SPEAKER_00: You're listening to audio from the Via.
SPEAKER_00: If you'd like information on how to get connected, tap the link to our website in the show notes.
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Via.
SPEAKER_01: It is so nice to see ya.
SPEAKER_01: Happy Thursday, friends.
SPEAKER_01: Do this for me.
SPEAKER_01: Would you look at somebody around you, in front of you, beside you, behind you, and just say, I'm so glad to be a Via with you.
SPEAKER_01: So glad, crazy.
SPEAKER_01: First week here in our temporary home here at Creekside.
SPEAKER_01: Shout out, welcome if you've never been.
SPEAKER_01: Glad to have you.
SPEAKER_01: We're here this week and next week, and as a reminder, and two weeks from today, we are back across the creek in our promised land, as we talked about for a long time.
SPEAKER_01: But uh if we haven't met, my name is Clayton, and I have the privilege of being a part of our team here at Silverdale Young Adults.
SPEAKER_01: And if you have your Bibles, I want to invite you to turn with me to Ephesians chapter six.
SPEAKER_01: Ephesians chapter six.
SPEAKER_01: And then hopefully on your way in, you got one of these uh worship guides from our home team.
SPEAKER_01: We give those to you for lots of reasons, but we know and we give them to you primarily because it is no small thing that God is the creator of the universe and he speaks to us.
SPEAKER_01: And when he does, we want to be sure that we pay attention and that we write down the things that he says.
SPEAKER_01: Tonight we begin, excuse me, a collection of talks focusing on spiritual warfare.
SPEAKER_01: And spiritual warfare, there's a lot of different things that a lot of different people say about it, but you see, for almost everyone, we live our life as if there are really only physical, emotional, and relational problems.
SPEAKER_01: That really, when we're just honest, if you could boil down all of your problems, they really funnel into physical, emotional, and relational.
SPEAKER_01: But what we see in Scripture is that the Apostle Paul is gonna pull back the curtain for us tonight, and he's gonna say, hey, yes, there are physical and emotional and relational problems, but there is a spiritual reality underlying all of those things.
SPEAKER_01: Because for a lot of us, we can walk around confused by temptation or overwhelmed by anxiety and divided in our relationships, not understanding or frankly, not even realizing that there is a spiritual layer component, that there's a spiritual layer underneath all of it.
SPEAKER_01: And so here's what I just want to be honest with you, because we can be honest.
SPEAKER_01: All through these talks, what we're gonna try to do is carry some tension between how we talk about spiritual warfare.
SPEAKER_01: Because if you've grown up in church at all, or maybe this is brand new to you and this is crazy, there are two equal and opposite errors when it comes to spiritual warfare.
SPEAKER_01: The first is to say that I'm just gonna live my life as if there are physical, emotional, and relational problems, and that's where all my problems are gonna lie.
SPEAKER_01: And any other type of reality, I will either choose to ignore or live ignorant of because it just kind of makes me feel weird.
SPEAKER_01: And so I can control those things, and this is what I'm gonna do.
SPEAKER_01: That is an error to people for to walk in ignorance or not in light of what scripture calls us to when it comes to spiritual warfare.
SPEAKER_01: That's one mistake.
SPEAKER_01: The other mistake is to elevate spiritual warfare far beyond a place that scripture ever does to say that really the root of your problems and every single one of your problems is the devil.
SPEAKER_01: The devil is out to get you, and that's why you snapped, and that's why you looked at it again, and that's why you drank too much, and that's why you overspent, and that's why it's the devil, it's the devil, it's the devil.
SPEAKER_01: Equal and opposite, both are unbiblical, and both will rob you of walking in the life of victory that God died to give you.
SPEAKER_01: So, as best we can, we want to live in some tension to say, hey, okay, scripture speaks to this reality.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to walk ignorant of it, and I don't want to elevate it beyond some place it's not supposed to.
SPEAKER_01: So, what is it then when it comes to the spiritual warfare, that when it comes to the spiritual layer of our life, how then am I supposed to live, Clayton?
SPEAKER_01: What am I supposed to do?
SPEAKER_01: And carrying that tension, friends, we read what the Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians chapter 6.
SPEAKER_01: Let's read it together in verses 10 through 13.
SPEAKER_01: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
SPEAKER_01: Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand against the schemes of the devil.
SPEAKER_01: For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 13, therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
SPEAKER_01: Thanks be to God for the power of his word.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: If you're taking notes tonight, the first thing I want you to write down is this.
SPEAKER_01: We just gotta understand from the jump that the battle is spiritual, not just physical.
SPEAKER_01: The battle is spiritual, not just physical.
SPEAKER_01: Look what it says in verse number 12.
SPEAKER_01: It says this.
SPEAKER_01: It says, For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers, over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if we're honest, and we can be honest, when we read that, we go, ah, just gives me a little bit of heebie-jeebies, or I don't understand it, or something.
SPEAKER_01: So let's just jump over this one.
SPEAKER_01: But Paul is trying to get you to see that he's redirecting the fight.
SPEAKER_01: Now, our issue isn't people, circumstances, internal struggles, anxiety diagnosis, or mental health disorders, but rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers.
SPEAKER_01: And if we can just be honest, it feels a little weird, right?
SPEAKER_01: It just feels weird because here where we live in 2026, to talk about cosmic powers, at least for the last all of our lifetime, has felt weird, but if we can just be honest, you can look at some stuff in the news and see there is something evil and spiritual that's going on there.
SPEAKER_01: And so, what is Paul trying to get us to see?
SPEAKER_01: He's trying to get you to see your issue isn't people or circumstances or disorders or all those things.
SPEAKER_01: You're there's another layer to this, and it's spiritual.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because if we misidentify the enemy, we'll always fight the wrong battle.
SPEAKER_01: If we misidentify the enemy, we will always fight the wrong battle.
SPEAKER_01: So you're asking a good question, you're a critical thinker, you're saying, well, what does that mean for me?
SPEAKER_01: What it means for me, well, for one, we've got to understand what has Paul has just written about.
SPEAKER_01: If you know your Bible and you're all biblical scholars, so I'm sure you do, you know that in Ephesians chapter four and chapter five, what has Paul just written?
SPEAKER_01: Paul has just written in Ephesians chapter four about unity in the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: How we, walking in Christ, saved by the blood of Jesus, now saved into the family of God, walk in unity.
SPEAKER_01: Chapter five says that we walk in love.
SPEAKER_01: At the end of chapter five, he's gonna go on to say, hey, as far as biblical relationships, here's some things, here are some ways to carry out and to live some relationships in a biblical way.
SPEAKER_01: Husband and wife, parent and child, slave and master.
SPEAKER_01: And so we get to all of these things.
SPEAKER_01: What is it?
SPEAKER_01: It's experiencing life as Christ designed it, to live in his order, doing what God has called us to do.
SPEAKER_01: And so we go all through that: walking in unity, walking in love, walking in right relationships, and then in chapter six, he switches to spiritual warfare.
SPEAKER_01: And what does he say?
SPEAKER_01: How does he start off?
SPEAKER_01: He says, and finally, brothers.
SPEAKER_01: What I'm trying to get you to see is that Paul is trying to get us to see that spiritual warfare is not a separate piece of our relationships and spiritual life.
SPEAKER_01: It's integral, it is paramount, it is critical to our success to live in community with other believers.
SPEAKER_01: But if you misidentify the enemy, you'll always fight the wrong battle.
SPEAKER_01: And so then we go, okay, Clayton, you're talking about church, parents, husband and wife.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, yeah, maybe one day that'll apply to me.
SPEAKER_01: But where does this intersect my life now?
SPEAKER_01: Well, here's where this intersects your life now.
SPEAKER_01: Can I just tell you something?
SPEAKER_01: Your enemy is not your roommate.
SPEAKER_01: Your enemy is not your parent.
SPEAKER_01: Your enemy isn't your professor, it's not your boss, it's not your neighbor, and no, it's not even your ex-girlfriend.
SPEAKER_01: Your problem is not, your enemy is not stress.
SPEAKER_01: You think, oh, I'm just stressed out, Clayton.
SPEAKER_01: I need to decompress.
SPEAKER_01: Clayton, I saw a video on TikTok.
SPEAKER_01: It's cortisol.
SPEAKER_01: My cortisol is high.
SPEAKER_01: It's puffy in the face when I wake up.
SPEAKER_01: I saw a video.
SPEAKER_01: I bought the guasha Chinese thing.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna drink some water, I'm gonna hit the sauna.
SPEAKER_01: This is my issue.
SPEAKER_01: My problem is stress.
SPEAKER_01: No, no, your problem is anxiety that's rooted in fear.
SPEAKER_01: You think your problem is people, it's a spirit of division.
SPEAKER_01: You think your problem is habits, but it is spiritual bondage.
SPEAKER_01: Check out how the apostle puts this in 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 3.
SPEAKER_01: He says, For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.
SPEAKER_01: We believe that God is real.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus died so we can experience life.
SPEAKER_01: And if we believe that, we must also reckon that there is an enemy who is out to rob us of what God has for us.
SPEAKER_01: So we don't fight war according to the flesh.
SPEAKER_01: So when it comes to the problems in our life, division and relationships, anxieties and fears and all the things that we carry, we are not gonna tackle them the same way that everyone else in the world who does not believe in Jesus does, because we understand there's another element to this.
SPEAKER_01: We know that there is an enemy named Satan who is out to rob you of what God has for you.
SPEAKER_01: But if you can only fight what you can see, you'll lose to what you can't.
SPEAKER_01: So you are spinning your wheels in the mud.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you, you are spinning your wheels trying to fight a battle with something that you can see.
SPEAKER_01: No, I just need more sleep.
SPEAKER_01: No, I just need a new girlfriend.
SPEAKER_01: No, I just need a new major.
SPEAKER_01: No, I just need something else.
SPEAKER_01: No, I just need to find my actual job, my career.
SPEAKER_01: No, I just need to move out.
SPEAKER_01: All of these things.
SPEAKER_01: And do some of those apply?
SPEAKER_01: Yes, we know that there's categories of problems.
SPEAKER_01: But if we're not aware of the fact that there is a spiritual element to our lives, we will fight only what we can see and we'll always lose to what we can't.
SPEAKER_01: The battle is spiritual, not just physical.
SPEAKER_01: That's the first thing I want you to write down.
SPEAKER_01: The second thing is this is that the enemy is strategic, not random.
SPEAKER_01: The enemy is strategic, not random.
SPEAKER_01: Look at how Paul describes our enemy in verse number 11.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Do all these things, stand firm, so that for what reason?
SPEAKER_01: You can take your stand against the devil's schemes.
SPEAKER_01: Schemes is the word.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, this is what we have to understand.
SPEAKER_01: Satan doesn't just attack you, he schemes against you.
SPEAKER_01: That means that it is intentional and it is calculated.
SPEAKER_01: Remember how Jesus describes him in John chapter 10, verse 10?
SPEAKER_01: He says that what?
SPEAKER_01: That the enemy comes to steal and to kill and to destroy.
SPEAKER_01: Every time.
SPEAKER_01: Satan is always out to rob you of what God has for you, and it's a scheme, friend.
SPEAKER_01: He's not just lobbing anything he can over the wall.
SPEAKER_01: He knows the attack is personal.
SPEAKER_01: So here's what we know.
SPEAKER_01: We're not scared of the enemy.
SPEAKER_01: He's not equal to God.
SPEAKER_01: Let's just get that out of the way.
SPEAKER_01: He can only do certain things, and we know there's pretty much only four things that Satan is gonna scheme to do, okay?
SPEAKER_01: I want you to understand, and so here's the first one that I want you to write down.
SPEAKER_01: The first scheme is this it's lies.
SPEAKER_01: And it is all of them are gonna be wrapped up in lies, but lies is the first one.
SPEAKER_01: It might sound like this, it might sound like God doesn't care about you.
SPEAKER_01: It might sound like God won't ever answer that prayer.
SPEAKER_01: It might sound like, why do you even keep showing up?
SPEAKER_01: He's never gonna move on your behalf.
SPEAKER_01: God isn't good because if he was, he wouldn't let this happen.
SPEAKER_01: That is a lie, friend, because you know what Jesus says in John chapter 8, verse 44?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says in John chapter 8, when he lies, speaking of Satan, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
SPEAKER_01: So when there are things, when we're believing things about ourselves and about the Lord, that when we come to Via and when we come to church, that we're singing things that are in opposition to what we believe about who we are, who we are in Christ, and who Christ is, that's a red flag to us that there's a lie that's percolating in our brain.
SPEAKER_01: If there's something that says that there's a song that talks about my victory in Christ, that I'm chosen, that I'm loved, that I'm accepted by God, and there's a voice in the back of my head that says, not you.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone else can sing the song, but not you, that is a lie from the evil one, friend.
SPEAKER_01: Do you remember?
SPEAKER_01: Do you remember the Garden of Eden?
SPEAKER_01: First scheme.
SPEAKER_01: What is it that Satan does?
SPEAKER_01: He lies about what God's word really was.
SPEAKER_01: He lied about what God had said.
SPEAKER_01: The first lie was about what God has said.
SPEAKER_01: He always lied.
SPEAKER_01: And if I can be so bold, I believe almost every problem in our life is rooted in a lie that we're believing about ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: Not the things that have been done to us by other people, but what we're choosing to live under and sing ourselves over and believe about ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: I mean the problems we create for ourselves, I believe, are always rooted in lies that the enemy speaks to us.
SPEAKER_01: Lies is one of the first schemes of the devil.
SPEAKER_01: What's the second one I want you to see?
SPEAKER_01: The second one is this it's temptation.
SPEAKER_01: It might sound like this this will really satisfy you.
SPEAKER_01: No, no.
SPEAKER_01: This one is gonna be different.
SPEAKER_01: But what does the Bible say?
SPEAKER_01: Look at what James chapter 1, verse 13 says.
SPEAKER_01: It says, Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.
SPEAKER_01: You know what that means?
SPEAKER_01: So that means there's some probably pretty good Christians in your life, well-meaning that is, who might have said that God should tempting you.
SPEAKER_01: That is not true.
SPEAKER_01: God is not the one who's tempting you.
SPEAKER_01: Temptation, we know, is a dual battle of our flesh and opportunities presented by the enemy.
SPEAKER_01: And because it's a scheme, we gotta know, friends, it is not random.
SPEAKER_01: This is not mass market advice to just see how many screens we can show up on.
SPEAKER_01: Let me see if I can illustrate like this.
SPEAKER_01: You know when you're talking to a friend and you're talking about going to a place or a restaurant or something you just saw, and then two hours later you open your phone and you hit next on the Instagram story, and there's an ad for the very thing that you just talked about, and you're like, my FBI agent, shout out for the hookup, bro.
SPEAKER_01: I was wondering why I was gonna buy one of those.
SPEAKER_01: Thanks, that's targeted ads.
SPEAKER_01: You know what that is?
SPEAKER_01: That's exactly how Satan works with temptation.
SPEAKER_01: That's temptation.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't have to throw everything at you, but he'll throw what he knows you'll think twice about.
SPEAKER_01: Wrapped in a lie that it will really satisfy you.
SPEAKER_01: Think of it like this.
SPEAKER_01: Do you remember at the beginning of Matthew?
SPEAKER_01: In Matthew chapter 4, when Jesus goes into the wilderness, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness and he fasts for 40 days.
SPEAKER_01: And if you know your Bible, you know that the enemy shows up.
SPEAKER_01: Satan shows up and he tempts him.
SPEAKER_01: And what does he tempt him with?
SPEAKER_01: Does he tempt him with sex, with women, with pride, with money?
SPEAKER_01: Look at it in Matthew chapter 4, verse 2.
SPEAKER_01: And after fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he, Jesus, was hungry, and the tempter, Satan, came and said to him, If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.
SPEAKER_01: Not women, not money, but food.
SPEAKER_01: Because it was a scheme, it was a personal attack to him.
SPEAKER_01: The very thing that would make Jesus maybe just think twice.
SPEAKER_01: Thanks be to God that he doesn't, and he's perfect.
SPEAKER_01: So we get lies, we get temptation.
SPEAKER_01: What's the third scheme?
SPEAKER_01: Third one is this it's accusation.
SPEAKER_01: Accusation is a scheme of the enemy.
SPEAKER_01: It might sound like this you'll never change.
SPEAKER_01: You'll never change.
SPEAKER_01: But what do we know?
SPEAKER_01: We have the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: And check out how the Apostle John writes about Satan in Revelation chapter 12, verse 10.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come.
SPEAKER_01: Praise be to God.
SPEAKER_01: For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before God.
SPEAKER_01: Satan is the one to tempt you with the sin, and as soon as you fall into it, accuse you of being worthless, dirty, and a sorry Christian.
SPEAKER_01: A Christian who doesn't actually love God.
SPEAKER_01: That's what he does.
SPEAKER_01: He always accuses, and it's always wrapped in a lie.
SPEAKER_01: Like, think about it like this.
SPEAKER_01: Has there ever been a moment, maybe a Thursday, where you thought, okay, I know V is tonight.
SPEAKER_01: But like, why would I even go?
SPEAKER_01: If they knew what I did last weekend, if they knew what I did last week last night, if they knew what I said, they'd probably kick me out anyway.
SPEAKER_01: What is that?
SPEAKER_01: That is an accusation and a lie.
SPEAKER_01: What is Satan trying to do?
SPEAKER_01: Rob you of what God has for you.
SPEAKER_01: What does God have for have for you?
SPEAKER_01: In his word, he says that he has for you life-giving community with other believers.
SPEAKER_01: So isn't it something that Thursday night at four o'clock the social anxiety peaks?
SPEAKER_01: Isn't it something that Sunday morning, maybe I'll just sleep in?
SPEAKER_01: He's trying to rob you of what God has for you, and he'll accuse you all day and night to get there.
SPEAKER_01: We got lies, we got temptation, we got accusation.
SPEAKER_01: The last scheme is this.
SPEAKER_01: It's just distraction.
SPEAKER_01: Distraction.
SPEAKER_01: It might feel like this is really more important than your faith.
SPEAKER_01: This matters more than God.
SPEAKER_01: One pastor, Pastor Craig Rochelle, says it this way: the devil, the devil doesn't have to destroy you if he can distract you.
SPEAKER_01: What do we know?
SPEAKER_01: That the enemy is out to kill, steal, and destroy.
SPEAKER_01: And if he's out to steal from you what God has for you, maybe, just maybe, he's trying to steal the assignment that God has for your life.
SPEAKER_01: To keep you from doing what you were called to do through Christ.
SPEAKER_01: What you are created and called to do in your workplace, on your team, in your dorm.
SPEAKER_01: God has something for you to walk in obedience with him, to share him with others, to disciple other people, to be a part of living community.
SPEAKER_01: And if Satan can distract you from those things, you're more concerned with something else.
SPEAKER_01: You're not doing God's assignment for you, and now he doesn't have to destroy you, he's just distracted you.
SPEAKER_01: Do you know what one of the most crazy passages that illustrates this is?
SPEAKER_01: It's in Matthew chapter 16.
SPEAKER_01: Now what do we know?
SPEAKER_01: You're all biblical scholars, so I know you know what's going on, but I'll tell you in case you forgot, alright?
SPEAKER_01: In Matthew chapter 16, Jesus is arguing with the Pharisees.
SPEAKER_01: He goes through this whole thing, he's arguing with the Pharisees.
SPEAKER_01: And then there's this moment where he's with the disciples and he says, Who do the crowd say that I am?
SPEAKER_01: And what do they say?
SPEAKER_01: They say, Some of them say you're Elijah the prophet, some of them say you're John the Baptist.
SPEAKER_01: And then there's a whole header in your Bible that says the Great Confession.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, Who do you say that I am?
SPEAKER_01: And what do we know that happens?
SPEAKER_01: Peter goes, You were the Christ, the Son of the living God.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus goes, Exactly right, Peter, for it's not flesh and blood that's revealed to you, but my father in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: And then, four verses later, Jesus starts talking kind of crazy.
SPEAKER_01: And he starts talking to himself about how he's gotta be killed.
SPEAKER_01: And do you know what Peter does?
SPEAKER_01: Peter comes up to Jesus and he's like, hey, brother, um what if we cool it on the like gotta be killed part?
SPEAKER_01: Now, four verses before, Jesus has just praised Peter for his confession.
SPEAKER_01: And then Peter stands up to Jesus and he goes, Hey man, let's just let's cool, let's dial it back a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: And what does Jesus say to Peter?
SPEAKER_01: Look at what he says in Matthew chapter 16, verse 23.
SPEAKER_01: But he, Jesus, turned and said to Peter, get behind me, Satan.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: For you are a hindrance to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.
SPEAKER_01: What is Satan all he has to do?
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't have to destroy you if he can distract you.
SPEAKER_01: One of Satan's schemes will be to distract you with earthly things instead of the things of God.
SPEAKER_01: So you know what really matters to you, friend?
SPEAKER_01: Your IG aesthetic.
SPEAKER_01: Is really the thing that you need to spend three hours curating a vibe for because you only get one first impression and you gotta let them know that you know you're cool.
SPEAKER_01: What people think your career, your travel, your relationship, if you devote, listen to me, if you devote all of your time to those things, and I'm not saying those any of those things are inherently bad, but when we devote all of our time to those things, we're not devoting any time to our walk with the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And so what has Satan just done?
SPEAKER_01: He has distracted us from our assignment, from our call to walk in obedience to God, and we miss out on the life that God has for us.
SPEAKER_01: But no, Clayton, I just can't understand why I don't, I'm not walking in victory, but all I can do is focus on these things.
SPEAKER_01: Well, how am I supposed to walk in victory if I've been distracted from the very thing God's called me to do?
SPEAKER_01: The enemy studies your patterns to exploit your weaknesses, but you gotta understand, he doesn't have to destroy you.
SPEAKER_01: He wants to.
SPEAKER_01: He wants to steal, kill, and destroy, but all he has to do is distract you.
SPEAKER_01: So you say, okay, Clayton, I get it.
SPEAKER_01: Satan's bad.
SPEAKER_01: Bad guy.
SPEAKER_01: Boo, two thumbs down.
SPEAKER_01: Don't like him.
SPEAKER_01: But what am I supposed to say?
SPEAKER_01: I should focus on God, I know, I should focus on God.
SPEAKER_01: I should focus on God.
SPEAKER_01: But what does that really mean for me?
SPEAKER_01: Here's the last thing I want you to write down.
SPEAKER_01: The last point I want you to write down is this we don't fight for victory, we fight from victory.
SPEAKER_01: We don't fight for victory, we fight from victory.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, I want you to turn to the person you're sitting next to and say, you don't fight for victory, you fight from victory.
SPEAKER_01: You don't fight for it, you fight from it.
SPEAKER_01: Can I just tell you something?
SPEAKER_01: This simple truth revolutionized my life.
SPEAKER_01: It is paramount for us to experience all that God has for us.
SPEAKER_01: For us to experience a life of life and joy and peace and all the things we read in the Bible, all the things that church people talk about, what should be true of our life, for us to experience this, this has to be true.
SPEAKER_01: We have to understand that we're not fighting to attain victory, we're fighting from a place of victory.
SPEAKER_01: What does Paul say in Ephesians chapter 6, verse 10?
SPEAKER_01: Look at what he says in Ephesians chapter 6, verse 10.
SPEAKER_01: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, hey guys, Satan's coming to attack you.
SPEAKER_01: Paul doesn't say, be strong in yourself.
SPEAKER_01: Paul doesn't say, I need you to try harder.
SPEAKER_01: Paul doesn't say, I need you to be more disciplined.
SPEAKER_01: He says, be strong in the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Your strength is not the source of your victory, Jesus is.
SPEAKER_01: Your strength is not the source of your victory.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus Christ is.
SPEAKER_01: Look at how it's described in Colossians chapter 2, verse 15.
SPEAKER_01: He says, he disarmed the rulers.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus disarmed the rulers and authorities.
SPEAKER_01: Remember those same guys that Paul just says we're fighting?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus disarmed them and put them to open shame by triumphing over them.
SPEAKER_01: So what does that mean?
SPEAKER_01: That means that when we find ourselves in a place of temptation, when we find ourselves in a place of spiritual attack, our response, you've heard us say this, friends, our response is not to white knuckle it so that I'm gonna get myself out of this better.
SPEAKER_01: We don't try harder not to sin, we surrender more.
SPEAKER_01: You open your Bible and you read it out loud, you put on worship music and you sing along with it.
SPEAKER_01: You stay connected to Jesus because Jesus is the source of our victory, not our own strength.
SPEAKER_01: You've got to stay connected to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: It's like this.
SPEAKER_01: This is a dumb analogy, but it makes sense, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Now, this light.
SPEAKER_01: Will this turn on when I turn it on?
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: We understand because it's not connected to the power source.
SPEAKER_01: A lot of us, a lot of us are walking around in life and we're saying, all right, I'm even white.
SPEAKER_01: I've been, ooh, I'm white as snow.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus washed me, somebody say amen.
SPEAKER_01: I'm washed.
SPEAKER_01: I'm good, brother.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, Jesus, you saved me.
SPEAKER_01: Now I'm gonna defeat this porn addiction.
SPEAKER_01: Man, I just wanna beat it.
SPEAKER_01: Man, I'm just gonna work a little bit harder.
SPEAKER_01: Man, alright, I just need um I'll delete the app for a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: Why is it not working?
SPEAKER_01: I know, I just need to tell somebody.
SPEAKER_01: Well, it's really tough out here, brother.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, um, I'll just I I don't I don't know what I'll do.
SPEAKER_01: I'll just I'll I'll try to figure something out.
SPEAKER_01: And we go, well, I don't this it's supposed to work, but it's just not working the way it's designed to.
SPEAKER_01: My Bible says I'm supposed to experience life and joy and peace and victory over my sin, but I'm looking around and I'm not, and some of my friends are, and so I'm not understanding why.
SPEAKER_01: And do you know why?
SPEAKER_01: It's because we're not connected to the dadgum source.
SPEAKER_01: And so then once, it's like the Pixar lamp.
SPEAKER_01: Look, it works, everybody.
SPEAKER_01: It works.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because it's connected to the source.
SPEAKER_01: Friend, you don't need to try harder, you need to surrender more.
SPEAKER_01: You don't need to try harder, you need to surrender more.
SPEAKER_01: You don't win spiritual battles by trying harder, you win them by staying connected.
SPEAKER_01: Do you remember what Jesus says?
SPEAKER_01: Abide in me, friend.
SPEAKER_01: For a long time in my life, um, sexual sin had just a stranglehold, a stronghold in my life.
SPEAKER_01: From the beginning of high school all through college, I was addicted to pornography.
SPEAKER_01: Through college, sexual promiscuity ran rampant in my life.
SPEAKER_01: And I would tell you, I was a believer, I was saved.
SPEAKER_01: But every time the battle of lust, every time a temptation of the flesh sprang up in my life, man, I was losing that battle just about every time.
SPEAKER_01: And I knew it was wrong.
SPEAKER_01: And I hated it.
SPEAKER_01: And I felt so ashamed and I felt so guilty, and I tried everything in the world possible to try to beat this thing.
SPEAKER_01: And so I would delete the app for a while, and maybe I'd string together a couple of weeks.
SPEAKER_01: Or maybe after a bad spell, I'd tell somebody and they'd be like, Yeah, man, it's tough.
SPEAKER_01: It's just kind of, if you beat it, let me know.
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, that's not really helpful.
SPEAKER_01: And what's crazy about this sin is like, I don't know if you've ever been that or this is part of your story or something, but I believed that I was saved, but this with this particular sin, I felt like I had to deal with it personally.
SPEAKER_01: I had to rid myself of it and cleanse myself of it before I could come back to God.
SPEAKER_01: And I would tell you, I was, which doesn't make really any sense if you press me about it.
SPEAKER_01: I thought I believed that I'm I was saved at that time, but I still felt that I had to clean myself up of the sin in order to come back to God to get the thing that I really wanted.
SPEAKER_01: And so sure enough, I'm just doing my best.
SPEAKER_01: And it's I'm, I mean, I am, I am, I, I've I've done it, I'm about to rip this thing off the thing because it's I'm trying my best.
SPEAKER_01: And all this changed for me when this simple truth finally, by the power of the Holy Spirit, permeated into me.
SPEAKER_01: That I don't fight for victory, I fight from it.
SPEAKER_01: That I'm not trying to attain victory in order to go to God and say, see, God, I did, I've defeated this sin all by myself.
SPEAKER_01: In my sin and in my shame and in my filthiness and in my brokenness, I come to Jesus Christ and I say, God, I can't do this without you.
SPEAKER_01: I need your power to empower me because I can't do it by myself.
SPEAKER_01: And so, you know what I started doing?
SPEAKER_01: I started praying.
SPEAKER_01: You say, Wow, is Clayton, that sounds pretty novel.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you should try it.
SPEAKER_01: Whenever that urge of lust or that urge of the flesh would come up, I would just pray out loud.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, I can't, I need you to do it for me because I can't do it.
SPEAKER_01: And yes, all the things, delete the apps, move to a different place of the house, get up, take a cold shower, all the practical stuff we take.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, do all those things, but you can't, you're not, that's not gonna be the way that you defeat the battle.
SPEAKER_01: And do you know what started to happen?
SPEAKER_01: Slowly and surely, by the power of God's Spirit living in me and having more control over me, I started to walk in victory over my sin.
SPEAKER_01: Praise be to God.
SPEAKER_01: But can I tell you something?
SPEAKER_01: I walked in victory over my sin, I still struggle with the temptation.
SPEAKER_01: You see, some of us are walking around saying, God, if you would just take this away from me so that I'll never have to deal with it again.
SPEAKER_01: That's not the thing that God is promising us here in His Word.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying, By my power, if you'll rest in me and stay connected to me, you can have victory over the sin, so that when the temptation comes, you will continue to grow in dependence upon me, because it's in my strength that you defeat it, not your own.
SPEAKER_01: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_01: So we're not walking around saying, I'm gonna make it one day, but I pray that God takes this temptation away from me, that never again do I battle with lust.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm telling you right now, I can tell you I'm walking in victory over that sin because God has already won the battle for me, and I'm walking from victory, not for it.
SPEAKER_01: And so again and again and again, I cry out to the Lord, God, I need your help.
SPEAKER_01: God, I need you to fill me.
SPEAKER_01: Holy Spirit, would you lead me?
SPEAKER_01: God, I'm gonna start singing out loud.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna start reading your word out loud.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna put myself in community, I'm gonna move around, I'm gonna go whatever.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, I know you've already defeated this on my behalf.
SPEAKER_01: I just read it, and so I'm gonna believe it, I'm gonna walk from it, I'm gonna need you to do it for me.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because we work from victory, not for victory.
SPEAKER_01: So my question to you is like, what's your sin?
SPEAKER_01: What's your sin that you've done the shame and the guilt cycle over and over and over and over again?
SPEAKER_01: That you've prayed and prayed and prayed.
SPEAKER_01: You've been at youth camps since you were in middle school, praying for God to take this away from you.
SPEAKER_01: And to be clear, God can do anything he wants, so he can take anything away from us at any time.
SPEAKER_01: But maybe, just maybe, what God is trying to get you to see is that he's allowing you to walk in victory when you stay connected to him, so that when the temptation comes, we're not in this cycle of shame and guilt again.
SPEAKER_01: Because he's already fought the battle for you and won.
SPEAKER_01: We fight from victory, not for it.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Would you pray with me?
SPEAKER_01: Lord Jesus, we love you.
SPEAKER_01: God, we're thankful for who you are and for what you've done for us.
SPEAKER_01: God, we're thankful that you are God and that we are not.
SPEAKER_01: God, we're thankful that God, we're thankful that there's a reality, a spiritual reality that's true in the world.
SPEAKER_01: But God, that you have not left us to our own devices, our own strength, that God, you tell us about it in your word.
SPEAKER_01: And not even that you tell us that there is a battle, but you've already told us that you've won the battle, and so we, standing in your strength, stand by your power.
SPEAKER_01: So, God, we just pray.
SPEAKER_01: God, we pray for your protection over this room.
SPEAKER_01: We know that the enemy wants to steal, kill, and destroy, and so God, even what we've talked about tonight is upsetting to him.
SPEAKER_01: There is some bondage that we believe is going to be broken over the next weeks as we walk in victory from victory.
SPEAKER_01: But God, we ask that you would fill us with your Holy Spirit, that you would lead and guide us.
SPEAKER_01: Because we want to walk in life and joy and peace.
SPEAKER_01: Your word says that you have come that we might have life and life abundantly, and we want to experience that.
SPEAKER_01: So, God, we pray that you would help us, you would lead us, and that you would guide us.
SPEAKER_01: It's in your holy, holy, holy.
SPEAKER_01: In precious name we pray, and all God's people said Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Via is Silverdale for 18 to 25 year olds.
SPEAKER_00: We gather on Thursday nights at 8 p.m.
SPEAKER_00: in Chattanooga, Tennessee.