Adversary, Armour, Activity

I think one of the additional points of that title used in the Book of Acts, and Acts is a, when you come to the epistles, they're private letters, right? They're letters that are written to churches, to a community of believers. When you come to the Book of Acts, it's a book of publicity. It's a book where you see life in that first century.

And when that, one of the additional things, not to take away to add, I'd actually agree with what my brother's been saying, and using that title, Jesus of Nazareth, is to point out that the one that they despised and rejected is the Lord of Glory. And so as that goes forth, we are reminded, especially from the Book of Acts, that we are in a conflict. That the world that we were once part of in our lost condition, that is haters of God, that are enemies of God, now we have switched sides.

We have been made now to be on the other side, as it were. And there is this conflict. And that is exactly what I want to speak on.

So turn with me to Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 6, our brother Gordon this morning mentioned, I think it was, I think it did, I think it was him in his worship, that the Lord Jesus was the greatest servant that ever lived. That is true. Nobody like him, in so many things, in everything.

But he was also, in a very real way, and I say this reverently, he was the greatest soldier that ever lived, too. When you think of soldiers, you think of Joshua, comes to your mind. There's nobody like Joshua, right? And he had such an impact and an influence.

But even Joshua was a little bit misled at one point, I think with the Gibeonites, right? And so they come with their fake clothing and their moldy bread, and he was deceived, right? And it affected, not only himself, but the people that he was with. So even Joshua, as a great soldier, but when it comes to the Lord Jesus, never, never could be, never fail. And not only that, but what we are told in the word of God, is we are literally pointed to him in so many ways as that supreme example.

How he went against Satan, when Satan came against him. How he stood his ground. And so thinking of that, keeping that in mind, as we come to this passage, that the Lord Jesus did not say to the devil, when the devil came against him, saying, you know, do you know who I am? Do you know you can't defeat me? One of our brethren said this morning, I've said it, I love to hear it when you said it, that he is not only undefiled, he is undefilable.

That is a wonderful truth. And when it comes to that, I was thinking, the Lord Jesus didn't say to Satan, you know, you can't defeat me. Do you know who I am? Do you know? No, what he did was he gave us the grounds as the fully dependent man on his God.

It is written. It stands written. That is really what he was saying to Satan.

It stands written. Now, keeping that in mind, it stands written. We're going to wed that, at least the Spirit of God is going to wed that, in Ephesians 6, with a believer who stands.

And three times in this passage, we're going to read that expression about standing. So Ephesians 6 and verse 10. And what is also significant, and I'm a firm believer, brethren, especially younger ones, when you study your Bible, do not take the passage out of the context.

Leave it in the context. Because what precedes this is addressing believers in their family situations, domestically, marriages, husbands, wives, children. And so he brings them into that domestic sphere of submission and obedience to God.

And then he moves it into this arena of conflict. That's significant. So he says in verse 10, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord.

In the Lord. Lordship. It's not in Christ, it's in the Lord.

Always look for that expression, the distinction of title between Christ and the Lord. Very often when we read the expression of being in Christ, it is a positional truth. When it comes to in the Lord, it is practical.

And so he says, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord. Not in your own strength, but in the Lord. And in the power of his might, not your might, not your intellect, him.

So there's a soldier here that is dependent on his superiors. He is under the authority of one who is his captain, and he fights in that awareness. In the power of his might.

Put on the whole armor of God. That you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood.

He's comparing and contrasting to the arenas of athletic games and of wrestling contests. And he says, that's not the wrestling we do. He says, but we wrestle, we fight, we war against principalities, against powers, against the rulers, he says, of the darkness of this age.

Against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God. That you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand.

Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth. Notice that's the first thing, truth. And having on the breastplate of righteousness and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

And above all, taking the shield of faith wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation. Now that is, that's not the gospel there.

The helmet of salvation. It's interesting, that is, there's only two times in our Bible, in our New Testament, where the word salvation is literally used as an adjective. And that's one of them.

So if we could translate it maybe a little differently, we would translate it this way. Take the helmet of the salvation bringing. In other words, it will preserve you, your thinking, your ability to war effectively, to fight.

You will now be able, he brings before them the wiles of the devil. Remember Paul says, we are not ignorant of his devices. And he's saying to the believers, don't you be.

Put on the helmet of salvation. What is the one thing over and over again that Paul reminds us and warns us through the spirit of God to guard against? Our minds. You ever, what kind of a soldier would he be who goes into battle like that, right? You can't, you wouldn't be able to fight too well, right? You'd be easily defeated.

A thinking soldier, a soldier who's able to discern, to effectively assess the situation and know the enemy. And so keep that in mind, he says, the salvation bringing. He says, take the helmet of salvation, which is the sword of the spirit.

How do we do that? How do we know our enemy? How do we know what to do? How do we know how to fight effectively? Through the use of the word of God. Now, this is not the word logos. This is not the idea simply of of knowing the word of God.

You have to know it to be able to do what the spirit of God is telling us to do here. And the word here is Rayma. It's the idea of speaking the word of God of presenting it.

It's it's literally the only offensive piece that we have in this armor and to be able to use it effectively. You have to know how to wield it. I have to know what it is.

And then lastly, he says, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching. Have vigilance soberness watching there unto with all perseverance and supplication interestingly for all saints. And then he narrows it down individually and for me.

Was in 1917 and Aqaba Aqaba seemed impregnable literal Fortress any enemy vessel that was approaching that port of Aqaba would have to face the battery of huge naval guns that were above the town and behind Aqaba in every direction lay barren waterless desert. To the east lay the deadly anvil of the sun the Turks believed Aqaba to be absolutely safe from any attack, but they were wrong. There was a man who led a small army.

His name was Lawrence of Arabia and he led a force of Arab Calvary across the anvil of the sun and he rallied support from the local people and in 1917. The Arab forces swept into Aqaba from the north from the blind side with Lawrence as their head take Gallup past those gigantic naval guns facing out the opposite way. They were completely powerless to stop them.

The guns were facing in the wrong direction Aqaba fell. Why with all that power with all that ability? Because they did not know their enemy. And they did not have the right weapons.

That is not the case here. We are given by the Spirit of God the ability to know our enemy. We are given the right weapons.

We are given what we need exactly to not only defend ourselves, but be able to when needed to go on the offensive. Because the sword of the Spirit the spoken word of God the preached word of God and so we have everything we need. We're here.

We have the belt the breastplate the gospel the shield the helmet the sword everything along with teaching teaching regarding the enemy. So don't miss that. But the point is it's up to us to put them on have them on and use them.

Because if you don't you're going to go down. Ephesians the book of Ephesians is interesting. It has some of the highest truth in our New Testament the Ephesian epistle the truth of the one body the truth of the mystery and so on not some of the greatest truth, but some of the highest truth truth is truth when you go through the book, but it's interesting in chapter 1 he begins with the wonder of all of it and and now Christ as as this new head given to the church and then the future the dispensation that awaits and so on and so forth.

In chapters 2 and 3 we have the workings of this mystery and and so on in chapter 4 and 5. We have the witness to it, but it's interesting that he ends up with warfare in regards to it. Why? Because truth is worth defending and truth will be needed to be fight for fight to be fought for. Are you fighting for the truth? You have have you have have have we bought that truth in the first place.

I didn't even intend to say this and go on this line. Truth is going to cost you. Truth is valuable.

We live in a world where no one knows. What's what the media? We don't know what the media says. Nobody can depend on the media.

Nobody can depend on this David makes it clear. All men are liars. So we live in a world of falsehood and deception and Satan himself is the master of deception.

So truth is valuable. The first thing here. We pointed to is truth.

Do you have it? Do you possess it? Do you live in it? Do you do you fight in it? Do you fight for it? So he's beginning with that and he's ending with that. And then he's telling us not only is this truth defended and fought for but it is fought for at close quarters. It's not something that that that we're, you know, we're on some like, you know, people sometimes I wonder if they handle Assembly Truth like a like a video game, you know, and it's like third-person and they're looking at it and this enemy that's far away and on a screen and all know the truth here is wrestled.

There's conflict. That's it's been fought in close quarters. The enemy isn't going to fight us from far away.

He is going to come close and right in and there are going to be specific days of attack. I think that's what Paul is bringing here before while there is a general attack that does take place. He is reminding us here that you need to stand in the evil day that there will be specific moments of attack and we need to be aware of them.

And if we are not spiritually minded, we will miss the fact. We will dismiss the fact that these attacks that we can face and will face are just bad luck. It's just coincidence.

I just something that happened, you know, no. They are specific attacks by Satan. To bring us down to bring assemblies down to bring.

Why did I import the beginning of this chapter? Because Satan is going to attack a marriage. Satan is going to attack a father, a mother, a family circle. Satan is going to attack an assembly.

Satan is going to attack a saint. And all of these things we need to be very, very, very aware of. And look at through the truth of the word of God.

So he says here. He brings in the world, the flesh, and the devil. And it's interesting that the Bible tells us about I think one of the brother mentioned.

I think it might have been William or so, but the members members. And when you read about the members are members, it's talking about the flesh, but it's interesting. We have another member if I can put it that way that is subject to a dual lines of attack.

And that is our mind. That is our mind. So that the way we think is affected can be affected by the devil himself too.

Putting thoughts into our mind. He can't read our minds. He's not omniscient, but he can put thoughts into our mind.

Thoughts that will that will want to either feed the flesh. Thoughts that will doubt God doubt his faithfulness thoughts that will will disparage the people of God. And so as we're writing this all of these, I want you to think they come together in this short little passage that culminates this very, very important letter of distinctive direct truth.

So I want you to just look at three things. I want you to think of number one the adversary. I want you to think of the armor and I want you to think of the activity in those lines the adversary notice.

He says first when he starts he says the important thing for you to do is to stand three times. He emphasizes that stand stand evil days come and I think we think of that the fact that we're in this country. We're not subject to the same spiritual attacks that maybe countries that are in tremendous darkness space.

We look at countries where idolatry and demon activity is so prevalent powers of darkness. He was writing this to a very big metropolis a very big city of the day a very comparable city to to well, actually way beyond Des Moines. We have to be aware of that.

And so he tells us about the adversary this adversary is beyond anything. We can conceive. I don't want to give him too much press.

Okay, because God is greater and we need to take take courage from that. And I know we know that academically, but please do not dismiss do not reduce Satan to some red costume figure with little horns and a pitchfork. Okay, he is extremely active.

He is extremely intelligent. He is the most intelligent created being in the universe. And this is the adversary that is against you my dear brother or sister.

He is against me. He is tremendously powerful. He is experienced.

I mean Adam created there an absolute perfection the height of creation fresh from the hand of God a mind like a computer able to name every animal and and and handle couldn't handle him. Don't think that you can and he's organized. Now now he can't be he doesn't have the attributes of God.

Okay, so he cannot be omnipresent. But he compensates for that. And so what we're brought before us here is is we he that he speaks about Rose and ranks and regimens of of organized adversarial factors.

That Satan is in command of a tremendously powerful army. He says here. They're powerful.

They're powerful. But what's interesting is this that the word that is used for Satan being powerful the word power. There's a number of words for the word power in our New Testament.

But one of those words one of those words is do not miss and do not miss really means unfettered power. It's it's it's a power that is able to move in with its own agenda with its own release. But that word is not used of Satan the word that is used of Satan is the word exousia.

Okay, and it really literally means that that he's under authority. He can only do so much. So are they powerful? Well, his power is limited.

Remember the book of Job Satan wanted to do a lot. God says you can do this this this and that's it. I'm limiting what you can do.

So there is a limit to what he can do, but he's still very powerful. He's global. There's no country that's off limits to him.

There's no there's no assembly. That's out of bounds. There's no Christian home.

That is that is exempt from his influence. There's no Saint that is beyond his touch. Keep that in mind.

It's it's effects are global. It's not just his it's not just his sphere of ability, but it's also a sphere of authority. He is called the God of this world for a reason and I know that word is age.

But the idea there in that is that he's particularly active in this age. Why? Why is he called the God of this age as opposed to the God of this cosmos this world? Because when Christ left and on the day of Pentecost there was brought into being something that was so absolutely uniquely tremendous. It was the apple of his eye.

It was the very the very wonder of his heart. It's called the church. And while the Lord Jesus says very clearly in Matthew 16, I will build my church.

That's the Universal Church began on the day of Pentecost completed at the rapture. He's I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it yet. Nevertheless, we're told in chapter 18 as you well know that there are things that can decimate a church.

And so he's reminding us of that. He is the God of this age and he is particularly rampant and active in this age. He is evil.

It's absolutely evil. He's absolutely bent now. Now I want to bring this before you for a particular reason because lest you go too far and think that there's a demon hiding behind every rock and everywhere.

Okay, and then you start blaming other things that maybe you shouldn't. There is a difference between being attacked by Satan directly. And then sometimes the effects of the flesh that are that is active in other believers.

I say that very carefully. Because when Satan acts against us. There is absolute evil.

There's pure evil. There's no mixture of motive. He is absolutely bent totally committed to destroying.

He's called in fact the destroyer Abaddon to destroy. Whatever is of God his word and his son. Now believers can do things that are unfortunate.

They can attack other believers. We can do that. We can we can affect assembly testimony.

But sometimes some of the things that believers do. They do because of misunderstanding. They do it because of maybe a lack of sincerity.

They do it because of mixture of motives. With Satan there's no mixture. It's purely unequivocally and absolutely evil.

And the other the last thing about this adversary. Is he subtle? He is subtle. He can ruin.

He tries to ruin things by at least three different things three different areas by doubt. By deception. Or by direct disobedience.

So keeping that in mind about this adversary that is against us. Yes he is mighty. But I like what I love what Paul says at the beginning.

Finally my brethren be strong in the Lord. Is he strong? Be strong in the Lord. He's stronger.

Then he says global. Are these enemies global? It's interesting what Paul is writing as he writes his letters. Whether it's in the palace under guard.

Or whether it's preaching on Mars Hill. Or whether it's there is no place where the power of this gospel. And it's ability to liberate and change lives will become fettered.

He says this is a greater global. This goes beyond global. While Satan is the God of this world.

We are linked with the God of the universe. And that is a great thing to keep in mind. Are they powerful? Well think of the Lord Jesus.

What does he say before he returned back to heaven? All power is given unto me in heaven and earth. And so Satan does and will attack. And yet we can still stand.

Now the one thing is this. It's interesting. One of the words here for stand.

When we contrast that with how the Lord Jesus was attacked. By Satan. We read that Satan bided his time.

Satan's no dummy. I say that reverently. Carefully.

Not flippantly. The word when the Lord Jesus was tempted. I'll use that word.

In the wilderness. It says that after that. It says he departed from him for a season.

Now the idea of that word. Where it says that Satan departed from him for a season. Literally means it's one of the derivatives of this word.

He stood off from. He stood off from. He watched him.

Satan was studying him. That's exactly what he will do with every one of us. He will study you.

He will study me. And he will look for your weaknesses. He will look for your area.

Where that chink in that armor appears. Where that opening for a wedge. Can be seen.

He knows what you want. He knows what drives you. He knows the weak points.

And what is a weak point in you. Might not be a weak point in me. But we all have our weak points.

Maybe it's loneliness. And he will work on a relationship. Maybe it's advancement.

And he will work on taking you away from maybe possibly the assembly. Or where it is. Maybe it's some kind of a driven goal of something.

Maybe it's something. Maybe it's simply acknowledgement. And you feel that you're not acknowledged.

You're not recognized. He will move in that sphere. He will present things that will be used to attack you personally.

And that will be the evil day. So is it any wonder that Paul writes this way? Is there any wonder there's a need for an armor? Because if there was no adversary, there'd be no need for an armor. And so I want you to go now to the armor that protects us.

Because, you know, maybe there's been days when you've been, can I say it this way? You've been flattened. Satan came against you. You weren't ready.

You weren't aware. You weren't into your Bible the way you should be. You weren't praying the way you should be.

And incidentally, he studies that too. He knows that too. So he is going to, you ever watch how a lion attacks? You know, Satan says he's like a lion.

You ever see how a lion attacks a herd of gazelles, antelope? Satan goes after the weaker ones. He goes after the ones maybe that he's watching. That lion just looks.

And he sees one that's maybe a little slower than the others. Maybe one that's aloof and alone from the herd. That is why, brethren, it is so important for fellowship, one thing.

For keeping yourself close with the people of God. Close to God himself first. Close with the people of God.

With the herd. Because he'll look and he'll pick off. You're a complainer.

You're someone who doesn't want to be with the Christians. You're someone who wants to move back. And you want to do your own thing.

And you're this. Satan will see that. And he'll pray on that.

And he'll put thoughts in your mind. And unless you are guarded with the armor, you will not stand. You and I are no match for the devil.

And so, keeping those things in mind. The source of the conflict is Satan, number one. Others may attack, but their motives could be mixed.

Not so with Satan. Notice the source for the conflict is the power of his might. And then this armor.

And so, as we look at this armor, just a few things I'll go through here. And he says this. The idea of this conflict, too, while there are specific evil days, it is continual.

It still is. We are in a war. Battle skirmishes may take place individually, but we are in a war.

The war is ongoing. And so, I just want to ask, what time does this session end? 1230, okay. So, looking at that and keeping that in mind, okay.

The idea is now not only to put the armor on, but to be strengthened in the power of his might. Not our own strength, his might. Spiritual power for spiritual conflict.

And it is to be filled. That's the idea, too. It's the same idea as with the Spirit of God.

Be filled with the Spirit, right. Not just ups and downs, days when you're high, days when you're low. You know, that's another thing that Satan loves.

Yo-yo Christians. Because it's easy. As he watches you, he'll say, okay, they've got four days, and this is a bad day, and this is okay.

I'm going to attack on this day. I'm watching them. I'm studying.

They're so predictable. And he attacks. So, that's why it's important to consistently being filled with the power of his might.

That means submission. That means constant prayer, constant study. And so, there are things that will make us ineffective in the battle.

Worldliness, a tool of the enemy. Satan uses the world to draw away. That's his playground.

Those systems. And in the measure that we are worldly, and we cater and bend to those systems, or the things that interest us, there's some Christians that couldn't even tell you what the world's systems are. And they're unaware.

And there can be even a measure of worldliness about us as we cater to the things that we want, that are not necessarily wrong, but we give ourselves into them. And we become then distracted. That's another thing, when you're distracted.

One thing that bugs me, I love fishing. I was talking to Gordon about fishing. Love fishing.

You know what happens to me all the time? I'm fishing, and I start talking, and I'm talking to someone, and I'm not watching my line, and I'm not watching my tip, and that's when you get the strike. And you're like, oh man, I missed him, because I wasn't paying attention. Well, that's what Satan wants to do to us.

When you're not paying attention, when you're not focused, when you're distracted, the attack comes. So, keeping that in mind. So, I want you to think of the belt, first of all.

He says here, the belt, the girdle. Having done all this is to stand. Having your loins gird about with truth, to stand.

That's the first thing. Study it. Where do you get truth from? Where is the one and only place you can get truth from today? Listen to what the Lord Jesus says.

Thy word is truth. It is the only place in the world that you can come to, and everywhere you look, and anywhere you look, you get absolute truth. And so, the first thing is, having your loins gird about with truth.

A person who lacks conviction on truth is able to be wishy-washy, to go either way, to go every way. He's talking here about, as he says this, study. It's not a matter of opinions.

It's a matter of spiritual facts and truth. Cinch up what was loose. Are there things that maybe you've kind of let go? It's interesting how people can be so strong on certain things at one time, and so weak at another time.

What affects that? Families? Families can affect that. Oh, my children are involved in this. I'm not going to be as strong as I once was when I didn't have children.

Employment. Well, I lost my job, and now I'm willing to do anything. Money.

All different spheres. Truth that maybe we once held, and now we've loosened up. Well, cinch up, cinch up, tighten up.

It's interesting, the girdle. It's called a girdle for a reason. The loins.

Having your loins gird about with truth. And so he says that belt, that girdle. Then he says the breastplate.

The breastplate of righteousness. That's interesting, because what is the breastplate? The breastplate is near your heart. It's over it, right? It covers the vitals.

It covers the seat of your affections, your emotions, right? We can be easily misled by our emotions. Just moved about. And so he says, with righteousness.

Rightness. Righteousness is a right standing before God. It is the rightness of God.

And so righteousness, he says, having the breastplate. Then boots. That's the feet.

Having your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. The preparation. You need to prepare, right? It doesn't just happen.

And these boots, I'm sure most of you know what these pieces of this armor are. You had little points underneath their shoes. Almost like nails, short nails, that would enable that soldier to grip and maintain the environment, the territory, as he was climbing, grappling with the enemy.

One thing you do when you're hiking, you want to have good shoes, right? If you're going up, you don't want to be slipping and sliding on rocks. I think one of our sisters here, not here today, but she was here yesterday, she was climbing on some rocks and she fell and flipped over, broke her finger. Well, if you don't have the right shoes on, you're going to be slip sliding away.

How are your feet shod? You know something else about the feet? It affects your walk. How are you going to walk? The walk is very important to the believer. And so, having our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

Few things so preserve us like the gospel. That's why it breaks my heart when there are assemblies that set aside the gospel. So sad.

And when saints fail to keep spreading the gospel, even on an individual level, that keeps you aware. You're aware. Now, you're more aware than ever.

The more active you are with a gospel mind, with a gospel heart, the more aware you are that you are in a lost world. And there are souls around you that are so distinctively different from you in the sense that they're under the control of an enemy. They're lost.

It's what you once were. Your heart breaks for them. Your prayers go up for them.

Your mouth should be open for them. And so, he's telling, have your feet shod. Be ready to go.

Be ready to move. And don't be moved. When you do, stand.

And so, he's saying, with the gospel of peace. You know, it's interesting, too, the gospel is a preservative for those that are younger here especially. And yesterday would have been better.

There's more students and so on. But, you know, in schools and even in a work environment, you can often be affected, if I can say this, by those who want you to join in with their things. For high school students, even, you know, there's like the prom and the dances and these parties and things like that.

In the work environment, there's, you know, let's go to the bar. We're going to grab a drink. Let's do this and let's do that.

And, you know, you might say to yourself, you know what, I don't want them to think I'm weird. So, you know, I'm going to be part of that and do this. Listen, you want to save yourself a lot of headache? Just tell them about the gospel all the time.

Just tell them that they need to be saved. They're lost. They're perishing and that they need Christ as Savior.

You know what? For some strange reason, they will stop inviting you to these things. They will just go to their friends. No, no, okay.

We don't want him. He's a party pooper. We don't want him.

So there's an easy way just to avoid those things. Give them the gospel. Tell them about your Savior.

Live for Christ. Be that soldier with that armor. And they're going to say, who's the guy that's clanking around here all this time with his armor around? They don't want you.

You know, it's interesting when it comes, all the things that come in your mind. It's interesting when you go back to Moses. Moses was asked, how many times did he say to Pharaoh, we want to leave.

God has told us to leave. We want to leave. We're going to leave.

We're going to leave. Finally, you know what? So different they were. And so finally, you know what Pharaoh said? Get out.

You get out. Go. I don't want you here.

And that's what the world will say. We don't want you here. Thank God there's coming a day.

And we will be gone. And the world will get what they wanted. Not just in our absence, but in the presence of a man over against the man that they've rejected, the Antichrist.

They'll have him. So the boots, the helmet. Well, a blow to the head is fatal.

You know, blow to the legs, blow to the arms. That's not good. Blow to the chest.

But a blow to the head is often fatal. And that's why having your helmet of salvation. If we filter everything through that, We will be preserved.

We will be able to do something that is absolutely vital. Discern. Discern.

And the more you exercise that discernment on the basis of the Bible and its truth, the more ability you will have to be preserved. As that soldier in that battle. And then lastly, the sword, as he mentions the sword.

And he's talking about it is written. It is written to use that. Now the last thing is this activity.

Prayer. You know, there's only one thing that Satan hates more than a standing Christian. And that's a kneeling Christian.

A Christian who's praying, who's on their knees. And that's how he ends this. He says, fighting is important.

But please do not miss this. Praying. Praying.

Communication. And it's not general. I remember, I shouldn't even say this.

I was in Midland Park years ago in New Jersey in an assembly there. And there was a man. And he would always pray for missionary activity this way.

He says, we pray for Africa. And I used to say to my friend David, I said, isn't he going to be shocked when all these natives show up at his door and they're going to say, you prayed for us? Like pray specifically. Don't just pray for Africa.

Don't just pray. Specifically. That's why Paul ends this.

He says, and pray for me. That a door of utterance would be open to me. Pentecost is coming.

He mentions to the Corinthians. Certain things are coming. Certain activities.

Pray for me. Pray specifically for this. How does that happen? It happens when we are aware.

And I want to end with this because it's important. Very important. We're all in this together.

So when it comes to consideration and cooperation, battles often involve individuals. Wars do not. We are all in a war.

I'll tell you what. You join that war. You know, when it comes to the U.S. military, I think if I remember right, to join the Army, you have to be between 17 and 35.

You have to pass a military test. It's probably very low. You have to be, you have to take a moral exam.

Okay, those are the requirements for military service. That's in the Army. I think the Air Force is a little lower.

It's 17 to 28. That's to fight U.S. forces, to enlist. The moment you were saved, whether it's at 8 or 80, you join this war.

You join these forces. And I'll tell you what, if I'm going to fight with you and there are going to be moments, whether it's assembly testimony or in families or whatever, I want someone at my back, and I know you do too, who is going to be able to at least look out for you. That's where we're all needed.

If you don't know how to shoot your gun, if you don't know how to wield your sword, if you are just clueless in this fight, you are going to be, you can be actually a liability. And that's what happens if people move out ineffectively, engage in war ineffectively. There's not only lack of preservation for themselves, but there can often be collateral damage with others.

So keep in mind this as we read this passage, the need. You are a testimony to, you are a testimony for. Sisters, how you present yourself in this world as distinctive from the women of this world is going to be a tremendous voice and will be a support for proper teaching of the word of God, whether it's by your husband or by the assembly that you are part of and the elders that are there.

Men in leadership, how we lead, how we teach, how we behave, is going to support not only the sisters, but is going to support the believers in general under the testimony and leadership of our captain. Might God help us to keep these things in mind.