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All right, amen. Ephesians chapter number six. So today we'll definitely conclude our study through the book of Ephesians. And definitely, as you probably noticed, there's a lot of hard things to be understood in the book of Ephesians. And you know, really that could be said about a lot of the things that Paul wrote. So, you know, don't be surprised if in the future we come back and start taking more stuff out of these opinions on just individual topics. Again, the point is to get you familiar with the way that the letter is written out and to get you familiar with the books. So when you go and you read it, you can pull more doctrine, more application for yourself. So let me start off again with a quick review again of the book of Ephesians. So again, the first three chapters are doctrine. Okay. And so Paul's teaching the Ephesians what it means to be in Christ as opposed to in a religion or in a temple or in a city. And then he teaches them about this mystery. Okay. The mystery of the gospel. He covers that, but also this mystery that God's people are no longer bound by race or nationality. Okay. God's people are believers, people that are born again, the saved. Those are God's people. And then he talks about the heavenly and what that means for us that our home is not here. We're simply here as ambassadors for Christ. So in other words, we're not supposed to focus too much and get too wrapped up in all of the political things that go on in the world. There's another way to handle that. We're going to talk about that tonight. Now, chapters four through six are how to live in those doctrines. So he gives us three chapters of just intense doctrine, and then he gives us three chapters on how to live in those doctrines. So for example, chapter number four is how to operate in the mystery, you know, preaching the gospel and things of that nature. Chapter five is our new identity. Okay. And what that means for you and how you ought to live in it. And really tonight, the first nine verses kind of go with chapter number five. It's more of that how to live in Christ. Okay. And we'll get into that. Now chapter number six, the main focus and really what we're going to be talking about is we get introduced to this invisible war that we can't see. Okay, you get introduced to spiritual warfare, and you get a glimpse of what it's like on the other side where we can't see. So I think you'll find that very interesting. And because of that, I titled the sermon this evening, a panorama view of the spirit world. So basically, Paul gives us some insight on what's happening behind the scenes, right? We always talk about these political guys, these elites, these billionaires, people that are trying to control the world. Well, who or what is behind them? That's what you're going to learn about tonight. You're going to learn how to properly fight that battle because that's really why we're here on this earth in the body of Christ partaking in this mystery. So with that being said, let's start this thing off right away. Look at verse number one of Ephesians chapter number six. And so again, Paul continues where he left off last week, you know, talking about husbands love your wives, wives love your husbands, and how to make a perfect household. Okay. And obviously, in the past in this church, we've done sermons on how to operate if that is not your situation. But he continues on here in verse one, and says, Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Okay, for this is right. And again, I said this last week. Now, obviously, if your parents are trying to get you to do something that goes against the Word of God or against the Bible, that's a different discussion. Okay, we always follow the highest order of command. And the highest order of command for the believer is the Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at verse two, he says, honor thy Father and Mother, which is the first commandment with promise. Okay, so again, what's his goal here? What is he trying to do? He's trying to get us to live in doctrine, not to just hear these things, not to just read them, but to actually put them to practical use in our lives. And verse number three, he says that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. So in other words, if you don't do this, okay, and this is brought up in the Old Testament, we don't have time to go there this evening. But God does not like disobedient children behaving that way. In fact, he used to put the death penalty on that in the Old Testament. And we're not saying that that should be, you know, you know, to kill your kids, you know, they're disobeying. That's not the case at all. This here is wisdom for you. This is wisdom for I, this is wisdom for the children in our church to make sure that they obey their parents. Okay, God takes us very seriously. Because the opposite of obeying your parents is what? It's rebellion. What does the Bible say about rebellion? Well, it says it as the sin of witchcraft. In other words, it's a bad reflection on the kingdom of God. And you're going to see here in a few verses why our behavior is so important when it comes to the spiritual realm comes to the spiritual world. Okay. So again, he's just continuing on here with application. Look at verse number four says any fathers provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And I like to play around with the kids. I joke around with them all the time. We play fight and wrestle. It's pretty fun. Kylen will act like she doesn't want to wrestle and then she'll try to like jam her knuckles, you know, in between my ribs or something like that. And so she's like the family assassin. Okay, Kayden, this guy is hilarious. So what is he like 6'4 with no shoes on? Kay, 6'5. And when you start playing around with him, he'll wrestle anywhere. He'll wrestle on top of this piano. He's got like, no, he just doesn't care. Kinley on the other hand, okay, she just likes to start throwing punches. And she's been like that since she was just a little kid. And sometimes people will kind of give her family a little bit of a hard time and be like, man, I can't believe you're allowing them to do that to you. In our family that works. Kay, that's just how we are. We like to joke around. We like to have a good time. We like to wrestle. Now obviously they're not going to be doing that with their husbands and things of that nature. But that's not what this is talking about, okay. This is talking about not provoking them to actual wrath, okay. Meaning we're not discouraging them as fathers. We're supposed to edify our children. We're supposed to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. We are supposed to give them doctrine, give them edification, teach them the word of God, and hold them to these standards. That's the job of a father, okay. You see that's what the Lord is doing with us. We need to do that with our own physical children. Verse number five, the Bible says this, servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling in singleness of your heart as unto Christ. Alright, what does that mean? What is going on here? This is one of the passages that people love to pluck out and see. And they'll say this, see the Bible teaches slavery. It's okay. It's not what it says, okay. You have to understand first of all the culture and the times that this was written in, okay. Like I said, it wasn't like you were going to go down to your local unemployment office and just pick a job, you know. You weren't going to go on Indeed or Craigslist or ZipRecruiter, you know, and just find jobs, okay. There were unfortunate, you know, hard times back then and people would often commit themselves to somebody who had a lot of resources, a lot of wealth and say, hey, I'll work for you for this much. Or there were other instances where people were just flat out sold, okay. He's not saying that's right. He's just saying if you find yourself though in that unfortunate situation, there's a right way to behave. And that right way to behave actually fights and actually helps and actually pushes God's true intentions to the rest of the world because God is always watching what his children are doing. And the better behaved that we are, the better that we live according to wisdom, okay, the better testimony that gets put out there for Christ and everybody wins in the end. And so what he's simply saying here in Verse 5, servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, not according to the flesh and spirit, okay. So again, this goes back to the same old thing. If your employer is asking you to do something that is unbiblical, you're well within your rights to say, guess what, pal, I'm not doing it. I will not comply. Not going to do it, okay. But if you want me to sweep the floor and that's not my job description, you want me to go wash your car, that's not my job description, sure, I'll do it, okay. It doesn't matter, okay. If you want to be a good employee, just do what you're told. That's it. Do what you're told and also do this, okay. Be that type of person that can go to work and understand the vision, understand what your company really wants, okay. Be able to look and say, oh wow, that needs to be done and take initiative and go and do that, okay. That's the type of people that God wants us to become. That not only displays wisdom to your boss, it also makes God happy and of course, that's what we all want to do and by the way, that is how you get promoted. That is how you get lifted up in the ranks. Because think about it, you're already at a disadvantage because of what you believe. More than likely, you're at a disadvantage, you've got issues, you've got problems because you believe this, you go to Shield of Faith Baptist Church, whatever the case is and it's like, okay, you know, they've got their eye on you, they've got you under the gun, so on and so forth. So when you live in wisdom and you start to apply these things, then guess what? You're going to be able to be successful, you're going to be able to be put out in front of other people because the chances are also your boss is going to have their favorites because they go to the bars with them, they go to the clubs, they're part of the inner circle, okay. You can circumvent that by living your life according to wisdom. So let's move on. Hold on. Sorry about that. I had a quick commercial break. So let's get back to this here. Verse number, where are we at here? Verse number five. Okay, look at the last part of that verse there. It says, with fear and trembling, okay, fear and trembling. Remember, we want to live our lives fearing the Lord and trembling Lord. What does God think? What is he going to think if I do X, Y, or Z? That's the mindset that you want to have at your place of employment. Then he says, in singleness of heart, okay, meaning not being double minded, meaning you don't want to go to work with like, okay, I'm going to do right as long as my boss is looking, but otherwise I'm going to be talking trash and doing all this other stuff while, you know, they're not observing me. Now look at verse number six. So he says this, not with eye service as men pleasers, but as the servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart. So again, we don't want to be people that are just doing things for eye service, okay, man pleasers. That's the wrong way to behave. You want to do your job as you're doing it directly for the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm telling you, this is how God will be able to trust you with more, more responsibility, more pay, better life for your family. But even if you don't get that stuff, just having a good, clear conscience that you're doing the right thing and you're making God happy. Look, the people around you eventually, they're going to start to get curious. They're going to at least know in their hearts, Hey, this person's different. He's not that typical hypocrite that's down at the life city church or whatever. No, this person actually reads the word of God and actually lives it. Okay. That is what the world is looking for. And God can use that to our advantage to help people get saved. That's how you earn people's trust. That is how you earn people's respect. But when you tell them, you know what, I go to church, this amount of days per week, I give all this money, I do all this stuff. You know, I go feed the homeless, but then at work, you know, you're going to the clubs, you're doing all this crazy stuff. You're partaking in all the gossip and part of the clicks. You're part of the problem. Okay. People look at you and they know there's something wrong and that leaves a bad taste in their mouth and they no longer want any part of that. So verse number seven, he says this with good will doing service as to the Lord and not to men. Okay. Again, I can't tell you how many times in my life this has tremendously helped me because I have worked for some serious, seriously just deranged people, some reprobate type people. Had bosses that are just absolutely terrible and it's like, how in the world am I going to make it? How in the world am I going to get out of this? Okay. The way you do it is by looking at this verse here, doing your job with good will, doing service as to the Lord and not to men. That takes your mind out of the day to day struggles and all of the gossip, all of the problems that he said, she said, all the finger pointing, all the drama. It removes you from that and helps you to focus directly on your task and what you were supposed to be doing. And of course, you know that that just comes with blessings after that. Now look at verse number eight. It says, knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. Now why is that? Well, because God is not a respecter of persons. Okay. So please understand what he's trying to say here. When you read the word of God and you apply the word of God, God will reward you. It's as simple as that. Now it may not be tomorrow. It might not be next week, but it will happen. You will get that reward. You reap what you sow. That's what the Bible teaches. So look at verse number eight. One more time. Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. So again, it doesn't matter. Verse nine, and ye masters do the same things unto them forbearing threatening, knowing that your master also is in heaven. Neither is there respect of persons with him. So there's always a temptation for people in charge to want to threaten to get the job done. If you've ever had a job at some point in time, you've probably experienced this. This is what we would maybe call toxic leadership, where you have a boss and he's got all this stuff that he wants done because either his boss is telling him that or because he just wants to make his boss think, oh wow, my manager's doing really great. Wow, he's really on top of things. Well, when people don't have the social skills and they don't have the leadership skills, what they'll often resort to is threatening. Like if you don't do this, I'm going to do this. I'm going to write you up. I'm going to say all these things. And God's like, hey, look, if you're a believer, you shouldn't be acting like that. Don't be threatening your employees because God's not doing that to you on a daily basis, right? You need to learn to trust people. And of course we're going to come back in a couple months and do a whole thing on leadership. I've been planning it for a long time, but we'll come back and really dig in to that verse. So again, there's your first nine verses, just real quick introduction. And it's kind of the outro of chapter number five on how to be in Christ and what that means. Okay. So now let's get moving here to the next part of the chapter, verse 10. By the way, sorry about, about that. We get a lot of threats. And so when I hear voices and commotions, I'm like, oh, it's time to go, but no big deal. So let's move on here. Verse number 10. So Paul says this finally. Okay. So you can tell he's been wanting to get into this. Okay. The final thoughts here, final bit of information that we really need to learn here. And what you're going to see is the importance, like I said earlier, of joining your learning with application. Okay. You're going to see that when you join these two together, it's not just for you in the here and now, but it transcends what we see as physical reality. And it goes into the spiritual realm. Okay. So he says this, finally, my brethren be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Okay. Now keep your place here in Ephesians and go forward in your new Testament to first Thessalonians chapter number one, first Thessalonians chapter number one. Okay. Cause we want to know what Paul's talking about. Cause he says, finally, my brethren be strong in Lord and in the power of his might. What does that look like and what does that actually mean? Well, first of all, the Bible says this, and this is what Solomon said. He said for where the, where the word of a King is, there is power. Okay. Well, we know that Jesus is our King. The Bible says that he is the word of God. So I think you know where I'm going with this. Okay. If you want to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might, like Paul saying here, you have got to beef up your intake of the word of God of the Bible. Okay. First Thessalonians chapter one, look at verse number five. He says this. So same, same author here, the apostle Paul writing to the churches in Thessalonica. He says this for our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. Okay. So what is he saying here? Okay. Our gospel. Okay. Now the dispensational is look at this and they say, well, see, Paul had a different gospel than Peter did. Peter had a gospel for just the Jews and his gospel is just for the Gentiles. No, it's the same gospel. Okay. What's the gospel? Good news. Guess what? You don't have to work for your sins or work for your salvation. It's a free gift. It's always been a free gift. Okay. But he says our gospel came not unto you in word only. Okay. Not just word. So he's not downplaying the word. He's saying it didn't come to you in word only, but also in power. Okay. Now how is that? How is that possible? And in the Holy Ghost and in look at this much assurance. This is the problem that we have today with modern Christianity. They do not come to you with the word. Okay. In power with the Holy Ghost. Okay. I'm sorry, but it is what it is. That is the honest truth. And we talked about this last week about being filled with the Holy Ghost. Okay. If I fill up this cup, is there going to be any more room for anything else? The answer is no. The less world that you have in you, the more Holy Ghost you're going to be able to get and put inside of you and the more power you're going to get. Okay. And the more you're going to be effective for the kingdom of God. That's what he's talking about here. So he says for our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost. Okay. It's so funny. Yeah. And I always bring this up. Okay. People say, oh, I believe that God spoke everything that you see here into existence, but I just don't believe he was powerful enough to preserve his word. Okay. Man corrupted it. And then, and therefore we can just do whatever we want because none of us know what the truth is and we're just going to have to sort it out in heaven. Yeah. You wish. You wish that was the truth. That's what, see, that's what people wish. They wish that was true because that lets them go in their minds from the obligation that we have being the children of God. Okay. Because God has standards and he has a mission for his children and that mission is that you would be strong in the power of his might. And the way that you do that is by joining what you learn and your application. Okay. You take what you learn, which is knowledge and remember what Paul said about knowledge. He said, knowledge puffeth up. Okay. So if you get too much knowledge, you're going to get prideful. You're going to get arrogant. However, if you take that knowledge, you take the stuff that you're learning and this is applicable across the board. You take what you learn, you apply it. You're going to make mistakes and those mistakes will humble you. But in that process, you're going to learn so much more about everything that you're doing, whether it's Bible reading or whether it's your job at work. Okay. And that's going to keep you grounded. And when you merge those two together, you then become powerful. Okay. Because we're indwelt with the Holy Ghost. And when Paul tells us to start thinking a certain way, to start acting a certain way and we start to do that. Okay. It produces results. That's the only option that it has to produce results. Okay. So for our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance. See, this is what I love about being a Christian that just believes the Bible. Okay. Because we have this assurance. You know, when somebody asks you, Hey, if you were to die today, are you a hundred percent sure you're going to heaven? You're like, yes, because the Bible says so. I got saved. I'm born again. It's forever. Once saved, always saved. Right? You've got this assurance. You've got the assurance that God has the power to preserve his word. You have the assurance that God has the capability to help you out no matter what you're going through in life, no matter how hard that it is, God can help you. You have that assurance. These other so-called Christians, they don't have that. They have a bunch of maybes. They have a bunch of scholars and theologians that they go to and you know, Oh, you know, they dug this truth up. So who knows in the future, it might be this. And all you're left with is doubts. It's like yesterday, brother Evan and I knocked on this lady's door. She goes to this Calvary church on Franklin. Okay. And this happens all the time with Calvary church. And we're like, Hey, you know, do you go to church around here? Yeah, I've been going to Calvary for a year. It's like, okay, great. Hey, if you were to die today, are you a hundred percent sure you'd go to heaven? I don't think so. I have no idea. They've got no clue. What are they teaching over there? What are they doing over there? It's absolutely assert absurd. You know why they don't know? Because they have so-called preachers that don't have power that aren't filled with the Holy ghost. And to be quite frank with you, they're not saved. Okay. And that's why, but going back to the text here, okay. Your goal is to take knowledge and application and to merge them. That's how the Holy ghost uses you. Now look at verse six. He shows you the results. Look at this. And ye became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word and much affliction with joy of the Holy ghost. Okay. So again, eventually it produces results. You saying, Hey, I'm going to take this, apply it to my life. I'm going to live this out. Okay. The Holy ghost will yield results. It just, it's just, what's going to happen now. Go forward in your new Testament again to the book of Hebrews real quick, the book of Hebrews, go to Hebrews chapter number one, Hebrews chapter number one. Look at verse number one of Hebrews chapter number one. So it says God who at sundry times, meaning in different ways or different times, God who at sundry times and in diverse manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days spoken to us by his son. Very important. Okay. Look at that. Look at that again. Verse two hath in these last days spoken, meaning one time past tense, spoken unto us by his son. We know that is Jesus Christ whom he hath appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the world. Okay. If that doesn't communicate to you the fact that God's preserved his word, then I really don't know what would look at verse three, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding all things. And here it is by the word of his power. You cannot as a Christian get around this doctrine that the word of God is what gives power. Okay. The Bible is different than any other book in the world. This is a living book and it's referenced in another place that this is the engrafted word. Meaning when you go out and you preach this, this becomes alive in someone else when they receive it. Okay. What other book does that? You're going to be able to go knock on someone's door with a Hobbit or with, you know, um, any of these other books and convert them and it's going to be grafted. No. Okay. Only the Bible. You say, Oh, but what about the Quran and all these other holy books? We had some clown today, um, bring that up to us and it's like the Quran is a joke. I've got a sheet over here on the table. Okay. The Quran is made up of all these surahs or verses and guess what? There's no continuity of thought throughout the entire book. It's complete robbery. Mohammed was a pedophile. Mohammed was rejected by Christians during his time. So he figured, you know what? I'm going to go ahead and contact the spiritual realm and get myself my own religion. And he became successful and he is burning in hell today. Okay. They teach that Jesus Christ is not the son of God. That is blasphemy. That is anti Christ. That is so wrong. And God does not look down and give them a pass because they're more friendly towards Christ than the Jews are. Okay. That is ridiculous. That is absolutely absurd. But let me get back on track here and Hebrews chapter one. What is Paul saying? Paul is saying here, and this is a complicated verse. I don't have time to really dig it out, but he's simply saying, guess what? If you want to be strong in the Lord and the power of his might, you're going to get that only from the Bible, from the word of God. Now go back to Ephesians chapter six. So again, with that in mind, look at verse 10. Finally, my brethren be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Okay. So again, be strong in the Lord. You do that by learning the Bible, by applying the Bible. Now look at verse number 11. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Now what are wiles? Who's ever heard of Wile Coyote? Okay. Right. Yeah. Wile Coyote. Okay. He was always up to what? His little crooked schemes, his tricks, his deceptions. Okay. Well, that's what the devil is up to. Obviously you'd rather spend your time with Wile Coyote than the devil any day. Okay. But what we're being taught here is that the devil has, um, just a plethora. Okay. Just, just, uh, a whole host of different tricks, deceptions, and tools that he uses to not only blind the world, but to hinder Christians. Right. He would love nothing more than to tie your hands spiritually behind your back so that you can not be effective in the kingdom of God. One of the ways he does that is by getting you and I wrapped up into world place drama, workplace drama, family drama. I mean, just take your pick. Okay. You start getting really wrapped up into that stuff and your effectiveness in the kingdom of God is going to just keep going down, down, down, down, down until you are out of the game. Paul saying, Hey, the way out of this is to seek strength. You get strength from the Bible. You get strength from the word of God. You get strength by merging learning and application together. That is what the Holy Ghost uses to further the kingdom of God. So he says, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand or to stand against the wiles of the devil. Now look at verse number 12. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood. Now pay attention to these next four againsts. Okay. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood. Very important for us to understand. If you want to be the type of person that grows thick skin and you don't get offended, pay attention. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against number one, principalities. Number two, against powers. Number three, against the rulers of the darkness of this world. Again, spiritual wickedness. This is number four in high places. Okay, so let's break this down here. So I titled this sermon, the panorama view of the spirit world. And basically what that means, it's an unbroken view surrounding the observer. Okay. And we get kind of a, what we're going to do is we're going to get kind of a panoramic view of what happens in the spirit world. It's not a whole lot of description in the Bible, but there's definitely enough in the Bible to, to answer your questions and to hopefully help you see the urgency that's out there and why he's trying so hard to get us to merge what you learn in the Bible and your application of those things. So let's talk about this real quick. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood. Okay. Cause our natural tendency is to be like, Oh, this person's a punk. Doesn't like me. You know, if he says this to my work, bam, I'm going to say this, right? You start rehearsing these things. Okay. It helps. It does. And we all do it. I do it. Okay. It really helps when we just sit back and we're like, okay, there's something else at work here. There's something else going on here. So he says, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities. Okay. Keep that word in your mind. Principalities. What's a principality? Well, principality is a state ruled by a prince. Okay. And what he's really referring to, he's not referring to necessarily a country that's ruled by a physical prince, like the prince, you know, a prince over in England or something like that. It's really a demon. Okay. And I'm going to show you that here in a minute. And then he says against powers. Well, there's all sorts of powers in the world today. Some of them we hear about, some of them we don't. Some of them are rumored. Okay. But there's something behind these powers. There's something behind all of these world organizations. And there's something behind the Bill Gates's and the Klaus Schwab's and all these, you know, people that want to take all your rights away. They want to stop you from eating red meat. They want you to take every needle under the sun and they want to block the sun and so on and so forth. They want to start endless wars and cull the population. Okay. There's something behind those people. Okay. And we need to understand that. So he says against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world. So every dark corner of this world, okay, the darkest places that you can find, whether it be in politics, whether it be high up in the music industry where people literally sell their souls to the devil or in the news realm, it doesn't matter. There's something behind those organizations. Okay. And then he says against spiritual wickedness in high places. And of course, this is one of the reasons why you're not going to find God's people making it to the tippy top of these organizations because they're all filled with spiritual wickedness. And you might be thinking, okay, well, what about the country music industry? I guarantee you at the top of the country music industry, there are people sacrificing babies, just, just, just absolute satanic cult-like just things going on. Okay. I don't need to see a video. I don't need to hear their testimonies. I have the word of God. I have what the Bible's telling me here. And it's telling us that there is spiritual wickedness in high places. Okay. It's just something that we have to understand. Now, what most people today are doing is they're saying, okay, what we all got to do is we got to turn people conservative. That's going to solve the problem. We got to get people stop to stop being liberal and to be conservative. And then we'll be able to get our country back. We'll be a force to be reckoned with again and all will be well. Okay. And I'm telling you, that is not the answer that will not help this country. In fact, I personally believe that's not even going to work. Okay. The reason why we are in the situation we're in today in this country is because there are not enough people that are bold in the word of God. There are not enough people that are strong in God's power and might. Okay. That's really what it boils down to. You know, and again, you can go to a lot of different places today. You can start calling church. You can get the phone book out next week. Get the phone book out and just start calling churches. Go to the church section. Okay. Just start calling. Say, hey, you got sodomites in your church? You got pedophiles in your church? Okay. And you will be shocked at how many of them tell you, yes, we do. We support them. We still love them. Okay. Um, you know, we, we just think they're a little bit mixed up, mixed up. The Bible says that those people are reprobate, that those people are destructive, that those people have a reservation in hell. That's what the word of God says. Okay. But because that's not in season today, but because that's not popular today, that's not what's what's being pushed by the media. You have a bunch of scared sissy preachers, a bunch of scared sissy pastors that won't stand up for truth, won't tell it like it is, don't want to lose people, don't want to lose money. And the result is what you're seeing today. God gave America the president that America deserves. That's why Joe Biden's in office today. Okay. It's not because, uh, just solely because of fraud. Okay. It's not because that one of the reasons is because unfortunately Donald Trump is a very prideful individual. And again, I'm not saying that life wouldn't be better if he was in office. It would be, okay. It was when he was in the first time I get that. I understand that. But the fact of the matter is we don't have enough people serving God today. The Bible is crystal clear. We are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. The less of us that are out there communicating that and living that and being strong and bold and the Holy Ghost, the more wickedness pops up and that's, it's so simple. Okay. So the solution to getting this country back, if it's even possible, which I don't think it is, but if we could at all stall, if we could at all go forward, it's getting people saved because every time you get somebody saved, every time somebody calls upon the name of the Lord for salvation, that's one more person that will never become a reprobate. That's one more person that isn't going to fall necessarily for the hard tricks of the world. Okay. They're, they're teachable. You can teach them things. They can receive the word of God. Okay. So the more people we get saved, the more truth we can get out there, the more salt and the more light we can bring into this world. And that's really the battle that we have going on today. Okay. So what I want to do is I just want to kind of give you a glimpse into the spiritual world and kind of how this works a little bit. So go to Daniel chapter 10, go back in your Bibles, go to Daniel chapter number 10, Daniel chapter number 10. All right. Daniel chapter number 10. So I told you this morning, I think a good thing for us to do is to make sure that we have read the whole book of Daniel, because there are a lot of hard sayings here, but in Daniel chapter number 10, Daniel receives a vision and he really wants to understand from God what this vision means. So let's pick it up here in verse number one, it says this in the third year of Cyrus, King of Persia, a thing was revealed unto Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar. And the thing was true, but the time appointed was long. And he understood the thing and had understanding of the vision. And again, that would take more time than I have to really kind of pull out and break down. But basically what's going on here, he's got a vision. It's for a, it covers a long period of time and he's confused. He's kind of like, okay, I really want to get down to the nuts and bolts of what this thing means. Okay. And the Bible's telling you that he does get his, his understanding. But look at verse two, in those days, I Daniel was mourning three full weeks. Okay. Remember that three full weeks. He's mourning 21 days. Okay. Three full weeks. Look at how he did this in verse three. I ate no pleasant bread. Neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth. Neither did I anoint myself at all till three whole weeks were fulfilled. Verse four. And in the four and 20th day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, which is Hadekul, then verse five, I lifted up mine eyes and looked and behold, a certain man clothed in linen whose loins were girded with the fine gold of Uphaz. Okay. So he sees this certain man and he's just dressed like nothing he's ever seen before. Okay. He's got, there's this gold, he's girded with this fine gold garment. Look at verse six. His body was like the barrel. It's like this stone, just, just rock solid. And his face as the appearance of lightning and his eyes as lamps of fire and his arms and his feet, like in color to polished brass and the voice of his words, like the voice of a multitude. Some of you might be thinking, what diet was this guy on here? I want to get on that diet. That's the kind of health I need. Okay. And I'm with you. Look at verse seven. And I Daniel alone saw the vision for the men that were with me saw not the vision, but a great quaking fell on them so that they fled to hide themselves. Verse eight. Therefore I was left alone and saw this great vision and the remain no strength in me for my comeliness was turned into me or turned in me into corruption. And I retained no strength. And sometimes, you know, when you and I get bad news or, or maybe just 80 kind of news, we can feel like this. Okay. The world can sap your strength, your physical strength. Like, you know, if you're, let's say you're an introvert, for example, and you just spend a lot of time around people, I bet at the end of the day, you feel like garbage. Like, man, I need to take a nap. This is just intense. Okay. Imagine that, but multiplied times 10. That's how Daniel's feeling by this vision. He's got no physical strength left. He wants to know what's going on. What am I looking at here? Why is this happening to me? Verse nine. Yet heard I the voice of his words. And when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face and my face toward the ground. Okay. So he just went down. Daniel's out. He's tapped out here, but he could still recall this cause he's writing this after this happened. Verse 10 and behold and hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands in verse 11. And he said unto me, Oh, Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee and stand upright for unto thee am I now sent. You know what I think of when I read that? I think of that assurance that we get from reading the Bible. Okay. I think of the assurance that God has promised us in regards to his word. We can stand on our feet. We can receive strength no matter what life or the devil throws at us because we serve the awesome God. Okay. And we have this kind of help. Now look at verse number, uh, verse number 12. Actually look at verse 11. I'm sorry. And he said unto me, Oh, Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee and stand upright for unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling. Okay. So he's definitely trembling here. Okay. This is not a normal experience, but what's going on here is he is, he's having an interaction with an angel. So, um, you know, of course that would take it out of any of us. Look at verse 12 then said he unto me, fear not Daniel for from the first day the Dow did set thine heart to understand and to chase in thyself before thy God, thy words were heard and I am come for thy words. Okay. How long was Daniel fasting and chasing himself? 21 days, three weeks. Okay. But the Bible tells us from the first day he set his heart to do this case. He calls, he asks God, I need understanding. I need help in this and here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to humble myself. I'm going to fast. I'm going to, you know, restrict, I'm going to withhold these, these certain things from me. Okay. The moment he does that, God sends help. Again, I mentioned this this morning. The Bible says that angels are the ministers to those who inherit eternal life. Okay. So in the spiritual realm, when you pray for something, keep in mind, okay, there is a spiritual battle going on and a lot of times that could be why you don't get your answer for 21 days or for three months or so on and so forth, which is why it's important to put those things on the prayer list and to be persistent with it. Okay. Because we cannot physically see inside of the spiritual world, but reading accounts like this, we can now understand, oh, it could be something in this regards. It could be a Daniel type situation. Okay. The forces of darkness are fighting the forces of good. So let's read this verse one more time. Then said he unto me, fear not Daniel for from the first day that thou did set thy heart to understand and to chasten thyself before thy God. Thy words were heard and I am come for thy words, but something happened here. Okay. So really, Daniel was supposed to get this answer on day one. Okay. That Gabriel should have come, should have been able to come right there, but something hindered him. Something stopped this angel. Think about the description of this guy, his eyes, his face, like, what does it say? Like lightning. Okay. Yeah. It says that his faces that had the appearances as of lightning, his feet are like the color of brass. I mean, just this specimen of a, of a creature here. Okay. This angel. Okay. And something stops this guy. Something slows this down. This guy down from helping Daniel. Look at verse 13. But, and here it is, the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and 20 days. Okay. So you say, why did it take three weeks? Why did it take 21 days? Because of this prince, this prince here. And again, this isn't Prince Charles. This isn't Prince Charming. Okay. This isn't anything like it. This is a demonic spirit here. Okay. So what else can we glean from this? Well, apparently the countries or the nations of the world at any given time could have and do okay. And that's really what we're learning in Ephesians six, have a prince over them. Okay. Because you got to ask yourself, like, how in the world is it today? America, 2023, you have a president pushing and a cabinet of his people pushing this gender neutral language. Okay. Well, how is it that we live in a country now where people actually want to pass laws to get us fine for calling a boy, a boy, a man, a man, and a girl, a girl, and a woman, a woman. How is that? You say, well, it must be a dumb Prince, a dumb, dumb spirit. No, I think it's a smart one. They picked a bunch of dumb people that were willing to follow it or something like that. Okay. But really that's what it boils down to. What's behind the top. Okay. You take our politicians, what's behind them. What is driving them is like this prince here. Okay. So he says, but the prince verse 13, but the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and 20 days. Okay. So this prince here, he don't want Gabriel coming in and getting Daniel strength and understanding. And guess what? It's the same thing today. The devil's minions do not want you learning and applying the Bible and merging these two because he knows you are the kingdom of God. You have the Holy ghost inside of you. And when you merge those two, that is a deadly, listen to me, that is a deadly combination in the spiritual realm. Rest of the verse lo Michael, one of the chief princes. Okay. So this is a good Prince. Okay. This is a good ruler. Michael is one that helps out the body of Christ here. He says, Michael, one of the chief princes came to help me and I remained there with the Kings of Persia. Okay. Now, how about that for a glimpse into the spiritual realm? How's that for a panoramic view? Okay. I mean, how much of this stuff is going on at any given moment? Okay. It's gotta be mind blowing. I bet if you were to, if God were to open up your eyes for maybe a minute and you could just see the demonic activity around you in this city, in this country, it would, you know what? You'd fall flat on your face. You'd be done for. Okay. Absolutely. It would be very hard for you to physically take that, which is why we get the information we get. We get and no more. Verse 14. Now I am come to make thee understand, which shall befall thy people in the latter days for yet the vision is for many days. Jump down to verse 20. Look what it says. Then said he, knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? And now will I return to fight with the Prince of Persia. So Gabriel's like, Hey, this isn't over here. Okay. Michael came to help me out. I got to you, Daniel. He gives Daniel the understanding that he needs to have. And then he tells Daniel, guess what? I'm going back and I'm going to go, I'm going to go contend with this guy here. We've got some unfinished business to do, to deal with here. So he says, I will return and fight to fight with the Prince of Persia. And when I am gone forth, lo, the Prince, here it is again, the Prince of Grecia shall come. Okay. So again, understand what's going on during Daniel's day. Okay. The Babylonian empire, they obviously had a Prince. The Babylonians fell. The Medo Persian empire is now the empire during this time that is ruling the entire world. And of course they have their own demons. They have their chief prince that is basically, you know, getting involved with the Kings and politics and commerce and all of these different things. And Gabriel is giving Daniel some insight on his vision and he's saying, Hey, there's another world empire coming. Okay. And it's the Grecians. So the Greeks are going to come over and they have a prince and we're going to have to do this all over again. And this is just going to be a continuous fight because then after that the Romans are going to come in and so on and so forth. And of course we know that the fourth kingdom or the fourth beast is going to be the Antichrist. We know that he has the chief prince who we'll talk about here in a second, which is Satan himself. Look at verse 21. But I will show thee that which is noted, again, look at this next phrase, in the scripture of truth. And there is none that holdeth with me and these things but Michael, your prince. You know what Gabriel is telling Daniel? That the scripture is truth. And guess what? Daniel didn't have the original manuscripts here. In fact, Daniel, I think it's chapter, I forgot what chapter it is because I'm kind of just got a lot going through my mind, but he basically talks about reading Jeremiah. Okay. Guess what? He didn't have the original copies of Jeremiah. God's word is allowed to be copied and copied and copied. And guess what? God is part of that process. God allows that to happen because again, he is all powerful. He is all knowing. So don't listen to these people that say, oh, the word of God is lost because man corrupted it. Man has tried to corrupt it, but God always keeps his truth out there. You just got to know where to look for it. So again, verse 21, he says, but I will show thee that which is noted and the scripture of truth. That means, look, this is coming from an angel in heaven. Okay. Which by the way, the Bible is very clear that says that the word of God is settled in heaven. So if you ever want an original manuscript, you ever want the original copy, you're going to have to go to heaven to see it. Okay. So again, this angel comes down and says, hey, I will show thee what is noted in the scripture of truth. Okay. That's the type of attitude you need to have. Because again, most churches today, they don't say, let me show you what's noted in the scripture of truth. They say, well, in the original languages, it says this, you know, in the original manuscripts, the last part of Mark chapter 16 is not in there. In first John chapter five, verse seven is not in there. So we're just going to go and skip that. Okay. That's garbage. That's trash. That's why most of Christianity today is horrible. Okay. Then he says there are none or there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael, your prince. So it sounds like Michael and Gabriel right now are very busy and very active. Okay. And have a lot of fighting to do in Daniel's day. And obviously it's the same thing today. Okay. Because the Bible says that the angels desire to look into the gospel and to look into the manifold wisdom of God. That's what Paul talked about in Ephesians chapter number three. So enough of that, let's go back to Ephesians chapter number six. Okay. So hopefully that's just a kind of a snapshot view, a good panoramic view of what happens in the spiritual realm. Okay. When you have prayers in your life and you call out to God, okay, there is help in the spiritual world. And when you desire understanding and true wisdom, you need to expect some resistance, some, some spiritual resistance, and you need to be ready for that. Now, while you're going back to Ephesians chapter number six, I want to read for you just three quick verses. You don't have to turn there, but I want to read three quick verses out of the gospel of John describing Satan. And I want you to hear this language here. So again, I'm just going to read these off to you. Okay. John chapter 12, verse 31 says, now is the judgment of this world. So this is Jesus speaking here. Now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. Okay. John 14, 30 here after I will not talk much with you for the prince of this world cometh and he has nothing in me. John 16, 11 of judgment, talking about the Holy Ghost and how he's going to reprove the world. He says of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. Okay. So obviously we are actively contending with the prince of this world and the prince of this world has princes underneath him. Okay. And he obviously assigns them as head of state or heads of state nations and things of that nature. There is a prince of the United States of America. There is a prince probably of the EU and so on and so forth in whatever, you know, nations kind of merge in the future and become whatever there will be a prince assigned to them as well. Because the Bible says that the devil in Ephesians two is the prince of the power of the air. Okay. So hopefully that kind of makes sense. And just another side note here about the prince of the power of the air. What did Jesus say about the devil? He said, thou savor not the things that be of God, but the things that be of man. So the devil savor, okay, he loves to look into the things of man. What does that mean? Well, that means that Satan himself is not a Satanist. The devil, believe it or not, is actually a humanist. Okay. And I'm just throwing that out there so that you can have some discernment. So when you start hearing and seeing people focus too much on what man can do, you know, you're part of the wrong group. Okay. Because people will contact us all the time. You got to get part of, you got to be part of this Idaho, you know, Republican foundation. And we want you to come speak. I'm like, if you really look me up, you're not going to want me to come speak, but whatever, you know, and with your help, you know, we can really turn Idaho around. I don't want any part of it. I'm not trying to be rude. I'll talk to you all day long. We can be, you know, cool. We can be acquaintances, whatever. My job is to follow the wisdom in this book here. Okay. And the way that we fight in the spiritual world is by what? Emerging what we learn with our application, because we have the Holy Ghost and that becomes the powerhouse that God uses to preserve the earth. So the more people we can get saved, the more people we can get trained up, the better this world will be. As hard as that is to believe, that is just the way that it is. That is how you fight spiritual wickedness. Be strong in the power of the Lord and in his might. So let's move on here. Cause we're getting close to being out of time. Look at verse 13. This is wherefore taken to you, the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, having done all to stand. So again, there are times when an evil day will come for us. And what we have to do is to make sure that we are ready before that day shows up. Okay. Verse 14, stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth. So there is truth. Stay away from these people that tell you, Oh, there's truth, but it was lost, but it was corrupted. That's not what this is teaching you. Okay. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth and having on the breastplate of righteousness. Remember the Bible says there's none righteous. No, not one. So how do you get righteousness? By calling on the Lord. He gives it to you. He imputes it to you. He puts it on you. Verse 15 and your feet shod, meaning covered, okay? Clothed. Your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. And that's what soul winning is all about. It's about preparing ourselves and looking at the verses that we want to use and using our feet to go out and to preach the word of God. You know, this guy today was like, you know, I hope you know why you're doing this. You know, do you really understand why you're here and doing these things? Because I've been a part of church since I was 17 and I fell away and then I fell away again and I'm drunk right now and blah, blah, blah. And it's just like, the Bible says he that win the souls is wise and the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. I mean, it's that simple. And what does Paul sing here? Have your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. That's your mission, right? The church has a two fold mission. It's very simple. Evangelize the lost and edify one another. That's our mission, okay? That's as simple as we can break it down. And if we do that, guess what? We're putting on the whole armor of God and there's not much that's going to be able to take us down. Verse 16. And then he says this, and this is where we get the name of our church. Above all, taking the shield of faith wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, okay? So again, having the whole armor of God, studying the word, merging your learning with your application, you have the Holy Ghost, okay? That is how we shield these darts. Understand whether you are prepared or not, these darts are coming for you. You cannot have it any other way, okay? But what separates the broken Christian from the Christian that's able to repel these is how much he has studied and applied the word of God, okay? So verse 17, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is what? What's the sword of the spirit? The word of God, okay? Which is the word of God. Verse 18, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit. It's not talking about rolling around on the floor and flopping like a fish, okay? Don't even get me started on that right now. Praying in the spirit as opposed to praying in the flesh, okay? Praying in the new man as, you know, God, please give me that jet ski. No, that's praying in the flesh. Whereas, you know, praying for each other, each other's needs, that's praying in the spirit, okay? Because that's the mind of Christ when you put other people's needs above your own. Watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. Again, I cannot stress this enough how important it is for you and I to have this edification type spirit. To always be thinking of other people, other believers. Hey, how are you doing? How can I help you? What can I do for you, okay? That is how we build this thing up. Verse 19, and for me that utterance may be given unto me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. This is the apostle Paul saying that, okay? The guy who is just an absolute wrecking ball for Christianity. I mean, this guy, I mean, Paul, like two-thirds of the New Testament is written about Paul and his achievements and what he's done, okay? And look at his humble attitude here. Though he's in prison, what does he do? He say, hey, don't forget to pray for me that utterance may be given to me that I may be able to explain the gospel, the mystery of the gospel to other people. Verse 20, for which I am an ambassador in bonds that therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. And so what I want everybody in here to understand is to adopt this mindset that you've never arrived, okay? Always have this mindset because Paul had this mindset. I don't care if you read the Bible 30 times, 40 times, hey, be humble about it and be like Paul. You know, I don't care if you've given the gospel to 10,000 people, okay? Don't ever think you're better than somebody else because the moment you do, you will fall. And I've seen that more times than I care to admit. We're almost done. Look at verse 21. Let's take a look at the concluding words here. He says, but that ye also may know my affairs and how I do. Tychias, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord shall make known to you all things whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose that you might know our affairs and that he might comfort your hearts. This is where I'm terrible, okay? So like I'll go a long period of time without talking to Pastor Thompson and some of my other pastor friends. And it's because I work, you know, obviously outside of here and I get so focused on what I'm doing that a lot of times I don't even, you know, like all this stuff has happened and Pastor Thompson will go, oh, did you hear about those? I'm like, what? No. You know, and I feel like a horrible friend. It's something I need to work on, okay? It is kind of what Paul's bringing up here. You know, he's like, hey, you know, let people know how you're doing and ask other people how they're doing, okay? Let's stay connected here because we are all that we have, okay? We're all that each other has. The world will just leave you in the dark. The world will burn you, okay? Verse 23, he says this. He says, peace be to the brethren and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen. Okay? So to answer the question, do all dogs go to heaven? Does Jesus just love every single person on earth at any given time despite what they believe? The answer is no, okay? The answer is no. Why does Paul say this? Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Meaning in truth, in honesty, as opposed to in vain. A lot of people that tell you they love Jesus, they love him in vain. That's what you need to have discernment for and recognize, okay? And understand in hopes that you can help that person and bring that person around so that you can correct them and get them involved into the fight. Now I purposely didn't spend a lot of time on the verse that our church got its name from because I want to do that in February when we have our five-year anniversary. So with that being said, we're done with Ephesians. We're going to start something else next week. I think it was Kayden, Josh and Evan. We're going to preach out of Joshua for the rest of the year so I can take the night off. So that's great. Thanks guys for volunteering for that. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. We're leaving the church. Just teasing, just teasing. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you so much Lord for this church and for everything that you do for us Lord. And thank you so much Lord for preserving these things that we may be able to learn doctrine and the importance of how to apply it to our lives and really the implication it has on the spiritual world. Lord please help these things settle with us and help us to not ever forget them and teach them to others. And I pray you bless the fellowship after the service. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.