Armed and Praying | Dangerous Prayers, Week 3 | Rob Hall | New North Church

We are so glad you’ve joined New North Church for service today! If this is your first time with us, we are honored to have you and we want to get to know you more personally - please, fill out our digital connection card. http://bit.ly/nncconnect

Do you have questions about life or need prayer? We would love to hear from you. Submit a request here: http://bit.ly/nncprayer

New North is financially sustained through your partnership. Thank you for your generosity as you consider giving online. http://bit.ly/nncgive

Join us in person on Sundays at 8:30am, 10am and 12pm in San Francisco! Plan your visit: https://www.newnorth.church

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Hey, welcome to the New North Church podcast. It's great to have you listening in with us. Our vision at our church is to be an authentic community of Jesus followers who love and serve people. So if we can help you in any way at all, just reach out to us. The email address is hello at new north.church. With that, let's go right to this week's message. Hey, good morning, New North Church. Great to see all of you. I want to start with an honestly kind of an embarrassing story just because my pride was damaged, which uh that's why it's embarrassing. But several years ago, I was at the best pizza restaurant on the peninsula, which is Toto's. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Um, and I was there with my son, my youngest son, and two kids in our church. I don't I don't even know what we were doing. And I'm not joking, we're I'm minding my own business eating. And this dude walks up to me, we were outside, clearly had a few too many drinks, and he comes in my face and he says, God sent me to you. And I went, He did? And here's what he did. He slapped me across the face. Wild, right? Now, you gotta know, I grew up in Hayward. I grew up in the hood, I grew up fighting all the time. And looking back, like, like I was like, wow, like somehow, by the grace of God, I did not retaliate. I I think part of it was my son was there, and you know, we're trying to show him not to hit people. Um, part of it was, you know, two young kids in our church, like, oh, pastor, just knock some guy out. Like, that'd be bad. Um, but I really believe that the Holy Spirit restrained me. I really believe that looking. And so I looked at that dude in the face and I literally said, Hey, bro, you just assaulted me on video. I hope you enjoy jail. That's literally what I said. Not my most pastoral moment, but I didn't know what to do. I don't get slapped very often. Um, and uh, and so everyone was freaking out under the restaurant, they called the police, like, are you okay? I'm like, my pride's injured, but I'm fine. The guy took off, the police came, I gave a report, you know, life went on. I came home, my wife's like, what happened to your face? I'm like, oh honey, I got slapped, you know. She's like, what? Anyway, but I share that story because, again, I don't know what was happening in the unseen realm that afternoon, but I don't think that guy was sent by God. But I can tell you what was happening in my own heart. Like, in one instant, I'm eating pizza, mining my own business, and suddenly, man, I felt like anger rising. I felt retaliation. I felt like, oh Lord, I don't want to become someone I don't want to be. For sure the attack was physical, but the struggle in my heart was for sure spiritual. And I share that story because that's how spiritual attacks happen. Right? You're like they rarely announce themselves. Oh, I'm from Satan, you know? And suddenly, when you're being attacked spiritually, you feel that anger rising, or you feel that temptation pulling you, or that fear speaking to you, or that resentment in your heart just hardening. Or how about that discouragement, that's whispering, just give up. It's over. And so whether you're a Christian or not, the Bible tells us that there's a lot more happening in our world than we can see or perceive with our own eyes. The Bible describes a very real enemy who opposes God and he wants nothing more than to deceive, accuse, divide, and destroy you and the church. And so as we look at what Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus, we're gonna look at that in a moment, he has already spent five chapters talking all about everything Jesus has done for us. And now he's gonna spend his closing words talking about God's armor and our protection in this spiritual war. But I'll be real with you, uh, in my experience, most Christians are totally unprepared. If they even believe there's a spiritual battle or war happening at all, because, and there's a lot of reasons for that, because when it comes to spiritual warfare, there's like, I've seen two extremes, and maybe there's more. But on one extreme, there are Christians in churches and people who believe, um, like, you know, there's no such thing as a devil. That's made up. That's the devil is just our way of explaining evil and suffering in the world. They believe that he, you know, is wearing red tights and a pitchfork, no real power. That's one extreme. And on the far other extreme, Satan is behind everything, from your flu-like symptoms to your flat tire to terrorism. It's all Satan. Let me just tell you that the Bible teaches neither extreme. The Bible does teach very clearly that there is a devil. He's very real, but he is in no way equal to God. He is dangerous. Yes, he hates you. The apostle Peter called him a roaring lying looking for someone to devour. The apostle John calls him the accuser of the brethren. And here, Paul tells us that he doesn't even work alone, but he commands a whole host of spiritual forces called demons. But we have no reason to fear. Greater is he who is in us than he who is in the world. Jesus has already won a decisive victory, but here's the issue that we forget. We're still living in enemy territory. Through Jesus' life, his death, his resurrection. Yes, he defeated the penalty of sin. He defeated the power of Satan. He defeated death. The victory is won. But here's what's happening: the results of that victory haven't been fully realized. The devil has not got the memo yet. Why do I know that? Because look around. There's evil in our world, there's suffering in our world. Bad things happen to good people and horrible people all the time. That's why Satan is called the prince of this world, John 12. What does that mean? It means Satan is real. He's powerful, and he's fighting a war, but he's already lost. And so one day, when Jesus returns, the book of Revelation tells us that he'll lock, throw Satan in the abyss and lock him away and throw away the key forever. But that day has not come. So the question really is is there really a spiritual war? Then, if there is, then like, how do we stand firm? What has God given to help us? And how in the world does prayer fit into all of this? Thank you for asking those great questions. If you have a Bible, turn with me to Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 6. We're gonna look at the tail end. And you guys, my glasses came in. This is the day that the Lord has made. There they are, you guys. There they are. Wow. It's sad though. It's sad. It's interesting getting old. But look, it's so clear now. I can read my large print Bible even better. It's amazing. Verse, chapter 6, verse 10. Paul writes as he concludes this short letter, he says, Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. Let me stop right there. So Paul begins and he starts by describing our source of strength. And he said, we can't muster this up, we can't white-knuckle this, we can't even manufacture it. He says, our source of strength is in the Lord, not in your own talent, not in your intelligence or skills, not in the latest self-help book. The source of strength and power that we have as followers of Jesus is found in Jesus. And so how do we access that strength? How do we get God's power? He tells us we need to put on the full armor of God, not pieces of it, not some of it. He says all of it, God's full armor. And then he describes what is this armor for? It doesn't help us go out and slaughter the enemy. It doesn't help us to go on the offensive or the attack. He tells us it helps us, God's armor helps us to actually stand firm. And that word stand is over and over in these verses. And so our posture, believe it or not, is not offense, but defense. We stand. We hold our ground. We take our position. And battle, a soldier's line only worked if every single person held their position. If they fell up, you grabbed them back up. And so the good news in Paul tells us is that we're not standing alone. This is the importance and power of the church. We stand together as a wall of protection. And so when we fall, we help each other get back. When we fall asleep, we say, yo, wake up. This is why it's so important if you attend New North to find at least one other Christian that you can walk together with, who knows you, who's praying for you, someone who's fighting with you. So if you've never joined any of our midweek groups or any of our communities, man, now is your chance. Why? Because you need others, but watch this. We need you. But here's our problem. It's an obvious problem in the Bay Area. The reason why we don't do this is probably a couple different reasons. One, we're so busy, we're so preoccupied. And two, we think our own armor is good enough. So let me just say this. I say this all the time. Coming to church once a month is not enough to stand firm in this fight. It's not enough. And your own armor of intelligence and wealth and talent and hustle, your armor will not work. Because without God's armor and without God's people, it's clear we will get overpowered fast. That's why Paul tells us, and he's very clear, who we're up against. Look with me at verse 12. He says in verse 12, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood. So what is our struggle? 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. Okay, I'll be honest, like I've never been a soldier, I've never been in a war, I don't even like guns, I've never even been hunting, I like fishing, but here's what I do know. You don't win a fight against an enemy you don't know or understand. And so Paul tells us that we need to understand our enemy. And he tells us specifically that the devil has schemes. That's an interesting word in the original language. It's where we get our English word methods. The devil has methods, he has schemes that he uses against us. What does that mean? That means that there is a devil and his forces. They study us, they watch us, they know when to strike, they know when you're weak, they know when you're vulnerable. They'll do whatever it takes, and they are way more patient than we are to make you succumb and make you fall. So, what are these schemes, what do these methods look like? All kinds of things. Things like just overwhelming situations, getting slapped in the face at Toto's pizza, just suddenly increased anxiety out of nowhere, worry that you can't explain, doubt, busyness, pride, greed, gossip, lies, resentment, unresolved anger, bitterness, and discouragement are just some of his many, many tactics. And so Paul tells us that, hey, our struggle is not against flesh and blood. This is a spiritual battle. Your spouse is not the real enemy. Your rebellious child is not the enemy. That difficult coworker that you can't stand is not the enemy. The person who's trapped in addiction is not the enemy. Under the layer of flesh and blood, there's a real powerful forces, rulers, authorities, spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. What Paul is doing, he's describing a whole host of demonic forces that are opposing God's work. He's ascribing any and all things that work against God. Now, some of you are probably thinking, well, I don't really see that around here. Like, I'm clueless to that. You know why? Because we're so comfortable in the Bay Area. Like, we just forget that there's a war going on at all. And so what happens is we think we're living at a time of peace, and we begin to listen to lies, and they're so subtle. And they're lies like, hey, you know what? God can't be trusted. Because if he loved you, he wouldn't allow that to happen in your life. He must not love you. Or we begin to feel overwhelmed by accusations, and we begin to think in our mind like, you know what? That's just who I am. I'll never change. I can't stop. This is I can't. Or we fall into temptation because we believe and we think, you know what? We rationalize, you know, it's not that bad. No one's gonna know. It won't hurt anyone. It's just us once. Or we allow the enemy to divide us. Like, I don't have to love that person because they voted differently than me. And they're a jerk anyway, God. See, thankfully, though, God has given us everything we need to stand. And then Paul begins to describe exactly what God has given us. Look with me now at verse 13. If you grew up in church, you know these words very, very well. It says, Therefore, in light of all that he said, in light of who we are in Christ, therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, I'm going to explain what that means, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have 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 the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all of this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can distinct extinguish all, not just the arrows, listen to this, the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take up the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Now, we got to remember that Paul is in a prison cell. I imagine him looking out his window or his door, seeing a Roman soldier looking at his armor and then describing the armor in spiritual terms. He says, We need God's full armor. He says, because the day of evil, like what is that? It's not just a future day, although it is. It's the day we're living in. Here's what I've realized: that the day of evil is also those very specific moments when we feel attacked, those specific moments where we're just like so tempted to give in. That's what the day of evil is. And so he begins to describe how to dress ourselves with God's armor. He starts with a belt of truth. A soldier's belt held his clothes and his sword in place. Like actually, all the armor depended on it. And so Paul tells us we need to buckle truth around our waist because the enemy is a liar, but Jesus is the truth. As we buckle on truth, as we grow in our faith, we begin to believe who God is and what he says instead of what our fears or what our culture or what our inner accusations tell us. We say, no, no, no, no. That's a lie. That's not what God says. And then he says, we put on the breastplate of righteousness. A Roman breastplate actually covered all the vital organs. Watch this: both front and back, but mostly the heart. See, Satan loves to attack our hearts with accusations, things like, you're not good enough. God has left you. God doesn't love you. No. Don't go to church. Definitely don't get involved in a small group. No, no, no. You don't want people to know the real you. No, but the breastplate of righteousness reminds us that we stand loved, accepted, righteous before God. Not because of what we've done, but because of Jesus Christ. We stand dressed in the righteousness of Christ. God has made us right with Himself through Jesus and what he did on the cross. We don't earn it. It's a gift of grace. So standing in Christ's righteousness allows us to stand, you know what? With a clear conscience. We're not weighed down by sin or guilt or shame because our focus is not even on ourselves any longer. It's on Christ and what he did and what he accomplished. Someone say amen to that. And then we lace up the gospel of peace as boots. Roman soldiers had two different types of footwear. This footwear, I believe, is these the marching boots that were built and designed for long campaigns on rough terrain. Paul is reminding us that the war is a marathon, not a sprint. That the gospel of peace steadies us and steadies our feet when the ground gets rough, when we lose control. The gospel of peace also prepares us to share that peace with others. If you're a follower of Jesus, that means you're at peace with God. But then now we're called to be actually peacemakers. We give that peace to others. And then Paul says, and hey, don't forget, pick up the shield of faith. Again, Roman soldiers had two shields. This is a longer shield, the shield that could lock together and form a wall or a roof overhead. And so Paul says, that's what faith does. It protects you. Faith believes the promises of God when you feel like giving up. Faith actually absorbs the enemy's flaming darts. What in the world are those? All kinds of things. Things like false accusations or shame or destructive habits or doubts or lust or fear. I'll tell you what, I didn't say this in the last service. There are flaming arrows that come that get past your armor and stick in you and stay there for a long time. That's when you gotta fast, you pray, and over time, man, God helps you to pull that arrow out. I've been there. Where just something that just just wouldn't just, I can give you many examples where I'm like, I can't get over this. I struggle with this. God, get it out. And so the shield of faith protects us when we're overwhelmed. We we take up the shield, we refuse to one, we pray, we fast, we say, Jesus, I'm gonna trust you. But man, the onslaught is coming. And then he says, take up and put on the helmet of salvation. The idea is something that's protecting our minds. So when doubt or discouragement or despair attack our minds, the helmet reminds us, no, no, no. We belong to Jesus Christ. You have been saved. You are in the process of being saved, and you will one day be fully and finally saved when Jesus returns. Put the helmet of salvation on, and we stand firm because we know who Jesus is. We know what he's done in our life, we know he's gonna bring us home in the end. And then finally, he says, take up the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Paul is talking about there's two different swords. This was a short sword for close combat. And I want you to notice, this is the only offensive piece of armor he's given us. Sure, you I guess you can use a shield, okay, fine. But the sword of the spirit, he says, which is the word of God, which is the Bible, what does this mean? I think he's telling us that we don't use our Bibles to hurt people. Instead, the Holy Spirit uses the word of God to confront deception, to bring life, to bring hope, to bring understanding, to bring healing. When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights, you know this. At every accusation, what did he do? He's fought every accusation with Scripture and finally Satan fled. Scripture is a sword for teaching, for preaching, for sharing our faith. The Holy Spirit uses God's word to cut through people's defenses. The Holy Spirit uses God's word to awaken people to the truth of the gospel. And so that's our armor. And so the question is, and I didn't know this for years, and I'll explain why. The question is, how do we put it on? What do we do with it? Paul tells us. Verse 18. He says, and this is not something additional, he says, and pray in the Spirit on all occasions, with all kinds of prayers, with all kinds of requests, and with all this in mind, listen what he says. He says, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people. Prayer is how you keep on God's armor. And I need to give credit where credit is due. My mother-in-law 20 years ago taught me this, Millie Madsen. How do I know? Because as a young pastor, you know, I'd come home from church and go, oh my gosh, it was horrible, or these kids or whatever. And she would always ask me a super annoying question because of my pride. She would say, Oh, Rob, is your armor on? And I'm like, Well, yeah, it's what, yeah, for sure. And you know, what? And I leave, and then one day, you know, I said, Hey Millie, what do you mean? Like, what are you talking about? And she sat, little 20-year-old something Rob Hall, down and showed me how you pray on each piece of armor. And I went, Oh, and I've been doing that for over 20 years now. And so that's how Paul ends. He ends with two very important things for this battle, for this war. He says, pray and be alert. The tense of both of those verbs are ongoing actions. Keep praying. Always be alert. So here's the idea: we stand firm against the enemy by consistently praying, by constantly being alert to his schemes and his ways. So prayer is not like an additional piece of armor that we can use or not use. According to Paul, it's actually how we stand firm with God's armor on. And so standing firm is actually putting on God's armor while praying at the same time. And so prayer is really the act of getting dressed with God's armor on over and over every day for a fight that never ends. And then Paul tells us that this type of prayer, he says, we pray in the spirit. What does that mean? It's not about praying harder. It's not, he's not saying, like, you know, be more emotional. He's saying, no. This is spirit-empowered, spirit-led praying. It's praying honestly, it's praying dependently. He's even saying, you don't need even need, you don't need to figure it all out. You don't need to even have the right words to say. No, you're just saying, God, Holy Spirit, I'm here. I'm praying. I don't know what to pray. I don't know how to pray. I don't know what to do here. Pray with me. Pray for me. Paul wrote about this. When he wrote the church in Rome, he said this. He said, in the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We don't even know what we ought to pray for. But the Spirit Himself intercedes. The Spirit Himself prays for us through wordless groans. This is why this kind of prayer is dangerous. Not dangerous like reckless, but dangerous like a soldier who never takes his or her gear off or never stops being alert and never assumes that we're in a time of peace. See, Paul then, he stacks up what I call four alls, A-L-L-S, in one sentence. He says, hey guys, pray on all occasions. All kinds of prayers, all kinds of requests, with all perseverance, and remember to pray for all the saints. What he's essentially saying is this don't put this prayer in a little religious box that you only recite on Sunday. No. Prayer isn't like some technique that you deploy in emergencies either. Although you can and you should. No, he says we got to learn how to pray when we feel like it and when we don't, when it's hard and when it's fun, when it's lovely and when it's boring. We have got to get beyond crisis praying to a daily sustaining rhythm of prayer that's spirit-dependent, that's wide-eyed and alert. It's a praying life that keeps you standing with God's armor in when everything else seems to be falling apart around you. See, here's what I've realized. You can know each part of armor. You can be astute in what biblical righteousness is all about, and you can still lose the fight if you never pray. Because the armor of God doesn't put itself on. And so prayer is where you come to God and you tell them, God, help dress me with your armor today. I can't do it alone. I can't do it myself, and I was never supposed to do life that way. Well, remember the guy who slapped me? How could you forget? Um, well, interesting thing, just a follow-up. Several weeks later, I got a call from the district attorney of San Mateo County. I was like, oh, what did I do? Like, uh, it wasn't me, I'm sorry. Like I was like district attorney, never called me my life. And he said, Hey Rob, we've been trying to find you. I'm like, okay. He said, um, we've obtained video from Toto's Pizza, and we don't want residents to be afraid of getting slapped in public. I go, oh, thank you, yes. Um and so we want to press charges, and we need you to come in and sign some paperwork, and because we want you to press charges against this guy. And honestly, it was another moment where I was like, oh, what should I do? Like, and I so I told the DA, I said, hey, here's the deal, man. I don't want to press charges. Like, I'm a Christian, I'm a pastor, I don't want to press charges. Now, now, as you hear that, I'm not saying that declining to press charges is what every Christian should do. I'm not saying that. That was just what I felt God calling me to do. And the DA was like shocked, right? Like, really? And I said, here's my only request. This is literally what I told him. I said, please let that man that he's not going to jail because a Christian has forgiven him. And he's like, okay. I have no idea if he did it. I don't know. I didn't check in. I'm like, now before you call me a saint, like I only pray that I would have the same attitude in the future. I don't know, if I'm honest. Okay, I want to end. I want to talk with three different types of people that are here today, okay? Here's the first. If you're not yet a follower of Jesus, if you are investigating faith, if you are newer to faith, let me just remind you there is a real spiritual battle for your soul, for your attention, and definitely for your allegiance. It's real and it's happening, and on your own, you're absolutely powerless. The devil is real, and he wants to distract you with things like success. He wants to destroy you because of your failure. So I just want to encourage you, put your faith in Jesus Christ today. Do not delay, take up the full armor of God, and we'll have people at the end of our service who would love to pray with you and talk to you all about how to get dressed in the robes of Jesus Christ. Secondly, if you're a new Christian and many of you are, let me just encourage you, like Millie Mattson encouraged me, put on your armor daily before you get out of bed. I often, that's what I often do, and here's what I do, I just pray it out by name. I say, Father, today I put on the belt of truth. I put on the breastplate of righteousness, remind me that I am righteous because of Christ. Lord, I lift up, lace up my boots, help me to be a peacemaker. I take up the shield, God, give me greater faith today. Lord, I'll take on the helmet of salvation, remind me who I am and whose I am, and I take up the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. Help me to walk in the truth of the Word of God. And then I get out of bed and brush my teeth. I want to encourage you to get back to that habit or start that habit. And then finally, if you're a mature Christian, and many of you are, don't get complacent. The Bible is full of men and women who started well and didn't finish well. It is so easy to let our guard down, to think we have arrived, to believe that we're living in a time of peace. No, we're in a war. So stand firm, stay dressed, be alert, and keep praying. Hey, A30 said way more amends than you guys did. I don't know what's going on, but it's fine. Uh, maybe because we gave them donuts. I'm not sure. All right, we're gonna transition to a time of communion, and I just want to set this up. Every piece of armor we talked about is a gift that was bought by a price. Following Jesus is not self-help, it's not self-improvement, it's not willpower. The breastplate of righteousness, for example, isn't yours because you've earned it. You don't you don't earn it, you don't deserve it. The breastplate of righteousness is yours because Jesus took your place. Jesus stood in the gap. He took the full weight of the enemy's attack. He took all of your sin, all of your shame, all of your regret, even death itself, and he didn't just survive it, Jesus defeated it all. Before you ever picked up a shield of faith, Jesus already took the fatal blow. And this is one of the many things we remember at the Lord's table. The bread, his body is broken so that your life could be redeemed. The cup is his blood poured out so that you could stand in his righteousness instead of your own. This table is a reminder of Jesus' victory. So before we eat, before we drink, I just want to encourage you to take 30 seconds and talk to God. If you're carrying something hard today, maybe an accusation you can't shake, or a temptation that you keep losing to, or a fear that's had you awake at 2 a.m. Bring that to him right now. This table is where you put God's armor back on. This table reminds us of who Jesus is and what he's done for you. Thank him for it. Hey, thanks for being with us, and we really pray that God spoke to you through his word today. And we want to stay connected. So don't forget to subscribe to this podcast, and that way you'll be notified the moment we have new content go live. And if you'd like uh more resources or to donate to our ministry, just simply go to newnorth.church. Thanks again for joining us. God bless you, and we'll see you right here next time.