against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."

It's already 7 PM on a Wednesday. I wonder how many of you feel like you've already been at war with spiritual forces in the cosmic places, in heavenly places, that you've been waging war with spiritual forces? That might not be what your life feels like, but Paul here encourages the believers in Ephesus to think of their lives in this way, to prepare for a battle and not against people, but against spiritual forces of evil. And the way that this is phrased might sound weird to you. It says, "Okay, so I'm supposed to be battling against rulers, authorities. Okay, I am going to the mayor's office and I'm going to take him down because I'm a Christian." Like what does that mean that I'm fighting with rulers and authorities, spiritual powers? What is this all about?

Well, it brought to mind a pretty interesting passage in the scripture that happens in the book of Daniel. So if you have your Bible, you can leaf over there and look at it. In the book of Daniel, there's this fascinating scene in Daniel 10. Daniel was a prophet, and he lived in Babylon at a time where there was a lot of destruction, and he was far from the people of God, and he had heard news that it was going to get worse and that things were going to be difficult for him. And so Daniel prayed and he prayed that God would work in his midst. He prayed that God would show up, and he started fasting and praying. He said, "God, please tell me what's coming. Please tell me what's going to happen." And he has, after 21 days of praying and fasting, something pretty incredible happen.

If you want to follow along in your own Bible, you can look in Daniel chapter 10 starting in verse 5. As he is praying, someone appears there in his bed chambers with him. It says this: "Someone appears, and I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, a man clothed in linen with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches." I don't know if you have an active imagination, but it goes on and says this, "that this man was incredible to look at... his arms and his legs were the gleam of burnished bronze, the sound of his words were like the sounds of a multitude."

So there's this impressive person, and this probably isn't even cool enough, I was like "what does that look like," and this is one artist's rendition, but this idea of this incredible individual shows up in his room. It actually says it wasn't crazy enough looking because he says his body was like emeralds. He says there was this messenger of God, an angel shows up, and he looks incredibly powerful, and he says this to Daniel: He said to me, "O Daniel, man greatly loved, understand the words that I speak to you and stand upright, for now I have been sent to you." And when he had spoken this word, I stood up trembling. And I mean, we can all say amen, that is exactly the response I would have if that kind of guy showed up in my room and told me to stand up, I'd be terrified.

He said this to me: "Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humble yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words." So Daniel has been fasting and in prayer for 21 days, and this messenger shows up and says, "The first day that you started to pray and seek to understand the will of God, I was sent to you. And God heard, and God cares, and so I'm here."

But you might be wondering, "But wait, why did it take 21 days to get there?" Well, the angel explains. He says something kind of strange. He says, "The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me 21 days, but Michael, one of the chief princes [Michael, if you don't know, is one of the names of one of the archangels], came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia."

So Daniel is kneeling in his room, he's praying, he's been fasting for 21 days, he might be even wondering, "I wonder if God's forgotten about me, why isn't God answering, what's going on?" And what happened is the moment that Daniel prayed, a messenger from God was sent to him. And as he was on the way, this is what the angel seems to say, this one who's called the Prince of Persia, there's this spiritual force of darkness that has been doing battle with the angel for 21 days as he's been trying to get to Daniel, and one of the archangels had to get involved so that this messenger could make it to him.

So many times we don't realize the things that are going on behind the scenes, and he goes on and he explains this reality that's going on. So while Daniel was praying, there was a spiritual battle taking place behind the scenes that he wasn't aware of at all. So many times because our eyes are blinded to the spiritual realm, most of the time, we assume that flesh and blood is all that there is. But all throughout scripture, there is consistently other forces at work, other than the material realm that go for us. And we see the two interesting parties at play here. We clearly have this messenger that shows up is from God, he is good, he has a message from God for him, Michael is a good one. And there's this Prince of Persia. So we have this dynamic of good spiritual forces, we refer to as angels, and bad spiritual forces that we refer to most often as demons or devils. And both are at play, and both are touching the affairs of men.

And so the question might come, "Well, how did we get here? Where did they come from, and where did they go?" Because I've prayed many times in my room, and no one's ever shown up with their eyes on fire. That just hasn't happened to me. So is this like all Old Testament stuff? Is this still something going on? And where do these spiritual forces come from? Where do we learn about them?

Here's the thing. There are some... I want to accomplish a couple things with this series. I want you to understand the nature of the world that you live in. I think there's a growing interest in spiritual things, and for some reason, young people are turning to strange places to get strange answers, not thinking and realizing that the real answers to the most interesting questions in life are found in the word of God. You don't have to turn to the occult to understand spiritual forces at work in the world, you need to turn to your Bible. You need to understand the kind of world that you live in. I want you to understand that it is so much more than atoms and physics, that there is a God, a great magician at work, and he is working in incredible ways and wants to work through you.

But we also sometimes have tons of interest and tons of questions and we're like, "This is super cool, this is super weird, tell me everything about it." Here's the thing, Christian. We get to know what God chooses to tell us. The Bible has every answer you need for life and godliness, but it doesn't necessarily provide you with every question you might have about everything that you might find interesting. So you might find the study of angels and demons incredibly interesting and you might say, "Give me all the details, how does it all work?" And the Bible holds out, as the main character of the Bible, the God of the Bible. The main subject of the matter of the Bible is how God is glorifying himself through the redemption of humanity. The main point of the Bible is not angels and demons, so it is not shouted from the rooftops, all of the perfect explanations that we might want of where these things come from. But here's some things that we can know.

In Revelation 12:3, we start to see this vision. Revelation is a book at the end of the Bible, it has apocalyptic literature, so it has visions of the end and explains some major things going on there. Something interesting, and as we're trying to understand, well, what are demons and where are they from, and why is this a thing, here's part of the way that I answer that question. In Revelation 12:3, it says this: "And there appeared another wonder in heaven, and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns upon his head." This is a vision of a great satanic beast that is going to come and have a role to play, this dragon. And it says, "And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth, and the dragon stood before the woman, which was ready to be delivered, to devour her child as it was to be born."

And as you all, I'm sure, want to study the book of Revelation, look forward to doing that with Pastor Zach and High School Ministry. We're not going to go all the way through it, but this is an interesting thing. We see this idea of, okay, with this dragon, this demon serpent, this Satan, his tail drew a third of the part of the stars of heaven. Well, what's going on there? Well, if you look down just a little bit further in the chapter, it says this: "And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil." Okay, we just figured out who that dragon was. The dragon is apparently the devil. Apparently, he's an ancient snake. We'll get there, but do you guys remember an ancient snake somewhere else in the Bible? I know you do, you're smart. Okay. It says, "this deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to earth and his angels were thrown down with him."

So a lot of Bible scholars believe that when it refers to a third of the stars of heaven, that that's a comment about the angelic host and a rebellion that happened in pre-creation. That these... a third of the rebellious angels that went with Lucifer, Satan, in his rebellion against God, were cast down with him. Why does any of this matter? When I was in Bible college and studying this and this became evident to me, I've been a Christian for a while, and I feel like I'm in a battle sometimes. And sometimes it feels like I'm losing this battle, and sometimes it feels like I need reinforcements. This is just something I want you to understand in your correct biblical angelology and demonology, okay? For every demon out there, there are two angels. And so when this happened, in my Bible class, I turned to my friend and we were like, "Two to one! Two to one! Two to one!" It's just good for me to know that not only is God greater, but also his legions and his forces are greater.

And so yeah, this is part of the background of the story of where did these angels, and where did these spirit beings come from that are in rebellion. Well, they were in rebellion against God, and so God punished them and cast them down. So where did these demons come from? From divine punishment. Those that raised themselves against God in a rebellion, we believe, at least I believe, the Satan and his angels were cast down as Revelation talks about, and that's where demons come from.

So the question is, well, where did they go? When Jesus was here, there were like demon-possessed people all the time, and he was casting them out, and they were screaming stuff, and there was the thing with the pigs, and then they all got drowned. What happened to the demons? Where are they at? Are they all gone? Are they all done?

Well, here's the thing. Demons have made it their mission to destroy what God loves most. And they have been studying humanity and being good at their jobs for a long, long time. And the father of demons, they speak of Satan, this Lucifer, this leader of this evil force, he's known as the father of lies. And he's very good at lying, and he's very good at selecting what lie will be most effective in a different place and space.

Now I've been around the world, and I've been in some different spaces and places where it seems like the enemy is quick to tell some different lies. I did some work on an Indian reservation where I talked to a little kid there, and I asked them about Jesus if they wanted to come and know him, they said, "No, no, I can't become a Christian. I was already dedicated to Satan. That's who we pray to around here because he has more power." And in that Indian reservation, because there was this kind of animism and spiritism that had gone on, there had been tons of spiritual manifestation of the forces at hand. When I was spending time in Argentina, there was a witch doctor there as we were trying to work out our church plant that, as we were praying for people to come into the kingdom of light, they were actively praying, doing seances, things against us. There was a literal battle that was pretty visual and obvious.

In America, there are a lot more people, classic for recent history, that have been more materialist, so I think a lot of the deceit of the enemy has been to go behind the scenes to be more subtle, and to get people to disbelieve in his existence. That has been a more common lie. But this one, these liars have been around since the beginning. I know when you read that verse in Revelation that talked about the ancient serpent that was evil, that was connected with the devil, you remembered Genesis 3 because you're growing Bible scholars and you remembered the biblical story that from the beginning in the garden, there was this enemy, this snake.

I know you're excellent students of the Bible and of nature, so you know this: Answer me this, do snakes normally talk? No. Okay. But there's this talking snake in the garden. What's going on there? It's the devil. It's this cast-down one that from the beginning has been deceiving and causing problems. If you're not familiar with the story, basically God gives humanity one command, one thing to do, and there's this enemy, this adversary, this devil that comes along and says, "Did God really say?" And he twists and tempts and perverts God's word, and because of that deceit, humanity fell into sin as they chose to side with the serpent rather than with their creator.

But here's the thing. We sometimes think, well, good, I'm glad that's all in the Old Testament and the New Testament, but that's not happening in my neighborhood. Here's the thing, they're still here. 1 Timothy 4:1 warns us this: that in later times there will be those that abandon the faith to follow deceiving spirits and follow the doctrines of demons. You might never have a demon manifest to you, but there are demonic lies that are in your feed every day. And you need to be on guard. There are spiritual forces at work behind the world that we inhabit.

1 Peter 5:8 says this: it mentions that the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. James 2 mentions in the New Testament context that even demons believe God and shudder. So the question of where did they go? They're still here. We're just not always paying attention. We don't always know what they're up to, we tend to ignore them. So the question becomes, well then, what's the danger? If I've been living for 11, 12, 16 years and I haven't come across them, what's the problem? Is there anything to be afraid of?

Well here's the thing, the Bible refers to the devil, so Satan, as a roaring lion going about seeking whom he may devour. I was talking to Spencer in the office tonight and he said, "Josiah, what's your goal? Do you want to scare the students tonight?" And I was like, that's not my main goal. But when I bring my kid to the zoo, and we go up to the lion cage, I want them to know that that's not a kitty cat. I want them to know that lions kill. And that there's a danger to be had.

The scriptures say the devil goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Let me tell you, I've been doing ministry long enough that I've seen some people mess around with things they had no business messing around with, and they got deeper and darker than they thought that they could have or ever would have, and it took them to some terrible places. And I think there's a real caution that is to be put here, and maybe you're like me, I think I was like 11 or 12, and my friend invited me to a birthday party, and one of his friends gave him something called a Ouija board, and said, "Hey, do you want to play with this?" But I knew enough to say absolutely not, I don't want to have anything to do with that, has to do with communing with the dead and with spirits, which the Bible forbids.

So maybe you have an opportunity like that, but even if it's not dramatic, here's my greater concern that we need to be thinking about. The devil is a liar, and the devil is subtle. I'm concerned that someday we might be used by him. There's this interesting moment in Matthew 16 where Jesus is on mission. And he's about to go to the cross, and he's explaining how he's supposed to suffer and he's supposed to go to the cross and go through all these things. And his disciple, his friend Peter comes to him and says, "Far be it from you, Lord. May it never happen." And you know what Jesus says to Peter? He says this, he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan. You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man."

Now the word Satan means adversary. And the previous time that Matthew used this word, it was referring to the devil. Now what is going on here, I don't know perfectly, but Peter, having his mind on things of this earth rather than being a servant of God and useful to God, is speaking the language of the devil and is opposing Jesus doing his work. And Jesus rebukes him for it. And Peter was like a guy, he was one of the disciples and one of the followers and he was in it, but he wasn't thinking like Christ, he was thinking in a carnal way, and he was actively opposing God's mission.

You know what I think is more common than believers in this church having seances, which I hope isn't happening, if it is please come talk to me, and you're dealing with forces that you do not understand... but you know what I see a lot? Are Christians that are starting to think like and talk like the devil, and be used by him to oppose God's plans. Because they've allowed footholds in their life of sin, of bitterness, of malice, of gossip, of deceit. When you lie, you speak the language of the devil. And as Peter stepped up and he spoke the devil's words and opposed God's mission and God's plan, Jesus rebuked him and said, "Get behind me, Satan." I am concerned that it might be easier than we think—maybe it doesn't have anything to do with possessions or anything like that, which I've heard some stories and I've done some studies that there's some incredible things that still take place—but I think sometimes spiritual evil manifests in much more benign, common ways. When we allow our tongue to be set on fire by hell, and we use it to destroy one another and the fellowship of the saints. And when we start to actively, maybe even as professing Christians, work against what Christ is wanting to do. I wonder how many moments in my life, if Jesus were to step in and to evaluate my speech, my conduct, would he have to say to me, "Get behind me, Satan, you're being an adversary of what I'm trying to accomplish in the situation."

I don't know about you, I want my life to count. I want it to be useful. I just want to be honest with you, I don't want it to be useful for the devil. Not my goal, and I hope, especially if you're here and you know Christ, not your goal either. So we need to be on guard because he is a deceiver and a liar and I've seen him come and twist and mix and twist places and spaces where Christians should be acting like Christians, but we have all gotten into our little lies and our little worlds where we're suddenly cutting, devouring, and harming each other in a way that brings much more glory to Satan than it does to God. And that is a great danger to avoid. Being used by them would be one danger that I would have, that a devil would find a use in my life to destroy God's mission. Also devils want to, I think, being a consuming, roaring lion seeking whom they may devour, they want to destroy you.

So the question becomes, back to our main text, Ephesians 6. Well what do I do? What is my response to this? I didn't, I showed up, I was just 11, and now suddenly I'm in a battle between forces of evil that I am totally insufficient to fight. Yes. You are. But you're not called to fight them on your own. You are actually called to fight by someone who has defeated every force of darkness and has equipped you to win the battle.

He says this... go back and look in your Bible in Ephesians 6. We're going to start in verse 11, he tells you something that you ought to do. Because you have an enemy, he says in verse 10, "Finally be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might," and he tells you to do something, he says, "put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil."

If I were to... my friend, remind me of your name. Lincoln? Lincoln, shake my hand. Lincoln. If I were to say, "We're going to get combat ready," right? I'm like, "We're going to get you ready for war. We're going to get you gear, we're going to get you a gun, we're going to get... it's all fine. We're going to prepare you," right? Because you might fight a battle someday in the next 20 years. Right? You might walk out of this room with your gear here on the floor, Lincoln. Because you're like, "Lincoln, I've trained you for battle, here's your gear, and the moment that you step out this door there's a real enemy you need to be ready for." Suddenly you're going to strap up, you're going to gear up.

So what I'm hoping to get you guys to understand is that the spiritual war isn't like maybe someday if I get in the wrong place, maybe there's a bad guy. Like your life has consequence. Your soul has consequence because it has value. And there's a battle going on over you right now. And to Christians, he says, "Hey, get ready for that battle. Get ready to stand. Take on the armor of God."

So the first thing that you need to do to prepare for the battle is to put on the armor of God. So the first thing I'm going to say to you is gear up. Now I'm not going to take time to preach a second message on the armor of God, which we could, and maybe we will someday soon. But it says this, it describes this battle that we're in, it says in verse 13, "Take on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand firm, having fastened on the belt of truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as your shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. Put on the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God."

All these things. You know, sometimes when I hear people talk about the armor of God, I hear them make some big errors. Does anybody remember what the breastplate is called? The breastplate of... righteousness. So I've heard people talk about the breastplate of righteousness. Saying, "Hey, you want to be ready for the spiritual battle? You better live righteously." But you know what? If it was up to my righteousness to keep me protected in this battle, my armor would be full of holes. Because I'm not righteous.

But as I look at these things, the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the sandals of the gospel of peace, the belt of truth... all of these things are about having and believing the truth of God about the gospel, and making it your armor that covers you. It's not my righteousness that defends me, it's his. It's finding my center and my identity in Christ, and living in such a way that I am taking all that he has died to give me. That I've taken on his salvation, that I've come to understand his truth, that I'm identifying and putting on his righteousness each day, that I'm keeping the faith, that my soul is understanding the gospel and is being grounded in it there, that I am believing the word of God and learning to live and to fight with the word. It's all taking God's grace and God's good news and bearing it like you believe it. That's how you prepare for the battle.

Put on the armor of God. Gear up. We could dig so much farther and think about, well, what does that look like practically, but here's the thing: there's a real battle happening. You really need to get ready. So gear up.

Here's another thing he says. He says this, verse 18: he says, "Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication to that end, keep alert with all perseverance and make supplication for all the saints." He says, "What do you need to do? There's a spiritual battle out there, there's a real enemy out there, you're fighting against angels and principalities and powers and rulers of the darkness of this age, what do you do?" Put on the armor of God, believe deeply the truth of the gospel, and pray like your life depends on it.

You do something real and something powerful. I believe that demons are afraid of our prayers, because I believe God responds to our prayers in powerful ways. I was reading this book, it was called Frank Peretti, Piercing the Darkness, something like that. Where it talked about this preacher that was in town, and it's kind of this fiction story about this spiritual battle going over for this small town. And there was this preacher that came to town and he really believed God and he really prayed. And every single time that he'd walk into a room, the demons would tremble because they're like, "There's the praying man." That's how I want demons to think about me. I don't want to be doing this thing in my own strength and in my own way, but... and I actually want that to be you.

I want this to be a group of people that the demons are afraid of because you really start to pray, you really start to fight, you really start to believe, and don't think, "Well, I'm just a kid, what am I going to do?" God is interested in using you. I think you're very good at praying, I think you're very good at believing. The Bible says out of the mouths of babes and little ones, he's brought forth weapons of warfare for tearing down strongholds. I believe that God is going to use you.

In that same church where I saw a witch doctor trying to keep someone in the kingdom of darkness, I saw a dad named Gabby come to faith because his four-year-old son who got saved in church came home and when he heard his dad sinning said, "Dad, you shouldn't be doing that. You shouldn't be saying that. God doesn't want you to do that." That little ones that sincerely believe the gospel and speak truth can be used by God in big ways. I believe it.

So, pray up. God is ready to use you, gear up, pray up, and stand up to this spiritual battle that is at hand.

I just need to finish in this. We talked a little bit about demons, and I want you to treat them as a real danger. But I don't want you to be afraid of them. I want to tell you their future. They've already lost the battle. They've already lost the war. And the end of the story tells me what will happen to them.

In Revelation 20 it talks about a final judgment seat, and what's going to happen in the end. The devil and all of the angels that have rebelled with him, devils, will be thrown into the lake of fire, a place of terrible torment. They are going to lose this battle, the only hope that they have is to cause as much pain as they can in the meantime.

But here's the thing: that place, hell, the lake of fire, the Bible says something very interesting about it. It was a place prepared for the devil and his angels. It wasn't meant for you and me. It was meant to punish them. But yet, when we side with the enemy, when we rebel against God and we continue in our rebellion, the end of the book also tells me that those that continue in their rebellion, refusing the good news of the gospel, that they too will go into the lake of fire with the devil and his angels. So that's their future. The devils are going to lose, but you don't have to lose with them.

Today, you can respond to the good news of the gospel, that even in this world marked by spiritual war, God showed up. Someone so much greater than the spiritual forces at hand, one whom they trembled at, one whom they feared, one whom they could not kill because he was too powerful. He paid the price for our sins, he was buried, and he even defeated death, so now he stands as the victor and says, "All who come to me can win. All who come to me can be pardoned. All who come to me, I will fight for them. I will give them armor. I will bring them home. They will never have to be parted from me in the lake of fire."

If today you need to run to that Jesus for salvation, today is a good day to do it. I don't care what darkness has a hold on your life, it is not too great for God to deliver you. I hate the devil and I hate his lies, and I hate that one lie he often gives young people is, "I'm too far gone. God could never reach me. He could never use me. He could never care about me." He died for you, thinking of you on the cross. He said, "Father, forgive them, they do not know what they do." He died for you so that you could have life, freedom, and be part of the kingdom of light and walk in his victory. So walk in the King's victory. Let me pray for you.

Father, I thank you for these students, I thank you for these leaders, I thank you for this truth that God, in this place, I pray that in this place your will would be done as it is in heaven. Lord, that none of us would allow a space, an inch, a foothold for the devil. Lord, but that each of us would be taking up the armor of God, coming to know the truth of the gospel deeply and in a real way, and fight war, God. There are still those that are perishing because they're believing lies and they're right next to us every day. And may we take the sword of the spirit of truth and speak to them.

Lord, would you save. God, I pray for the one right now that is trapped in darkness, has believed countless lies, and even now the battle that is raging over us right now, I pray for that one that they would believe the truth that you love them, Jesus. That you died for them, that you made a way for them to be free. That they don't have to continue in darkness, but you came so that they could come into the kingdom of light. That even now they would come to you. They would confess their sins and believe the good news of the gospel of Jesus so that they can have peace.

God, I pray for every believer that they could know that they could have peace, because greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. That we do not need to fear, for they are going to be defeated fully. We just need to prepare to stand. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. God, may we get busy resisting.

God, I'm sorry for the places that we have let him in, where we have spoken his language, where we have been useful to him. May it be no more. May we be a people that act like you, that glorify you, and that you are pleased to use. We pray it in the name of Jesus. Amen.